Madness, Betrayal and the Lash: The Epic Voyage of Captain George Vancouver - Softcover

Bown, Stephen R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1553653130 ISBN 13: 9781553653134

Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre, 2010

Synopsis

From 1791 to 1795, George Vancouver sailed the Pacific as captain of a major expedition of discovery and imperial ambition, valiantly charting the extensive coastline from California to Alaska. His voyage was one of history’s greatest feats of daring, discovery, cartography, and diplomacy. The young captain, however, harbored an illness that would slowly drive him mad, and his triumphs were overshadowed by bitter smear campaigns initiated by enemies he made on board. His adversaries secretly sent word back home of his actions, and he was judged and condemned by London’s aristocratic elite. Vancouver died disgraced and in poverty. Madness, Betrayal and the Lash is a long overdue re-evaluation of one of the greatest explorers of the Age of Discovery. It's a gripping tale of adventure at sea, the struggle of empires, and one man’s battle against illness, the isolation of command, and a polarizing class system.

About this title

About the Author

Stephen R. Bown is the author of many critically acclaimed, award-winning titles, including most recently White Eskimo (Douglas & McIntyre, 2015), which was the winner of the 2016 William Mills Prize for Non-Fiction Polar Books. Bown lives in the Canadian Rockies.

From Publishers Weekly

Though mostly forgotten, the 1791-95 voyage of Capt. George Vancouver and his crew rivaled Columbus and Cook's for long-term impact; Vancouver's painstaking navigation through the uncharted Pacific set the path for modern North Pacific history. Bown (Scurvy, A Most Damnable Invention) provides a thorough, engaging account of a journey remarkable for its time and even more so in retrospect. Essential background information is flawed by excessive foreshadowing, but Bown's vivid account of Vancouver's work-mapping the labyrinthine coast between Northern California and southern Alaska, stopping off in Hawaii and Spanish California-proves fascinating. Plans for the voyage changed repeatedly; the end of the American Revolution, Britain's long rivalry with Spain, the pressure for new trade routes, manipulation by British politicians and fur traders, and the obsession with finding a Northwest Passage made a difficult, vague assignment nearly impossible. The last chapters read like a thriller, as Vancouver's health declines, his relations with the crew sour, and Britain and France go to war. Any fan of the Great Age of Sail, the history of the Royal Navy, or European voyages of exploration will enjoy rediscovering this almost-forgotten hero.
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About this edition

• Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1553653130
• ISBN 13: 9781553653134
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256