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This is Fresh Air.

I'm Dave Davies.

You may remember the story of the Apollo 13 mission to the moon when an explosion in the spacecraft of three astronauts

forced them to summon the courage, focus, and ingenuity to rescue the situation and return home safely.

That story came to me often as I read the latest book by our guest, Historian Hampton's

sides.

It's about an 18th century sea voyage around the world, led by Captain James Cook, an explorer so accomplished

that in the 1770s his was a household name in England.

Sides book is an account of what it took for a ship full of men to sail for months in uncharted waters with only what they had on board to survive,

how they coped with hunger, thirst, disease, and weather so fierce it could snap a ship's mast in two and still found ways

to keep going. It's a tale of fearless exploration which greatly expanded our understanding

of the world's geography, and it's a story of remarkable

encounters with indigenous people, some of whom had never seen Europeans before.

All such encounters were unique and most friendly, but one rooted in deep cultural gaps and

misunderstandings would lead to a tragic outcome remembered for centuries.

Hampton Sides is a contributing editor to Outside magazine and a historian who's written five previous books on subjects ranging from the expiration of the American West to the Korean War.

His latest is The Wide Wide Sea, Imperial Ambition, First Contact,

and the fateful final voyage of Captain James Cook.

In Hampton sides, welcome back to fresh air.

Yeah, it's a real pleasure to be back with you.

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