Maritime History
Book Details

H.M. Bark Endeavour

Her Place in Australian History

Single Volume

Ray Parkin

A new single volume edition of Ray Parkin's multi-award winning book.

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

'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, Age, 22 November 1999

About this Title

Here, in one accessible volume, is the long-awaited reprint of Ray Parkin's highly acclaimed and multi-award winning study of Captain James Cook's bark Endeavour.
This incomparable book is at once a unique account of a great journey of discovery--Endeavour's voyage up the east coast of New Holland (Australia) in the year 1770--and a remarkable re-creation of the experience of being on board ship.

Writing for layperson and mariner alike, Parkin draws on meticulous research to reveal what the Endeavour looked like, how she sailed, how she smelled; what daily life would have been like for those on board. No aspect of the ship is too insignificant for his enquiries. How many strands of yarn were there in the ship's cable? (954) Did the ship have a lightening conductor? (yes) What was the diameter of her main mast? (21 inches)

Further, these details are illustrated by a series of plans and figures depicting the ship's architecture and construction, her deck plan, rigging, sails, armament, boats, cables, anchors and accommodation, beautifully drawn by Parkin himself.

Part two of the text contains a composite log of Endeavour's voyage up the east coast of Australia. Here extracts from journals kept by those on board are supplemented by an interpretive commentary and made easy to follow by a series of explanatory charts.

HM Bark Endeavour is a fitting companion and supplement to standard works on Cook's voyage. It is also an absorbing book: discursive, erudite, at times poetic; full of wisdom, insight and information.

About the Author

Melbourne-born Ray Parkin (1910-2005) was an omnivorous reader and gifted artist who largely educated himself and became a fine maritime painter. He spent eighteen years in the Royal Australian Navy, including three years as a prisoner of war of the Japanese during World War 2. After the war he became a waterfront tally clerk and wrote of his wartime experiences in Out of the Smoke, Into the Smother and The Sword and the Blossom, all published to critical acclaim by The Hogarth Press, London, in the 1960s.

After his retirement Ray spent many years researching, writing and illustrating his remarkable, award-winning work H. M. Bark Endeavour, published in 1997 by Melbourne University Press.

978-0-522-85093-2