Why, in the closing decades of the 1700s, one of the bloodiest periods in European history, did sailors from the warring nations of Britain and France come to this far-flung corner of the world in an attempt to chart coastlines in the Pacific, including Australia? Why engage in such a dangerous and potentially unrewarding task when a much greater reward might be had fighting wars and sharing the rewards of glory, promotion and prize money? Mortality on these sea journeys was high. Very few of the French navigators survived their first major expedition to the Pacific, and very few of the British commanded more than one. Only one, William Bligh, ever achieved what could be regarded as comfortable retirement. A great deal has been written about many of these navigators - Bouganville, Cook, Bligh, Bass, Baudin and Flinders - often in weighty volumes. This book does not try to emulate such efforts. Instead it seeks to address the spirit of the era, to examine afresh the personal ambitions of these navigators, the quite often different goals of their political patrons and backers, and the reasons why they did or did not succeed. In portraying their frailty and their tenacity author Rober