Somehow I ended up this year circumnavigating the world with Captain James Cook and Lieutenant Charles Wilkes. These two men makes today’s ocean exploration so easy.
Modern Ocean Mapping
Scientists today have satellites, sonar, air craft, radio communication, reinforced steel ships with engines. Ocean charts give accurate information about continents, islands, currents, undersea mounts and more.
These don’t change that time spent out on the ocean is time away from friends and family. A ship is its own world and those on it are stuck in each other’s company for the time of the voyage.
Ocean Voyages for Wilkes and Cook
“Stowaway” by Karen Hesse is set during Captain Cook’s first voyage around the world in 1769. “The Forgotten Voyage of Charles Wilkes” by begins in 1838.
These voyages were made in wooden sailing ships. Their movements depended on the wind or, in emergency, on small boats pulling them as men rowed. Storms blew them off course, shredded sails and sometimes onto reefs or rocks.
Without radios, each ship had to depend on their crew and captain. If the ship was sunk, the crew went down with it. Their families waited, not knowing, for years until the ship was given up as lost.
Provisions were what a ship could carry. When possible, the crew fished. Whenever land was seen, the ship could try to refill empty water casks and gather fresh food.
Medicine was iffy. Scurvy was dreaded and showed up frequently. Recognition of using citrus juice was still experimental.
Exploration and Politics
Captain Cook was important to Britain. His voyages of ocean exploration were supported and valued. Scientific knowledge was important in Europe.
President John Quincy Adams wanted to send out a fleet of ships for ocean exploration to make the new United States important in the scientific community. Congress ignored him and those who followed him.
When Congress finally approved funding for a voyage, Lieutenant Charles Wilkes was put in charge with a promise of having a promotion to Captain. It didn’t happen. His ships were old and inadequate for the task.
The Naval Ship Yard pretended to repair the ships. Their work was shoddy, holes in masts were stuffed with rope and painted over, rotting wood and equipment were not replaced.
In spite of inadequate winter clothing (the manufacturer cheated on the material) and barely seaworthy ships, Wilkes showed Antarctica to be a continent, mapped islands and harbors, spread American diplomacy around the southern part of the world. His reward when he returned was a court martial. His work was ignored and Europe was allowed to insult it.
Book Ratings
Both of these books were easy to read. “Stowaway” was written in a journal entry format that took a bit to get used to. In the Goodreads system, both received four stars and full reviews.