Review of The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook by Hampton Sides Rating *****
One of the greatest adventure stories ever told is Magellan’s attempt at the first circumnavigation of the globe. It’s as close as you can get to climbing into an interstellar spacecraft and venturing out into the unknown. In The Wide Wide Sea, Captain Cook is on his third circumnavigation of the globe and still encountering unknown lands and peoples nearly 250 years after Magellan.
In that 250‑year span between Magellan and Cook, thousands of sailors succumbed to the dreaded disease scurvy. Many of Magellan’s men died from it, but none of Cook’s men developed scurvy on any of his voyages. Cook and others suspected that diet was the key, but it would be another eighty years or so before the medical establishment accepted that scurvy was caused by vitamin C deficiency and cured by citrus.
Although scurvy did not befall Cook’s crews, the voyages were still dangerous. Men fell overboard. Tuberculosis claimed the lives of Captain Charles Clerke and the chief surgeon. And there were violent encounters with Indigenous peoples. Still, the expedition held out the promise of a windfall for all involved should Cook find the long‑suspected Northwest Passage over North America.
My interest in this story came after reading Wavewalker by Suzanne Heywood, a memoir about her childhood spent sailing around the world as her family retraced Cook’s voyages. I’ve also visited many of the places mentioned in Sides’ book — New Zealand, Tonga, Tahiti, Easter Island — albeit virtually, through Microsoft Flight Simulator, as I made my own circumnavigation of the globe in VR.
Sides points out that, for reasons still debated, Cook’s demeanor on this third voyage was increasingly out of character. He was short‑tempered with his men and took unnecessary risks. More troubling were his actions during certain encounters with Indigenous communities. Whenever Cook’s men met people who may or may not have ever encountered Europeans, Sides gives readers both perspectives: Cook’s interpretation of events and the viewpoint from the Indigenous people upon seeing for the first time the strange clothing, the metal tools, the ships the size of floating villages, and the deadly effects of musket balls. When things went wrong, which they often did, it was usually due to a communication breakdown, a misunderstanding of local customs, or — more often than not — theft. In one such incident, iron tools were stolen from one of Cook’s boats, prompting Cook to retaliate by burning down huts and destroying every canoe his men could find. For the islanders, the devastation was akin to dropping an atomic bomb.
Before Cook meets his end on the island of Hawaii, Sides spends time with other members of the crew, including William Bligh of Bounty mutiny fame, who served as Master on the Resolution, responsible for navigation and day‑to‑day ship operations. One can’t help but wonder what influence Cook’s strict discipline had on Bligh. Another significant figure is the young Polynesian Omai, whom Cook met on Huahine in the Society Islands during his second voyage. Omai asked to travel with Cook to England, and Cook agreed. His story runs parallel to Cook’s, with shades of a real‑life Tarzan narrative.
In the end, Cook’s demise involved a stolen item — this time the cutter from the Discovery, used to ferry men between ship and shore. Complicating matters was a separate incident elsewhere in the bay in which one of Cook’s men shot and killed a local chief. Cook was unaware of this killing and the anger it had stirred. Much like Magellan, a miscalculation and overconfidence led to his death.
With the exception of two maps, the book contains no illustrations, paintings, or other images — a missed opportunity in a story so rich with visual history.