Journals. James Cook. 2003.

These Journals record the historic meeting between two worlds as Europe’s greatest navigator made the first contact with many of the peoples of the Pacific. In three extraordinary expeditions, Captain Cook charted the entire coast of New Zealand and eastern Australia, and made detailed descriptions of Tahiti, Tonga and many islands previously unknown to Europeans. Cook’s journals display the skill and courage with which he faced the continuous dangers of uncharted seas and endeavoured to form relationships with the peoples he encountered. While he had an eighteenth-century Englishman’s imperial self-assurance, Cook writes of ‘native’ cultures with striking sympathy and respect to create a truly compelling and revealing account of these momentous voyages of discovery.