The Wide Wide Sea

Author: Hampton Sides

Paperback

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14th July 2025

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Description

From New York Times bestselling author Hampton Sides comes an epic account of the most momentous voyage of the Age of Exploration - the fateful final journey of Captain James CookIn July 1776, Captain James Cook began his third voyage in HMS Resolution. Two-and-a-half years later, in Hawaii, Cook was killed - stabbed by the indigenous population.What brought Cook to this end, so far from his reputation? Cook was renowned for humane leadership, dedication to science and respect for indigenous societies.Cook's new voyage carried secret orders, and the Captain grew strange, delivering savage punishments and leading his ships into danger. The mission revealed the sharp edge of a colonial sword, leaving catastrophe in its wake. And, on the shores of Hawaii, Cook's expedition finally tore itself apart...

Critic Reviews

An astounding tale Sunday Times
A rollicking good read, with a tone that reminds me of David Grann’s recent tale of the 1741 Wager shipwreck . . . riveting Daily Telegraph
An enthralling account of Captain Cook’s final, fatal voyage . . . an excellent book Economist
A riveting book, deeply researched, light of touch and always judicious and full-sailed about an exceptional man's final extraordinary journey Spectator
Vivid and propulsive . . . New Zealand, Tahiti, Kamchatka, Hawaii and London come alive with you-are-there descriptions of gales, crushing ice packs and gun smoke . . . but Sides isn’t just interested in retelling an adventure tale. He also wants to present it from a 21st-century point of view. The Wide Wide Sea fits neatly into a growing genre that includes David Grann’s The Wager and Candice Millard’s River of the Gods' New York Times
A lightning rod, an icon, a totem, a cipher, Cook remains endlessly fascinating. A lively, vivid, highly readable addition to the vast body of literature about a powerful and complicated figure whose legacy – love him or hate him – is impossible to ignore The Times Literary Supplement
'Hampton Sides, an acclaimed master of the nonfiction narrative, has taken on Cook’s story and retells it for the 21st century . . . The result is a work that will enthrall Cook’s admirers, inform his critics and entertain everyone in between' Los Angeles Times
A thrilling tale History Today
'With gripping prose, Sides details Cook's increasingly erratic behavior as he explored vast swaths of the Pacific and scrambled to find the fabled Northwest Passage along the ice-choked coast of Alaska. His account lays bare the Age of Exploration's moral perils, which continue to reverbarate today' Outside Magazine
'Sides make a persuasive case in 387 pages of diligent, riveting reporting that Cook came as a navigator and mapmaker and in dramatically opening what was known about our world, made us all richer in knowledge' Associated Press

About the Author

Hampton Sides is an editor-at-large for Outside magazine and teaches literary journalism and narrative history at Colorado College. The bestselling author of Kingdom of Ice, Ghost Soldiers, Blood and Thunder, and Hellhound On His Trail, he lives in Santa Fe with his wife Anne.