The Wide Wide Sea summary

Charles Clerke, Captain Cook’s loyal second-in-command, was chosen to command Discovery, the sister ship to Resolution. The expedition was carefully plotted by Cook and the Admiralty to search for the Northwest Passage from the Pacific side, a strategy they hoped would give Britain a commercial advantage over its European rivals.

The expedition had strong backing, notably from Lord John Montagu, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, who theorized that salt water didn’t freeze, which would theoretically allow Cook to navigate Arctic waters. The planned route took the ships around Africa, through the Polynesian islands, and then northward to the Arctic waters of North America.

On February 10, 1777, the Resolution and Discovery approached New Zealand’s South Island. Initially, the Māori believed that Cook was there for revenge. With Mai as translator, Cook tried to assure them that his intentions were peaceful.

As the crew set up tents and the animals were brought out to graze, tensions began to melt. The Māori had never seen horses or cows before. Their curiosity piqued, the Māori began to approach in increasing numbers, leading to a bustling scene of trade and interaction.

In November 1777 Resolution and Discovery left Huahine and the rest of the Society Islands behind. When they began their journey north across the Pacific, they were venturing into uncharted territory – 5,000 miles of open ocean. But they expected that; they thought they’d see nothing until they hit the coast of North America. 

However, they soon found something. On December 23, a low coral island was spotted, which Cook named Christmas Island (now Kiritimati). The crew celebrated Christmas there with a feast of local seafood before resuming their voyage.

On March 7, 1778, Captain Cook’s ships, Resolution and Discovery, sighted land along what is now Oregon’s coastline. Enduring storms and fog that limited visibility, they navigated up the coast toward Alaska. 

By March 29, they found a peaceful inlet surrounded by snow-capped peaks, which Cook named Nootka Sound, after a misinterpretation of a native phrase. The local Mowachaht people, who had lived there for millennia, greeted the crew in 32 canoes, leading to a rich cultural exchange that included trade and music played by Cook’s men.

As Resolution and Discovery once again reached the Hawaiian islands, Cook made the surprising decision to remain offshore. This puzzled the crew who, after the tough voyage from the Arctic, were eager to land. Cook's strategy was to prevent the spread of venereal disease that was affecting his crew, and to better manage interactions with the islanders in order to avoid conflicts.

So Cook circled around the islands, and was drawn to the larger island of Hawaii, with its impressive snow-capped volcanoes. So it was that on January 17, 1779, Cook and his crew reached Kealakekua Bay on Hawaii’s Kona Coast, a site of deep spiritual significance. Kealakekua was central to Hawaiian royalty and the home of Lono, the god of peace and fertility. Vast crowds, numbering up to ten thousand people and a thousand canoes, poured out from the bay and greeted the ships with intense enthusiasm.

After Cook’s death, the expedition fell into disarray, but Charles Clerke, despite being gravely ill with tuberculosis, took command. He sent Lieutenant Bligh to retrieve essential supplies and tasked Lieutenant King with negotiating for Cook’s remains. 

However, tensions ran high as the crew faced resistance from the islanders, leading to a violent confrontation in which many Hawaiians were killed, and their homes burned. The Hawaiians, intimidated by the Europeans’ firepower, eventually sought peace and returned some of Cook’s body and possessions. A somber funeral for Cook was held aboard Resolution on February 21.