Book Review: The Last Voyage of Captain Cook

I haven't done a book review for awhile because I've been trying to finish this one.

The complete title is: The Last Voyage of Captain Cook: The Collected Writings of John Ledyard. John Ledyard was a New Englander who was a well-known explorer in his day and is obscure now. He sailed as a common marine (see Master & Commander for an example of what his life would be like) who was impressed by the British and sailed with Cook. The extraordinary thing about this was that it took place during the American Revolutionary War.

Ledyard's book is the only known account of that voyage, and of Cook's death in the Sandwich Islands (Hawai'i), written by an American and by someone who was not an officer.

This edition also includes Ledyard's letters from Paris, including his correspondence with Thomas Jefferson while Jefferson was the Ambassador for the fledging U.S. in Paris, as well as his journal of his experiences traveling through Siberia, and the start of his trip in Africa to find the Niger River.

Mr. Ledyard is a fascinating man. Because of his extensive travels, he is able to see the similiarities in the physical appearance of the indigenous groups he meets, as well as their customs and traditions. He makes vocabulary lists. He notes that the indigenous people are often smarter than the European explorers give them credit for.

What makes this book difficult to read, however, is Ledyard's complete disregard for punctuation and capitalization. His writings often read as they were written--hastily and incompletely. And, of course, there is the irregularities of 18th Century spelling to contend with, along with the changes in geographical names, particularly in the South Seas. (Maps that showed both the old and the new names would have been helpful.)

I enjoyed the book. But then, I'm a sucker for this kind of informal history, written by those who were there. I found it a fascinating look at the world through the eyes of an 18th Century man, one who saw more of it than probably any other man of his day.

This edition was edited by James Zug and published as part of the National Geographic Adventure Classics series.

On the March Hare scale: 3.5 bookmarks--but only if you have a taste for this sort of writing.