Into these roiling waters wades “The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook” (Doubleday), a new biography by Hampton Sides. Sides, a ...

The medal had two functions. First, it was meant to record a significant event. Cook’s first voyage, after all, had circumnavigated the globe; great things were expected for the sequel.

A voyager named Tupaia guided Captain James Cook through the South Seas and drew an island-filled chart that has puzzled scholars for more than 250 years ...