CAPTAIN COOK AND THE SOUTH PACIFIC

Drawing heavily on Cook's journals, Gwyther follows the Endeavor around the world knot by knot and makes the most of the ample details. As the voyage helped stake out an empire- there are all the elements from Cook's own suicidal courage to new standards of hygiene that didn't prevent scurvy and the raw elements of nature that included both rapacious cannibals and the whoring capacities of his own crew. For armchair adventurers, and historians, a great sea exploit well revived.