Endeavour: The Ship and the Attitude that Changed the World

455 Pages·2018·3.55 MB·English

by  Peter Moore

About the Book
The Enlightenment was an age of endeavours. From Johnson’s Dictionary to
campaigns for liberty to schemes for measuring the dimensions of the solar
system, Britain was consumed by the impulse for grand projects, undertaken at
speed. ‘Endeavour’ was also the name given to a Whitby collier bought by the
Royal Navy in 1768 for an expedition to the South Seas. No one could have
guessed that Endeavour, a commonplace, coal-carrying vessel, would go on to
become the most significant ship in the history of British exploration.
Endeavour famously carried Captain James Cook on his first great voyage,
visiting Pacific islands unknown to European geography, charting New Zealand
and the eastern coast of Australia for the first time and almost foundering on the
Great Barrier Reef. But Endeavour was a ship with many lives. She was there at
the Wilkes Riots in London in 1768, and during the battles for control of New
York in 1776, she witnessed the bloody birth of the United States of America.
As well as carrying botanists, a Polynesian priest and the remains of the first
kangaroo to arrive in Britain, she transported Newcastle coal and Hessian
soldiers. According to Charles Darwin, she helped Cook add a hemisphere to the
civilised world. NASA named a space shuttle after her. To others she would be a
toxic symbol, responsible for the dispossession of the oldest continuous human
society and the disruption of many others.
No one has ever told Endeavour’s complete story before. Peter Moore sets out to
explore the different lives of this remarkable ship and her rich and complex
legacy.

Contents
Cover
About the Book
Title Page
Maps
Dedication
Epigraph
Prologue: Endeavours of the Mind
P O : L
ART NE IFE
1 Acorns
P T : T
ART WO RADE
2 Enigmas
3 Cross Currents
4 Mr Birds Ways
5 Land of Liberty
P T : E
ART HREE XPLORATION
6 ‘Take a Trip in disguise’
7 Airy Dreams
8 Perfect Strangers
9 ‘That rainbow serpent place’
P F : W
ART OUR AR
10 360°
11 The Frozen Serpent of the South
12 The Collier Fleet
13 Ghosts
Epilogue: Endeavours
Notes
Index of Searchable Terms
Select Bibliography
Images
Picture Credits
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Praise
By the Same Author
Imprint
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