Blue Latitudes Book

Average Rating:

I first really became aware of Cook when I visited Hawaii for the first time. Later, a Kiwi acquaintance told me a bit more about him, and then while reading W.H. Brands' Franklin biography, I learned that Cook had navigated the St. Lawrence Seaway for the British just prior to the Battle on the Plains of Abraham. I became fascinated with Cook, who seemed to have been everywhere and yet was so little known.

Blue Latitudes is a "where are they now" retracing of Cook's landfalls. More interesting is Horwitz and his sidekick Roger Williamson's, search for physical evidence of Cook's life. It's pretty slim pickings. A man like Cook who spends his life on the sea doesn't leave many traces on land. Cook was almost as elusive as the historical Jesus: someone who had a great impact on the world but didn't leave too many footprints.

Horwitz could have found no better traveling mate than Williamson. First, Roger brings a lot of boozy humour to the book (maybe too much!). Second, he like Cook is a native son of Yorkshire who also made it to Australia. Third, Cook's crewman of the same surname played a role in Cook's untimely death.

The book could have used more maps. Nice glossy color pictures would have been nice too. Overall, though, it's a fun first foray into the life and travels of Captain James Cook.

I loved the unusual structure of the book, loosely alternating history of Cook's travels with descriptions of the author's own visits to the same places two centuries later, and then having the author ("ego") taking his ne'er-do-well travelling companion ("id") to compare impressions of the locations which, depending on your point of view, were discovered ("ego") or spoiled ("id") by Captain Cook.

The travel reporting is in the Paul Theroux mode; Horwitz is often unromantic, even cranky, about the project and the places he visits. However, he is always witty and perceptive. The history and geography research is fascinating, especially when Horwitz turns up Englishmen, Australians and Polynesians, all Cook hobbyists, with strongly held but magnificently divergent opinions about the facts and impact of the Voyages of Discovery.

I am a fan of Tony's writing, and have read most of his published work to date. With just one glance at the bibliography in the hardback you will know that the ensuing several hundred pages will be filled with lots of interesting data and tidbits. They are! From how Cook traveled, to the interesting customs of the islands he visited, to the eventual disposition of some parts of his body, it is a fascinating read.

The book opens with Cook's death, and details his home life, his benefactors, his shipmates, his adventures and the discoveries he is credited with and quickly moves into a narrative style which places his travels against the current-day locations and how the islands and islanders view/celebrate Cook.

While there is no Rob Lee Hodge (his Confederates in the Attic pal) in this book (I'm sure RLH was somewhere practicing his BLOAT), his boozy friend Roger from down under is a fine travel companion. The adventures they experience on this Cook-Gasm are a bit risky to life, limb and liver as they retrace several major Cook routes, and are very detailed and focused on how the "discoveries" by European explorers changed whole island-based societies. It is great fun to read about their adventures, hotel room accomodations and audiences with local royalty.

Though this is a work of fiction, written for a price, sold commercially for profit, it is an obvious work of love for Horwitz and his dedication to detail, vis-a-vie his time, energy and research are also obvious.

I highly recommend this book. In fact, look through the bibliography I mentioned previously in this review and you will find some really great reading material for your own adventure enjoyment or education.