Maritime History
Book Details

H.M. Bark Endeavour

Her Place in Australian History

Ray Parkin

This is the most thorough study yet undertaken of James Cook's Endeavour and her voyage along the east coast of Australia in 1770.

Awards

NSW Premier's Literary Awards, Book of the Year 1999
NSW Premier's Literary Awards, Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction 1999

Opinion

'Ray Parkin's H.M. Bark Endeavour . . . must rank as one of the grandest books of its kind produced in this country.' (Peter Craven, Australian)

'. . . the thing that really makes this book special is the fact that it is accompanied by a box of plans and illustrations, engraved by Parkin himself, covering everything about the Endeavour from the cables to the carcase. These are quite irresistible . . .' (Christina Thompson, The Age, 30 November 1999)

'This is a remarkable book . . . Parkin has a gift for words . . . Parkin's taut and vivid prose recaptures these deaths (of the sailors who perished on the journey).' (Geoffrey Blainey, The Age, 22 November 1999)

About this Title

This is the most thorough study yet undertaken of James Cook's Endeavour and a unique account of its voyage along the east coast of Australia in 1770.

Writing for layperson and mariner alike, Ray Parkin reconstructs Endeavour in word and image: describing what it looked like, how it was constructed, rigged and equipped; what daily life would have been like for the men who manned and commanded the ship.

His painstakingly researched text comes with a box of large-format plans depicting the ship's design and construction, decks, rigging, sails, boats, cables, anchors and accommodation. Part Two of the text contains a composite log of Endeavour's voyage up the east coast, in which extracts from journals kept by those on board are supplemented by an interpretative commentary and explanatory charts.

This is an absorbing book: discursive, erudite, at times poetic; full of wisdom, insight and information.

Table of Contents

Part I: The World of the Ship
Introduction
1. The Sailor and His Environment
2. The Captain
3. The Ship
4. Scurvy and Provisions
5. The Ship's Company
6. From Misfortune, and by Their Sins
7. Peradventure

Part II: The Voyage
Introduction
1. The Decision
2. Towards New Holland
3. Towards Botany Bay
4. Botany Bay
5. Port Jackson to Sandy Cape
6. Sandy Cape to Thirsty Sound
7. Thirsty Sound to Trinity Bay
8. Endeavour Reef
9. Endeavour River: June
10. Endeavour River: July
11. Departure
12. Escape to Sea
13. The Breadth of One Wave
14. Keeping the Main on Board
15. L'envoi

About the Author

Ray Parkin was born in Melbourne. He joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1928 and spent eighteen years in the service. In 1942 he was on board HMAS Perth when the cruiser was sunk by the Japanese in the Sunda Strait, killing two-thirds of those on board. After the sinking of Perth Parkin spent three and a half years as a Japanese prisoner of war in Java, on the Burma-Siam Railway and in coal mines in Japan. His experience during this period led to three books which were published by the Hogarth Press: Out of the Smoke (1960); Into the Smother (1963); and The Sword and the Blossom (1967). At the end of the war Ray Parkin completed a fine art course. He worked on the Melbourne waterfront until his retirement in 1975 when he went to London to continue his research into Endeavour.

978-0-522-84716-1