Over the course of his illustrious career, Captain James Cook, R.N. filled in many of the gaps on the Western world atlas, charting much of the Pacific Ocean over three grand voyages of discovery. But Cook was much more familiar with the waters of the North Atlantic: specifically, those that flow along the east coast of Canada. Cook spent fully a third of his naval career along Canada's Atlantic shores. He learned his trade as a navigator in Halifax, and as an apprentice surveyor helped the British fleet to a decisive victory at Fortress Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island in 1758. His soundings of the St. Lawrence River led the Royal Navy and thousands of troops to the epoch-defining battle at Quebec's Plains of Abraham the following year. Cook's first published chart was of Gaspé Harbour.
As a young man of 34, he was assigned a monumental task, his first in command of a vessel: to create accurate nautical charts of the 6,000 mile shoreline of Newfoundland, the Empire's oldest colony, conceded in full to England by the terms of the 1763 Treaty of Paris. Over the next four years, he would meticulously trace the outline of Newfoundland's ancient rock peninsulas, harbours, coves and capes, and provide the first comprehensive survey of one of the Empire's most lucrative and strategic possessions. But Cook's Newfoundland survey was much more than mere mapmaking. As he sailed from cape to fiord, he was revolutionizing the art and science of surveying. The result of his labour was an unequalled cartographic masterpiece. Indeed, J.C. Beaglehole, the great chronicler of Cook's life, credited the Newfoundland survey as his greatest achievement. "Cook, he wrote, "was to carry out many accomplished pieces of surveying, in one part of the world or another, but nothing he ever did later exceeded in accomplishment his surveys ... of Newfoundland from 1763 to 1767."
For the Chasing Cook project, Adam spent the summer of 2005 sailing alone around Newfoundland in Solebay, his 26-foot Contessa sailboat with Cook's charts, sailing directions and logs in hand. And until he burned the motor out and got stranded, the trip was going well. He still managed to get around the island and up the coast of Labrador, but the book may have to be retitled: "Getting Around Newfoundland By Hook, Crook, and Captain Cook." You'll have to read it to find out the details, but the result of Adam's adventure will be a combination of historical story and modern travelogue that describes the Cook's work and experience in Newfoundland and Labrador, a story driven by an engaging, witty and poignant narrative of personal discovery.
The book will be published in Canada by Penguin Books; inquires about rights in other countries may be directed to Anne McDermid. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is developing the book as a documentary film, which will be produced by Halifax-based Telltale productions. Adam will be back in Newfoundland waters in 2006 on board a 59-foot schooner to recreate some of Cook's exploits on film.
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