Introduction

Chapters in this book

1. Front Matter i
2. Contents vii
3. Illustrations ix
4. Acknowledgments xi
5. Introduction 5
6. Prequels
7. The North Sea and Canada 15
8. The Republic of Letters 36
9. The South Pacific 56
10. A Frozen World
11. Toward the South Pole 75
12. The Limit of Ambition 99
13. Temporizing in the Tropics 114
14. Cook and Forster, on Ice 127
15. A Third Voyage
16. An Ancient Quest, a New Mission 163
17. Southern Staging Grounds 191
18. Terra Borealis 214
19. Blink 242
20. Northern Interlude 271
21. Intimations of Mortality 298
22. Sequels
23. Springtime in Kamchatka 325
24. Diminishing Returns 340
25. Seeding the Fur Trade on the Voyage Home 358
26. Conclusion 372
27. Notes 390
28. Bibliography 412
29. Photo Credits 417
30. Index 419