Maritime

Aphrodite’s Island – The European Discovery of Tahiti – Anne Salmond.

The author a distinguished Professor of Anthropology at Auckland University.

Large thick octavo, 537 pages, nicely illustrated. Published by the University of California Press. Los Angeles and London in 2010. A fine copy. A heavy book which may require and overseas postage surcharge.

Comprehensive and sophisticated drawing on many references including Tahitian oral histories and artefacts as well as European manuscripts. A book that explores Tahiti and the European interactions with an outward perspective. The perceptions of the Tahitian and the fascinations of the Europeans.

Tahiti and the arrival of the Europeans – a comprehensive work by Salmond

$40.00

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Resolution – Captain Cook’s Second Voyage of Discovery – Peter Aughton.

The author was an engineer, he worked on the development of Concorde, so he brings a scientific style to his writing, which we like.

Large octavo, 189 pages nice illustrations and several super charts. A fine copy.

Cook’s second voyage plunged further South than anyone before him to solve the mystery of the Southernmost Continent. He may have been the first to see the Antarctic Continent south of South Georgia … the jury is still out.

Never with only one objective in mind, Cook then set off for warmer climes and now familiar territory .. to him.

A voyage full of curiosity … the first to properly carry the Harrison chronometer … the one that worked and the longitude solved because of the clock and because of Cook’s careful control over this new fangled precision instrument that looked like a large pocket watch. Difficulties arose, not the least the loss of men from the sister ship Adventure who lost their lives to cannibals.

HMS Resolution apply named and Cook’s Second successful voyage south and into the Pacific.

$35.00

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Discoveries – The Voyages of Captain Cook – Nicholas Thomas

A first edition hardback of a different book about Cook in the Pacific

… hard to believe given the multitude of volumes written about the great man and his three unrivalled voyages.

However, here we have a different author a Professor of Anthropology at Goldsmiths London. So the perspective is different and now very topical. Cook’s encounters with the people of the Pacific were often harmonious but sometimes volatile .. the author seeks to put us in the position of Cook who as time progressed became more aware that his curiosity came with its own challenges.

Large thick octavo, 468 pages, illustrations and charts. Published by Allen Lane, London in 2003. A fine copy.

Captain Cook in the Pacific and his interactions with the people who lived there .

$40.00

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Bligh – Master Mariner – Rob Mundle

A fine first edition of Rob Mundle’s excellent hardback book on Bligh. Large octavo, 368 pages with end paper illustrations and coloured illustrations inside. Published by Hachette, Sydney in 2010. Very good condition.

The writer, a sailor from a sailing family writes about Bligh with a focus on detail and Bligh’s unrivalled skill as a navigator.

He was at the forefront at an early age. With Cook on his fateful third voyage on the Resolution, it was a 24 years old Bligh who took command of the navigation on the voyage home. He was 34 when he found himself in conflict with Fletcher Christian resulting in the epic 47 day open boat voyage from Tonga to Timor. And, 36 when he commanded HMS Pandora around the world … among his company a young Matthew Flinders

William Bligh – another perspective – and no less enlightening

$30.00

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George Bass – Discovery of the Bass Strait – Commemorative Bronze Medal – 1968

George Bass, Surgeon and Explorer carried out two voyages to confirm the Bass Strait and the separation of Tasmania (then Van Diemen’s Land) from mainland Australia – known affectionately in Tasmania as “The Other Island”.

First, in 1797 he set off in an open whaleboat with a crew of six. They sailed to Cape Howe at the farthest point of South-east Australia and, from there sailed west along the Gippsland coast to Western Point, at the entrance to Port Phillip. Observations of the rapid tide and long south-western swell supported his view that a large Strait lay in front of him.

In 1798 he set out again, with Matthew Flinders in the sloop Norfolk and circumnavigated Van Diemen’s Land. They visited the Derwent River which had previously been named by Captain John Hayes. On return to Sydney, Flinders promoted the naming of the Strait after Bass … the then Governor, John Hunter agreed.

Bass’s later life was adventurous and possibly … likely … tragic, making the date of his death noted on the medal questionable.

The medal was struck in 1968. It was produced by K.G. Luke & Sons, Melbourne for the Numismatic Association of Victoria. 160 examples were produced in this bronze form and a similar number in silver. 50mm in diameter, 48gms weight, with a high relief bust of Bass facing right, carrying his spyglass. On the reverse a delightful image of the whaleboat, the sloop Norfolk and the chart and route of the vessels, appropriately dated.

Unusual medal to celebrate the achievements of George Bass

$140.00

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The Expedition of the St Jean-Baptiste to the Pacific 1769-1770

A most interesting Hakluyt production. This expedition, conducted at the time of Cook’s first voyage, had dropped off the radar until the brilliant John Dunmore produced this work based on the journals of Captain Jean de Surville and First Officer Guillaume Labe.

Published by Hakluyt in 1981, octavo 310 pages illustrated with maps, facsimile pages from journals etc. Original blue cloth covered boards with gilt design, dust jacket, a very good copy.

Jean- Francois- Marie de Surville (1717-1770) was a merchant captain with the French East India Company. This was his only exploratory endeavour. He died in Peru without having completed his objective. In 1769 he was given command of the Saint Jaen-Baptiste to look for trading opportunities in the Pacific. He entered the Pacific from the north west and rediscovered the Solomon Islands, then on to New Zealand where he missed crossing paths with James Cook by a matter of days. Crossing the Pacific to Peru was confident in having dismissed the existence of David Land. His crew were in a most unhealthy state with the scurvy and other ailments. He decided not to call at Juan Fernandez and sailed straight to Chlica to get help. The ocean was rough and Surville set off in a small boat which capsized, and he drowned. Command was transferred to Labe. The ship however was seized by the Spanish and held for two years before the vessel and the remaining crew were let go. Roughly one third survived to return to France.

Despite these difficulties (understatement) the journals contain valuable information on the Solomons, observations on pre-colonial Maori society, and extraordinary picture of the hardships endured.

Jean Surville on the St Jean Baptiste

$40.00

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Aphrodite’s Island – The European Discovery of Tahiti – Anne Salmond.

Resolution – Captain Cook’s Second Voyage of Discovery – Peter Aughton.

Discoveries – The Voyages of Captain Cook – Nicholas Thomas

Bligh – Master Mariner – Rob Mundle

George Bass – Discovery of the Bass Strait – Commemorative Bronze Medal – 1968

The Expedition of the St Jean-Baptiste to the Pacific 1769-1770

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