Depicted by the man himself, The Journals of James Cook is an intimate first-hand account, providing an uncensored and reliable narrative of adventures spanning across the globe. The Journals of James Cook depict three of Captain James Cook’s most glorious expeditions, starting in 1768 and leading to Cook’s tragic death in 1779. Having ventured all over the Pacific, Cook encountered lands not yet charted by the British. Though his discoveries and maps inadvertently led to British colonization, Cook held a deep respect for the native people he encountered. He recorded their practices and wrote of them fondly. Cook even befriended some of the native people he encountered, including a Tahitian man who, after hearing of Cook’s homeland, wanted to visit it as well. Per the man’s request, Cook sailed him to Britain, where the man stayed until he and Cook sailed back to Tahiti three years later. After charting Australia, and the whole coast of New Zealand, Cook was involved in a plot to kidnap a Hawaiian monarch and ransom them in order to recover stolen property. He was killed during this expedition, leaving behind a legacy of a detailed description of the Pacific Ocean and its coasts. James Cook’s expeditions around the world and his detailed and innovative work as a cartographer inspired advancements in scientific, medical, historical and geological fields. His influence has also reached the literary world, inspiring novel series and characters, including the infamous Captain Hook. Exuding ambition, courage, and confidence, The Journals of James Cook provide a privileged peak into the travels and accomplishments of an adventurous, and invaluable man. Packed with wonder but free of imperialistic arrogance, The Journals of James Cook serve as a valuable an intriguing primary source of a time when places in the world were yet to be mapped. Now presented in an easy-to-read font and redesigned with a stunning new cover, James Cook’ The Journals of James Cook is accommodating to contemporary readers, providing a fresh version of the esteemed literary work while preserving its wonders and adventures.

Selections from Cook's journals of the first voyage (1768-1771) to Tahiti, New Zealand and Eastern Australia; second voyage (1772-1775) to the Antarctic and the Pacific; third voyage (1776-1780) to Hawaii, the north American coast; eye-witness accounts of Cook's death in Hawaii.

Reproduction of the original. The publishing house Megali specialises in reproducing historical works in large print to make reading easier for people with impaired vision.

Maritime historian James K. Barnett discovered extraordinary journals and paintings of Captain James Cook's demanding final voyage languishing in Australian archives. Expedition artist John Webber and two young officers"Discovery" first lieutenant James Burney, and "Resolution" Master's Mate Henry Roberts--offer remarkable eyewitness accounts of initial European contact, the first reasonably accurate maps of North America's west coast, the earliest comprehensive report from the Bering Sea ice pack, and portrayals of the celebrated mariner's dramatic death at Kealakekua Bay. Particularly astonishing for depictions of landings along Hawaii, Vancouver Island, and Alaska, Barnett adds context and commentary to complete the story.

Ledyard's Siberian journals recount a harrowing journey through Russia under the rule of Catherine the Great, while his diary from Alexandria and Cairo provides a brilliant and rare account of Egypt before Napoleon's invasion. Finally, Ledyard's correspondence sheds light on pre-revolutionary Paris and on his friendships with the Marquis de Lafayette, Benjamin Franklin, and Sir Joseph Banks. In his short life, John Ledyard traveled farther than any American had before."--Jacket.

On his second expedition to the Pacific, in the years 1772-5, Captain James Cook made a voyage which, in the annals of exploration, is unsurpassed for grandeur of design and execution and for variety of experience. Cook traversed the Indian and Pacific Oceans in high latitudes, demonstrating that the supposed Southern continent could not extend north of 60°. Cook three times crossed the Antarctic Circle reaching his furthest south in 71° 10 ́, and he proved himself a master of navigation in ice. In the Pacific his discoveries or rediscoveries included the Tonga Islands, Easter Island, the Marquesas, the New Hebrides and New Caledonia, with the sub-antarctic islands of South Georgia and the South Sandwich group. Captain Furneaux, commanding the consort ship, examined the coasts of Tasmania. The written and graphic records left by Cook himself and by his officers, by the astronomer William Wales and the artist William Hodges, by the naturalists J.R. and George Forster are remarkable in their volume and vitality. The editor, Dr J.C. Beaglehole, here prints the full text of Cook’s own journal, constructed from two holograph MSS and several MS copies, and a great part of Wales’s journal. This facsimile edition reprints the edition of 1961 along with the Addenda and Corrigenda published in 1969. The illustrations originally in colour are reproduced in black-and-white, the fold-outs divided to fit on separate pages, and the volume split into two parts.

The culmination of the life work of the most distinguished historian of Pacific exploration, this lavishly illustrated biography places Cook in the context of his times and affirms his eminence in the history of maritime discovery.