An enthralling account of Captain Cook’s final, fatal voyage

UNTIL RECENTLY Captain James Cook was not a particularly controversial figure. But in January a statue of the 18th-century British explorer was toppled in Melbourne and the words “The colony will fall” spray-painted on the plinth. In Hawaii an obelisk in Cook’s memory has been splattered with red paint and the message “You are on native land.” Cook has joined Edward Colston and Cecil Rhodes as a focal point for anti-colonialist ire.