In Cooks relatively short & adventurous life (1728-79) he voyaged to the eastern & western sea boards of North America the North & South Pacific & the Arctic & Antarctic bringing about a new comprehension of the worlds geography & its peoples. He was the linking figure between the grey speculation of the early eighteenth century & the industrial age of the first half of the nineteenth century. Richard Houghs biography is full of new insights & interpretations of one of the worlds greatest mariners.