Spanish, British, and French explorers reached the Pacific Northwest before Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. The American captains benefited from those predecessors, even carrying with them copies of their published accounts. James Cook, George Vancouver, and Alexander Mackenzie--and to a lesser extent fur traders John Meares and Robert Gray--directly and indirectly influenced the expedition. Based on new material as well as revised essays from popular history journals, "Lewis and Clark Reframed" examines several curious and seemingly inexplicable aspects of the journey after the Corps of Discovery crossed the Rocky Mountains. The captains' journals demonstrate that they relied on Mackenzie's 1801 "Voyages from Montreal" as a trail guide. They borrowed field techniques and favorite literary expressions--at times plagiarizing entire paragraphs. Cook's literature also informed the pair, and his naming conventions evoke fresh ideas about an enduring expedition mystery--the identity of the two or three journalists whose records are now missing. Additional journal text analysis dispels the notion that the captains were equals, despite expedition lore. Lewis claimed all the epochal discoveries for himself, and in one of his more memorable passages, drew on Mackenzie for inspiration. Parallels between Cook's and other exploratory accounts offer evidence that like many long-distance voyagers, Lewis grappled with homesickness. His friendship with Mahlon Dickerson lends insights into Lewis's shortcomings and eventual undoing. As secretary of the navy, Dickerson drew from Lewis's troubled past to impede the 1840s ocean expedition set to emulate Cook and solidify America's claim, through Lewis and Clark, to the region.

xxvii, 156 pages : illustrations (some color), maps ; 23 cm

Authored by Arthur Kitson, Captain James Cook, R.N., F.R.S., "the circumnavigator" offers a comprehensive biographical account of the legendary British explorer and his monumental maritime expeditions. The book traces Cook’s ascent from his early days in the merchant coal trade to his command of three historic global voyages, detailing his meticulous mapping of the Pacific Ocean and his crucial surveys along the Pacific Northwest coastline. Drawing heavily upon Admiralty records and Cook’s own logs, the text captures the immense navigational achievements and devastating final act of a man who fundamentally redrew the map of the world. A keen insight drawn from the work is how Cook's disciplined expeditions marked a pivotal transition in European expansion from speculative treasure-hunting to empirical scientific imperialism; by weaponizing precise cartography and geographic observation, Cook's voyages demonstrated that the true mastery of new frontiers relied on systematic data collection rather than sheer military force.

xvi, 525 pages : facsimiles, folded color map, facsimiles, plates, portraits ; 23 cm

First edition of the account of Captain James Cook's third voyage (1776-1780), consisting of three quarto volumes of text and plates, and one folio atlas, the latter without title-page

3 volumes : 25 illustrations, maps (some folded) ; 30 cm (4to) + 1 atlas (63 leaves of plates (2 folded) : all illustrations, 2 maps, portraits ; 58 cm (folio))