Captain Cook
Captain Cook
His Life, Voyages, and Discoveries
This book is not a series of fictitious adventures of the great Captain Cook, the eighteenth century navigator and explorer, but a straightforward statement of his life and achievements. It is therefore more of a biography than an adventure book for boys. However, the man was so great that his biography can indeed be read as a well-written book of adventures.
Book Excerpt
else, and Mr Stephens, the Secretary of the Admiralty, a warm supporter of the expedition, mentioned Cook to the Board, and suggested that Sir Hugh Palliser's opinion should be asked respecting him. This, as may be supposed, was in every respect favourable; and consequently Lieutenant Cook was directed to hold himself in readiness to take command of the proposed expedition. Sir Hugh Palliser was requested to select a fit ship for the purpose, and with Cook's assistance he fixed on a barque of three hundred and seventy tons, to which the name of the Endeavour was given. She mounted ten carriage and ten swivel guns; her crew, besides the commander, consisted of eighty-four persons, and she was provisioned for eighteen months.
The well-known Sir Joseph Banks, then Mr Banks, one of the chief promoters of the expedition, volunteered to accompany it. On leaving Oxford he had visited the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador, to obtain information on scientific subjects. Although he suffered no small amount of
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This reads like a book report of Captain Cook's ship logs. The first chapter, probably the best part of the biography, focuses on everything before his Circumnavigations, while the middle chapters each cover one. They are easy to read but somewhat monotonous and became tedious. The entire last chapter (there are only 5 or 6) the Author focuses on how Protestantism was spread throughout the places Cook discovered or visited. This strong religious view was also interjected throughout the book. Overall, I was disappointed.
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