ISBN10: 0091888980, ISBN13: 9780091888985, [publisher: Penguin Random House] Softcover A uniquely woven story encompassing three separate centuries and three different lives.Captain Cook, best known for his heroic voyages through the Pacific Ocean, is brought to life in vivid detail. We follow his humble beginnings as the son of a farm labourer to his convention shattering treatment of the indigenous groups he met on his travels and then on to his final tragic voyage which signalled the end of his revered reputation. Almost a hundred years later another man catches a boat to Australia. Like Cook, George Collingridge, aristocrat and artist, is seeking adventure - and like Cook, it proved to be his undoing.His journey leads him to old maps of early explorers, to secret tales of hidden lands and buried treasure. It leads him to the real discoverers of Australia - the Portuguese. He stakes his reputation on the claim and loses it. His life is ruined by his obsession. Another hundred years later Vanessa Collingridge is searching for books on her lifelong hero Captain Cook in a University library. She discovers the name of a distant cousin, George Collingridge, in a dusty card index. A century later a new journey of discovery begins - in the footsteps of her hero and his nemesis 2003. Reprint. A very good copy with spotting on the edges.
[York, WA, Australia] [Publication Year: 2003]