The Fatal Impact

by Alan Moorehead

Moorehead has followed up his fascinating trek into Africa (The Blue Nile & The White Nile), with a short, but equally elegant "account of the invasion of the South Pacific, 1761-1840." The hero here, of course, is Captain James Cook, with Moorehead concentrating on the voyage to Tahiti, New Zealand & Australia, & the later exploration of the Antarctic Circle & the South Pole. As acknowledged, he's drawn heavily on the historian J.C. Beaglehole's definitive volumes, as well as from other weighty sources. But this should not dismay the layman. He has the novelist's eye, not only in his firm but sensuous descriptions, but also in his stunning ability to evoke character, interweave various tales, & see a Jumble of facts & conjectures as a means of releasing whatever dramatic moments are around. The confrontation between aggressive Europeans & innocent primitive tribes affords ample opportunity. The book is a requiem for an idyllic past, moving in its picture of a wild civilization slowly eroding under the impact of commercial progress or geographical expansion, exciting in its interplay of differing psychological attitudes or customs, & developed with many crisscrossing references: Bougainville & Banks, Melville & Gauguin, the Bounty mutiny & the little known efforts of the Englishwoman Daisy Bates to save the Aborigines. A lovely, sophisticated work.--Kirkus (edited)

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Australia, Travel, Biography, Maritime, Geography

Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

Alan Moorehead was lionised as the literary man of action: the most celebrated war correspondent of World War II; author of award winning books; star travel writer of The New Yorker; pioneer publicist of wildlife conservation. At the height of his success, his writing suddenly stopped and when, 17 years later, his death was announced, he seemed a heroic figure from the past. His fame as a writer gave him the friendship of Ernest Hemingway, George Bernard Shaw and Field Marshall Montgomery and the courtship and marriage of his beautiful wife Lucy Milner.

After 1945, he turned to writing books, including Eclipse, Gallipoli (for which he won the Duff Cooper Prize), The White Nile, The Blue Nile, and finally, A Late Education. He was awarded an OBE in 1946, and died in 1983.

Reviews

[Chrisl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tagged Australia.
Would likely have read this in 1967 when getting ready for extended Oceanic trip to Australia. Pleased to see local library still owns a copy.
Also would recommend Moorehead's Nile books.
Here's review from Kirkus
"Moorehead has followed up his fascinating trek into Africa (see The Blue Nile and The White Nile), with a short, but equally elegant ""account of the invasion of the South Pacific, 1761-1840."" The hero here, of course, is Captain James Cook, with Moorehead concentrating on the voyage to Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia, and the later exploration of the Antarctic Circle and the South Pole. As he acknowledges, Moorehead has drawn heavily on the historian Dr. J. C. Beaglehole's definitive volumes, as well as from other weighty sources. But this should not dismay the layman. Moorehead has the novelist's eye, not only in his firm but sensuous descriptions, but also in his stunning ability to evoke character, interweave various tales, and see a Jumble of facts and conjectures as a means of releasing whatever dramatic moments are around. And the confrontation between aggressive Europeans and innocent primitive tribes affords ample opportunity. Essentially the book is a requiem for an idyllic past, moving in its picture of a wild civilization slowly eroding under the impact of commercial progress or geographical expansion, exciting in its interplay of differing psychological attitudes or customs, and developed with many criss-crossing references: Bougainville and Banks, Melville and Gauguin, the Bounty mutiny, and the little known efforts of the Englishwoman Daisy Bates to save the Aborigines. A lovely and sophisticated work."

[Ian Carmichael · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's taken me a long time to get to this 1966 classic. But not long to read it once I did. Alan Moorehead has written a great popular history of Cook and subsequently Europe in the Pacific - in Tahiti and the European impact there, in Australia and the European impact there; in Antarctica and the European impact there. A rattling good read; superb use of primary sources, including the freshly released journals of Cook editied by J C Beaglehole. As well as Beaglehole's personal reading and advice.
One of his other readers was a young Robert Hughes - later to write 'The Fatal Shore'. I learned a lot, and painlessly. Even the small matter of the naming of Rosellas from Rose Hill near the first English settlement in Australia. And the fact that William Dampier's Journals were edited (in 1906) by a certain John Masefield.
I might take up his story of the Nile next in this context.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

We think of Captain Cook as a grand explorer and adventurer living the hero's life. What we don't think of is how his explorations changed the world and continue to affect us all.

[cool breeze · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alan Moorehead’s best book, The White Nile, was written in 1960 about adventurous Europeans trying to discover the source of the Nile by exploring darkest Africa. His second-best book, The Blue Nile, was written in in 1962 about European explorers and the upper branch of the Nile in Sudan and Abyssinia. In both of those books, Moorehead struck a good balance between the daring and hardship of the explorers and the effects of European discovery on the natives. Of course, this was not a discovery at all to the African and Arab slave traders who had been capturing and selling the natives into captivity for centuries before the Europeans showed up and publicized the racket, eventually forcing it to largely end (some still persists today).

Moorehead wrote The Fatal Impact in 1966 and deliberately chose to write it around a theme: the disastrous impact of exploration on the natives of the Pacific islands. This turns out to be a decidedly inferior approach than the two books above. The history is a haphazard mix of inclusions and omissions presented out of sequence, and there is an excess of handwringing about the impact of discovery on the natives. Sure, many may have been illiterate, warlike savages who practiced cannibalism and infanticide but, hey, the Tahitian women were smoking hot and were totally DTF. Ask Moorehead, Gauguin or anyone. Moorehead reserves his greatest sympathies for the whales, sea lions and turtles.

Throughout history, nearly every contact between a more advanced civilization and a less advanced one has ended badly for the less advanced one. The only seeming exceptions have been when self-confident barbarian hordes have overrun decadent civilizations, like the late Roman empire, that turned out to be hollow, rotting husks. That’s just the way things have always gone. It was true of regional conflicts in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, and was true on a larger scale when the conflicts went global. The Aztecs, Comanches, Vandals, Huns, and Maoris weren’t “noble savages”; that was a fantasy dreamed up by spoiled Europeans living in London and Paris. This book both acknowledges this and perpetuates it.

[John Benson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very good book that looks at the human and natural impact of Captain Cook's first encounters with the natives of Tahiti and Australia and the environmental impact of his visits to Antarctica. It is a very thoughtful book that remains very relevant today, 53 years after it was first published.

[Martin Lumiste · Rating 4 out of 5]

Abridged history of the European colonisation of Australia, Tahiti and Antarctica. Part of the book depicts courageous efforts of explorers such as Captain Cook, at times facing surreal challenges such as traversing a sea of icebergs in two pre-steam era sailing ships (!) or negotiating with man eating Maori warriors. What makes the book more unique, though, are the latter chapters describing the influx of European culture on these formerly pristine lands, and the inevitable downfall of local ways of life. Civilisation has a price.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating! I knew nothing of the settlement of Australia except they used to send convicts there, and nothing at all about Captain Cook's explorations of the Pacific islands or Antarctica. I'd read and enjoyed Mutiny on the Bounty, Pitcairn's Island, and Men at Sea, and this book filled in all the context of how these events came to happen. I just picked up Moby Dick again, because of the reference to Herman Melville, and was amazed how the background I just learned increased my understanding and enjoyment of that novel. The Fatal Impact was a joy to read just for the author's skill at story telling. A favorite gripe of mine is that they leave the most interesting history out of schools (or the textbooks make it boring), so we have to stumble on books like this on our own. Thank goodness I did. Looking forward to reading Moorehead's other books now.

[Mary Byrne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do like the style of Alan Moorehead. The progression of this book uses as a launch pad the three journeys of Captain Cook. Firstly to Tahiti, then Australia and then the Antarctic. In each case Moorehead manages to illuminate the amazing discoveries, sense of adventure and the sheer expertise of Cook to light. At some points there is even ambling off on a description of Eyre and the crossing of Australia. But woven in with these great discoveries of the eighteenth century is an incredible sensitivity to the outcome of Cooks (and other early explorers) travels and the subsequent spread of Northern Europeans and eventually Americans to overrun indigenous societies and untouched wildlife. Cook himself saw the writing on the wall. This book was written some fifty years ago, and its message still seems relevant.

[Daniel M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A history of the effect of the Europeans coming into the islands of the South Pacific. This was written in the early 1960s, so it’s a bit dated, but it has a great compendium of original source material, along with scads of illustrations and paintings done by the sailors and scientists on the early voyages.
The book is in 3 parts: Tahiti, Australia, and the Antarctic.

The first third of the book describes life in Tahiti AFTER the Polynesians reached the Society Islands, and then what happened to that society and culture after the late 1700s when Europeans started showing up en masse in Tahiti. While other preceded him, Captain Cook’s visit in 1769 marked the beginning of massive changes in the social fabric, the ecology, and the political state of Tahiti and all the islands of the South Pacific.

It does not go well for the locals. Cook, apparently, was a pretty decent fellow and tried hard to be benevolent—but not everyone shared his ideals. Subsequent visitors trod more heavily on the landscape and the people.

This books covers the changes that inevitably came after contact, heavily covering the people who made it happen (e.g., Cook, Joseph Banks, the scientist; Louis de Bougainville, captain and scholar; Comte Jean-François de Galaup La Pérouse, captain and historian) and the slow deterioration of traditional Tahitian / Polynesian society. A fascinating description of this piece of history.
The 2ncd third of the book is about the same series of events (often with the same people) on Australia. The outcome, though, is even more dismal, with some good actors, but mostly a dire history of maltreatment and outright genocide.

The last section is about the destruction of the animal world of Antarctica (Cook plays an important role here as well, beginning in 1772). At one time, animal life below the Antarctic Circle was profoundly rich and diverse. But with its discovery, an opening was made for industrial destruction of whales, seals, fish, and even penguins.

In a sense, this book tells the same tale three times over: Contact and occupation of an intact and functioning society / ecology leading to its destruction. How many times must we, as the Western world, repeat our same terrible behaviors? Can’t we learn a little bit from an examination of history?
This book suggests that this isn’t in the cards. We are strip-mining the seas even now, with gigantic industrial trawlers and fishing fleets that threaten to tear out every last animal from a wonderful world.

I weep.

[Tony and Rosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book that is well written. More important in 2021 is the challenge it offers to modern discussions of race and colonisation, particularly in countries like New Zealand going through a wholesale re-evaluation of their colonial past

The book itself covers three of Capt James Cook's major places of exploration: Tahiti, Australia and Antarctica. Cook was personally resourceful and brave, and took great care to minimise his impact on the peoples and countries he discovered for Europeans. The force of the book is that what followed Cook destroyed the places and people Cook found.

'The Fatal Impact' highlights the truth of Philip Temple's view on Newsroom that:

"The draft [NZ history curriculum] has the air of a 21st century revival of the 18th century Enlightenment concept of the ‘noble savage’, children of nature in an undisturbed state."

Moorehead was a racist (Australian aboriginals were 'boys', Pasific islanders 'childlike', apartheid potentially benign, etc) but he is in no doubt colonialism was an evil inflicted on indigenous peoples. He uses the term 'holocaust' to describe the mass murder of indigenous Tasmanians.

What is striking is how much his viewpoint would accord with the new curriculum and modern discussions, albeit with different language. The "critical" discussions are simply mirror images of Moorehead. Where he saw the "advanced" people destroying the childlike innocence of distant peoples. We extol the lore of pre-technological peoples and see European explorers as the snakes bringing about the fall of decent, harmonious Edens of the South Seas.

Of course, the point is not to doubt that colonialism was evil. It was. The genocide of peoples from Alaska to New Zealand was a precursor of Europe's own internal attempts at genocide (Hitler was an admirer of the British Empire.) However the peoples they met were pretechnological. They lived a life of extreme poverty and ignorance. The tragedy is that the people with the knowledge to help them, murdered and robbed them instead.

Unfortunately Moorehead does not discuss NZ in detail, but it is easy to imagine the proposed NZ curriculum as a chapter in his book. Worth reading.

[Tyler Wolanin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title of this book is broad enough that I was hoping for an overview of the entire South Pacific in this timeframe, but the book is nonetheless a good overview from 30,000 feet of the British exploration and subsequent colonization of Tahiti and Australia, with the plundering of Antarctica thrown in for dessert. The linking thread are the voyages of Captain Cook, who comes across as a fairly thoughtful and tolerant figure in this telling (though certainly violent at times). The book is a bit dated, with a smattering of cringeworthy phrasing or ideas; and it is focused almost entirely on Europeans, their activities, their selected narratives, their artwork and other portrayals of the lands they journeyed to and plundered (the transposition of the English countryside to the Australian setting in art, and the classical depictions of the Noble Savage in illustrations, made an interesting art history subplot), their accounts of change. The Tahitians and Australian Aboriginals who are named are either rulers or those who traveled back to Europe, and the book overall depicts their victimhood more than it does their resistance. That being said, it is a decent introduction to the subject, and the title alone indicates that focus on the British does not equate to sympathy: they are called out for their rapacity and their cultural (and actual) genocide. I assume that other scholars have been able to build off of this; and it was good to finally find a book on the Pacific, though only part of it. Still looking for something more comprehensive.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant edition of a beautifully written book. Moorehead is a stylish, exciting writer, and has a knack for picking out just the right details to make his story vivid and exciting. This edition, with additional illustrations and information boxes, is particularly pleasant to handle and to enjoy. My only reservation regards Moorehead’s somewhat naive approach to anthropology. He is certainly sympathetic to the indigenous peoples of the Pacific, and the native animals too. His overarching point is that Cook brought destruction in his wake. But he does have a tendency to describe indigenous peoples as “children” (his word) who were easily manipulated and victimised by the Europeans. This is not a very good explanation for how Europeans established their dominance over the Pacific. Despite this, Fatal Impact is a gripping read, and a good introduction to the modern history of the Pacific from an anglophone perspective.

[Marie Carmean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a wonderful book! Moorehead does not present a comprehensive account of the early explorations of the Pacific Islands, Australia and the Antarctic by Cook and others. But, he does present a fascinating overview that delves into the impact these explorations had on the natives as well as flora and fauna. One understands the thoughts so many that it would have been better had no ships ever landed on these shores. So much damage was done to the different cultures and to the landscape as a whole. On the other hand, one also sees the improvements brought over time in bringing civilization. Yet, the cost is enormous. Just like the native peoples of America, there is a high price to pay for this interaction with early Europeans. The book brings about much thoughtful inspection of our past as a people, our desires and our lack of understanding of long-term effects. A really fascinating book.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gem of a book. This modest effort looks at how the discoveries of white man affected inhabitants of several previously undiscovered parts of the world, principally Tahiti, Australia and Antarctica. The author draws mostly on the journals of Captain James Cook from his three voyages but brings in many sources to flesh out the story. It would be easy to dwell on the negative outcome that you know will be coming but the writing is so clear, well rounded and interesting as well as thoroughly documented that somehow at the end you feel good, and maybe even relieved that wrongs have been mitigated and the worst is behind us. Call me Pollyanna but I believe, in spite of our current political situation, we have learned a few things. First being, you can't go wrong with Alan Moorehead.

[John Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The exploration and initial settlement of the South Pacific by Europeans is an inherently fascinating story. This book tells that story, but with major flaws. At just 206 pages of text, the book is far too short to do justice to the subject. The author frequently lapses into the intellectually lazy tropes of noble savages and ignoble modern men which do little to enlighten the reader. And finally, though the book's back cover blurbs indicate the book covers the impact of discovery on wildlife as well as human societies, this subject is largely overlooked, with the exception of the decimation of seal and whale populations in the Antarctic (which is a sad story worthy of its own book).

[Karla Kitalong]

I owned this book for almost 35 years before I finally read it. Moorehead is a historian who details the discovery of the South Pacific islands, Australia, and Antarctica by Westerners, namely Captain Cook and other famed explorers. He details the mass extinctions of wildlife and the exploitation of humans and other life. The illustrations are lovely, and the prose is enlightening if disturbing.

This is a keeper, as part of my fairly extensive collection of books and other materials about the Pacific that I hope my kids will want one day.

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a 1987 expanded edition of the original book published in 1966. This later edition is lavishly illustrated to coincide with the text Moorehead wrote. I think I read every single word of the captions to the illustrations, paintings and add-ins as well as every word of the book itself. Don't laugh. Non-fiction books can get tedious.

The author is a skilled writer in bringing together various memoirs and events to show the effects of European exploration and contact in the Pacific Ocean, focusing in three parts on Tahiti, Antarctica and Australia. Primarily built around Captain Cook's three voyages. So much was recorded and collected and this book brought it forward in time. I knew bits of this but I found the narrative completely engrossing. Journeys of discovery and the end of the world that was.

As sad as it is for the indigenous peoples of Tahiti and Australia the worst world devastation to come was because of Cook's exploration of the Antarctic region. He found countless millions of seals, sea lions, penguins, sea birds, whales and other creatures living in a balance with their world. When he returned from his trip the whalers and others of the world set out from England and La Havre and Nantucket and elsewhere to kill and destroy relentlessly. It is sickening.

[Ethan Piper · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great account of Cook’s voyages and how his ‘discoveries’ changed the world forever, (with or without intention). Moorhead’s storytelling is very engaging and his language depicts history vividly, I feel as though I learned a lot from this book and I think is essential for anyone that wants to educate themselves on topics such as the origins of British colonisation and indigenous erasure.

[Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice read. Was interesting to read of effects that settler and contact with previously ‘un-contacted’ people has, and it’s dramatic effect.
Interesting to hear of the customs of the Tahitians and Australian Aborigines had. Lots of great art throughout the book too.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those who enjoyed Hampton Sides' The Wide Wide Sea, I suggest tracking down Alan Moorehead's The Fatal Impact. Moorehead's book is a wonderful compliment to Sides'; it provides a macroscopic view to The Wide Wide Sea's microscopic one.

[A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good account of Cook's voyages. Old style narrative.

[David W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Should be mandatory reading for all Australian high school kids.

[Paul Cooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding book with superb insight into Cook's voyages

[Zakina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gelezen in het NL

[Guy Salvidge · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Tahiti section is interesting, the rest less so and the whole thing is rather dated.

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unflinching and bold look at British Colonialism

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good history but reflective of certain biases.

[Rich Castles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brought Australia and the South Pacific’s tragic history to life in a way I haven’t read before. Rich with facts, stories, details, diversions and hypotheses. It may be Inflected with Moorehead’s personality and some antiquated language, but it’s sensitive to the subject and consistently fascinating. I wasn’t even aware of Cook’s voyages to the Antarctic, yet the image of his boat’s journey among the eerie icebergs and fog on the undiscovered underside of the world transports you to another time when his travels were like an expedition of the Starship Enterprise. It depicts with vivid strokes the harsh and brutal lives of convicts, sailors and whalers, and the sadly fatal consequences for the world that preceded their arrival.

[Adrian]

Exploration history. Namely what happened in Polynesia, Australia and the Antarctica after Captain Cook made landfall in each. The Tahitians and Aborigines were devastated by European contact and as bad as these are I'm not sure reading about the rape of sea life in Antarctica isn't worse. It's the same old story wherever humans go they hunt wildlife to near extinction if not outright extinction. Moorehead is great on Cook's time in Tahiti and also does justice with Australian explorers Edward Eyre and Daisy Bates.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always great to read about atrocities our European ancestors committed in the name of progress. I remain fascinated by the lives of Cook and Banks, which is what led me to this book in the first place. The history of the early exploration of Australia was rich and deeply interesting. By the end, I'm left with a desire to visit Australia and read Moby Dick. Though not necessarily go to Australia to read Moby Dick.