Captain Cook's World: Maps of the Life and Voyages of James Cook R. N.

by John Robson

James Cook, sailor, surveyor, cartographer, and explorer, was born in 1728 in Yorkshire. In the course of his illustrious career, he sailed into every ocean and was one of the first, if not the first, British explorers to set foot on most of the world's major continents. He was also the first to cross both the Arctic and Antarctic Circles. Captain Cook's World is an atlas, chronology, and biography of the life and voyages of this celebrated explorer. A set of 128 specially drawn maps and accompanying text give a detailed overview of his life, including his early years in England, his time in the North Sea coal trade and with the Royal Navy in Canada, and his three great voyages around the world in HMB Endeavour and HMS Resolution. Included on the maps are locations visited, named, or surveyed by Cook; the routes of his voyages; and sites that have been marked in his honor, such as monuments. Based on meticulous scholarship but aimed at a general audience, Captain Cook's World is a fascinating and accessible record of Cook's life and travels.

Hardcover

First published August 15, 2000

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

A large format book with day-by-day maps and the track of Captain James Cook's many voyages, from his days aboard colliers on the English coast to his pioneering mapping work in Canada in the late 1750's and 1760s -- to his round-the-world voyages. Robson's book is the perfect supplement to anything that is Cook-related, whether the scholarly Beaglehole biography or the retracing of his voyages by Tony Horwitz. It provides excellent local details for major events such as the observation of the transit of Venus in Tahiti; Cook's repair of the Endeavour on the Great Barrier Reef; and the location of his death in February, 1779.

The maps are detailed, providing a much better reference than you'd find even with a world atlas or Internet search. They often help reconcile Cook's names vs. modern names for locations. The maps also include several of the sketchy early charts on which Cook relied for the position of Staten Island (now New Zealand) or Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). Many of the maps note places that Cook visited; monuments or cairns that were left; as well as modern memorials to the explorer.

Also, there is enough biographical detail to make an excellent outline of Cook's life, though there is far more detail in something like Beaglehole's "The Life of Captain James Cook".