Customer Reviews

H.M. Bark Endeavour: Her Place in Australian History

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I have just taken delivery of this volume and have been unable to put it down. This book is a wealth of information. Beautifully bound and boxed it is printed on the finest paper I've seen in a book like this. H.M. Bark Endeavour is not for the budget conscious. However, having owned it for just one day it is obvious the time, effort and the passion the Author has poured into researching this volume, right down to reproducing a comprehensive set of drawings of the actual ship. For anyone interested in maritime history, shipbuilding (including modelling) or even geography, I think this book is a must.

I found this in a book shop for AUD$120. One of those moments in life when you have the opportunity to purchace a masterpiece. re-released in 1999, it comes in two large books, one full of large plans in a folder, all deserving of framing. The log of this vessel is included in the second part, from its' inception, construction, crew and history of the journey that mapped the east coast of Australia. If you ever wanted to make a wooden ship model of a truly amazing vessel in a time of adventure equivilant to any Wilbur Smith, this is all you will need. It could never be surpassed, as the author is obviously one of those men who is truely dedicated to his art. The anatomy of the ship series should be so good!

This has to be one of the best books I have read in a long time. The high quality drawings are well researched and extremely well presented. My desire to purchase this book is based on an interest in sailing ships of this period and I had purchased the paper back version of this book. The drawings were too small and thus I decided to go to the next step and spend the money to get the best. I was not disappointed. The layout of the text starting from the choice of ship and Cook's organisation of the voyage through to the description of life on board and the technologies of the day gives a good foundation to understanding of the hardships of sailing those ships. The departure from England to the arrival off the Australian coast is covered in a fair amount of detail but the nitty gritty starts with the voyage along Australia's east coast. Here the detail is provided by the actual journal entries of Cook, Banks, Parkinson and others as well as the entries in the ship's log. Ray Parkin writes, after the journal and log entries, to explain certain terms and conditions of the time compared to the situation today and turns the somewhat dry eighteenth centaury language into clear and understandable live history. This book is for anybody interested in the ships of the eighteenth centaury, Captain Cook and Australian history.