The Journals

Captain Cook's Journals provide his vivid 1st-hand account of three extraordinary expeditions between 1768 & 1779. These charted the entire coast of New ZeaLand & the east coast of Australia & brought back detailed descriptions of Tahiti, Tonga & a host of previously unknown islands in the Pacific including the Hawaiian Islands. The journals amply reveal the determination, courage & skill that enabled Cook to wrestle with the continuous dangers of uncharted seas & the problems of achieving a relationship with the peoples whose unannounced guest he became. This edition, abridged from the definitive 4-volume Hakluyt Society edition, makes Cook's inimitable personal account of his years of voyaging widely accessible for the 1st time & includes an Introduction to each voyage, a Glossary of unusual words, indexes of people & places, & a Postscript assessing the controversy surrounding Cook's death.