Captain Cook’s Epic Voyage

Author: Geoffrey Blainey

Narrator: Geoffrey Blainey Publisher: Penguin Books Australia

Review: Jason King

I’ve been revisiting the remarkable story of Captain James Cook and the Endeavour - a voyage that took place 250+ years ago, marking one of the most extraordinary chapters in maritime history. We touched on it briefly in school back in the 80s, but my lifelong fascination with sea voyages has only grown stronger since. I wanted to dive into the finer details of this expedition and examine the controversy surrounding it - is Cook truly the invader we often take him to be?⁣

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In 1768, Cook and his crew set sail aboard a modest British ship, the Endeavour, bound for the vast and largely uncharted Pacific Ocean. Their official mission was to reach Tahiti and record the 1769 transit of Venus, an astronomical event that promised to expand human understanding of the universe. Alongside him was the ambitious naturalist Joseph Banks (a hero of mine), leading a team eager to study the natural wonders of distant lands.⁣

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Yet Cook’s orders also carried a secret directive from the British Admiralty: to search for Terra Australis Incognita, the mythical southern continent believed to be immense and rich. As the Endeavour made its way through the Pacific, it wasn’t alone; a French vessel, St Jean Baptiste, under Jean de Surville, cruised nearby, embodying the fierce rivalry of discovery that defined the era.⁣

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In 1770, Cook’s journey reached its turning point when he charted the eastern coast of Australia, claiming it for Great Britain, a moment that reshaped the world map and forever altered the story of the world and its people.⁣

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On the 250th anniversary of that voyage (the book was published in 2020), Captain Cook’s Epic Voyage revisits this extraordinary expedition, a tale of hardship, discovery, and ambition. Reworking his earlier Sea of Dangers, historian Geoffrey Blainey vividly recounts Cook’s daring pursuit of knowledge, the myths that grew around him, and the uneasy intersection of science and empire.⁣

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This is by far the most comprehensive account of Cook’s first great voyage I’ve encountered. It’s astonishing that they survived it at all; Cook was cautious, yet his nautical confidence bordered on audacious. Imagine navigating the Great Barrier Reef without maps, in a wooden vessel, only to nearly lose both ship and crew in the process. The one element that felt missing, however, was Cook’s inner world. We’re told of his actions, but not always of his mind. Perhaps his journals simply didn’t reveal enough - much of his motivation remains speculative. I wanted to understand more about this man who, in many ways, made my own life possible. What drove him?⁣

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I learned a great deal from this book, and several moments stood out with particular force and delight:⁣

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1. 𝐌𝐭 𝐃𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐲 (𝐆𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐚): One of the first places Cook named, and astonishingly, it appeared on the first map of Australia drawn by the French. My parents’ home lies in its shadow, a detail that absolutely floored me.⁣

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2. 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐍𝐢𝐜𝐤’𝐬 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐝: My favourite book is a little gem I picked up in New Zealand, Young Nick’s Head by Karen Hesse. It fictionalises the story of Nick, a boy mentioned in Cook’s journal who supposedly won a ration of rum for being the first to spot land that would later be called Australia. Hearing him mentioned again here gave me such joy; it fits beautifully into Cook’s larger story. And I never knew there was a headland named after him.⁣

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3. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐲: Cook is credited with nearly curing this horrific seafaring disease through something as simple as lemon or lime juice - vitamin C. He lost no crew to scurvy on this voyage, a staggering achievement. The tragic irony is that after “discovering” Australia and conquering scurvy, he stopped in Jakarta on the way home and lost many men to malaria. His rival Jean de Surville, sailing nearby, lost countless crew to scurvy, a contrast that highlights Cook’s achievement.⁣

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4. 𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐚𝐬𝐭: It was fascinating to learn how many names Cook bestowed along Australia’s east coast. While he wasn’t a religious man, some sections were oddly religious in theme; perhaps to appease the church or the Crown? No one knows for certain.⁣

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Cook, and this book, reminded me of Star Trek. He was a captain whose crew meant everything to him, venturing into the unknown in pursuit of discovery. One can easily imagine him commanding a starship in the pre–Prime Directive era. But Cook was also a man of his time, a Briton in the 1700s when imperial rivalry with France was fierce, and when British society viewed itself as superior to all others. To Cook and his contemporaries, the Aboriginal peoples (then referred to as “Indians”) appeared primitive and, in their view, inferior. Yet Cook himself observed that Aboriginal people seemed happier than Europeans, unburdened by the complexities and inequalities of European life. He even wrote, “The Earth and sea of their own accord furnishes them with all things necessary for life.”⁣

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The British Crown, however, had its own directive: to claim territory, regardless of who already lived there. And that’s where the controversy lies. I will never lay blame at Cook’s feet; he was a captain following orders. The Crown, on the other hand...⁣

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The author and narrator, Geoffrey Blainey, deserves immense credit. A distinguished Australian historian, academic, philanthropist, and commentator, Blainey has long commanded an international audience. Known for The Tyranny of Distance and many other seminal works, he is currently 95 years old and narrated the audiobook himself at 90. His delivery is exceptional - clear, wise, and deeply engaged. Few narrators bring such authenticity; after all, who better to tell the story than the author himself?⁣

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I loved this book. It’s about my home - and the man who “discovered” it. Why the quotation marks? You’ll have to read it to find out. But I like to think Cook stands as one of the earliest inspirations for every Star Trek captain and for explorers everywhere.⁣

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Get yourself a copy - it’s a voyage well worth taking. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️