Captain Cook

The Life the Death and the Legacy of History's Great Explorer

by Vanessa Collingridge

Publication Date: 12 March 2002 Price: $24.95

A remarkable journey charting three lives over three centuries in a quest to find the truth.

Vanessa Collingridge has a passion for explorers, and for one in particular. Quitting her comfortable job on prime-time television, she set out to traverse the globe in the wake of her all-time hero, Captain James Cook - the man who discovered more of this planet than any other person - a titan in the history of ambition, discovery, the Empire and the modern civilisation.

In producing this historical and geographical tour de force, her aim was to get underneath the public legend, to find the man behind the myth and uncover the private passions that drove him to go "farther than any other man" - but en route, she got more than she bargained for.

A chance discovery in a library led to a life changing and very personal collision with a distant, dead relative, George Collingridge. He, too, was a geographer and journalist with a passion for discovery and an interest in our hero - but he had dared to speak a heresy that shook the British Empire: Captain Cook may have been the greatest explorer of all time -- but he didn't discover Australia.

George used as his evidence a set of beautiful sixteenth century maps showing a mysterious continent called Jave la Grande - a continent with place names in Portuguese, French and Spanish - a continent in the place where Australia should be. His evidence was ridiculed, he was denounced as traitor and finally died in poverty and disgrace. Fifty years later, the tide of opinion is beginning to turn…

Captain Cook - Obsession and Betrayal in the New World is the intimate biography of Captain James Cook, with an exploration of the life of George Collingridge an inquisitive nineteenth century gentleman and an evocative account of Vanessa Collingridge's own quest for the truth. It's a tale of passion, obsession, glory and betrayal, played out across 10,000 miles and five hundred years. And against the drama of rising stars and fallen angels is a thought-provoking insight into how we manipulate our heroes, heretics and even history itself to serve our own ends.



CHRONOLOGICAL BIOGRAPHY
OF THE THREE PROTAGONISTS

1700s
 Captain James Cook - one of the greatest explorers in history. In three epic journeys he discovered more of the earth's surface than any other man. He was seaman, scientist, cartographer and surveyor. A man of humble beginnings who showed early signs of a keen mind, an appetite for knowledge and a love for the sea. His achievements were remarkable: he mapped the Pacific Islands, circumnavigated Antarctica, charted the South Island of New Zealand and discovered Tahiti, the New Hebrides and Australia.

1800s
 One hundred years on we meet George Collingridge, an artist and cartographer seeking adventure in the footsteps of Captain Cook. He is drawn to old maps of early explorers. His travels and findings lead him to the outrageous claim that it was not Cook who 'discovered' Australia but the Portuguese some 250 years earlier. Collingridge stakes his reputation on the claim and loses it. He dies forgotten, ruined by his obsession.

1900s
 A young woman scours a university library for books on her hero, Captain Cook. The name Collingridge catches her attention, as it is her own. The holder of the name is a distant cousin who, like herself was intrigued by the life and times of Cook. Vanessa Collingridge probes the lives of these two men, separated by a century but united in their desire for adventure. Cook died a hero, remembered throughout history as one of the greatest explorers of all time. Collingridge dies a broken man, remembered only as the man who dared to question the legend who was Captain Cook.


VANESSA COLLINGRIDGE
 A REMARKABLE WOMAN IN HER OWN RIGHT

Vanessa Collingridge has achieved more in her 33 years than most people do in a lifetime. Her passion for exploration has taken her from qualifying as an astronaut at a space training centre in Russia to a shipmate on the replica Endeavour circumnavigating Australia.

List of adventures:

Crew member in the sea trials of the reconstructed 170-oared Greek Trireme, spending a summer at the Greek Naval Barracks in Poros.

Trained and qualified as an astronaut at Star City in Russia, as part of their Space Tourism Programme. Vanessa was the first woman to complete the training and she set a world record at the aquanaut session.

Crewed the replica Endeavour on part of its journey around Australia (2001).

Recently canoed 180 miles through the Belize jungle.

Other points of Interest

· The manipulation of history - how we create and then often seek to destroy our heroes. One country's hero is another's despot.

· Each era has a political agenda towards history. Depending on the politics of the time, certain aspects of history will be highlighted or down graded i.e. the idea of the British Empire is currently being vilified.

· Whilst at university Vanessa was seriously ill with viral encephalitis which left her bed-ridden and 'vegetative' for a year; unable to read, write or talk. It left her with a terrible memory that made researching the book a considerable challenge.

· Vanessa is a young woman writing in the very male dominated genre of history.

· Vanessa put her successful career on hold for a year to pursue her passion for Cook and to write this book. Most of us never find the time or the inclination to follow our passions to their conclusion.

· By a spooky coincidence it was only once Vanessa had started researching the book that she discovered that her godsons, who live in New Zealand, are the descendants of Capt. James King, who eventually took command of the ships to get them home after Cook's murder.

· A Fellow of the UK Royal Geographical Society (given lectures)

· 'Face of' the UK National Year of Science (Sept 2001-2002)

· Prior to writing the book, Vanessa was part of presenting team on the UK program Tonight with Trevor McDonald and was the main presenter on Channel 5's current affairs programme 'What's The Story'.