A thorough study of James Cook's "Endeavour" and a unique account of her voyage up the east coast of Australia in 1770. For layperson and mariner alike, this book describes what the "Endeavour" looked like, how she was constructed, rigged and equipped, and what daily life would have been like for the men who manned and commanded the ship.

H.M. Bark Endeavour: Her Place in Australian History

History

Parkin, Ray

Australia & Oceania

Melbourne University Press

Ray Parkin's Wartime Trilogy: Out of the Smoke; Into the Smother; The Sword and the Blossom

Ray Parkin's classic wartime trilogy, originally published in the 1960s, has been out of print for many years. Now eagerly sought after, it will be available for the first time in a single volume. 
Out of the Smoke, with an introduction by Laurens van der Post, tells of Ray's experience as Action Chief Quartermaster in HMAS Perth engaging an overwhelming Japanese naval force and being finally sunk by gunfire and torpedoes at midnight. 
Into the Smother tells direct from Ray's diary of some fifteen months building the Burma-Siam [Thailand] Railway as a POW with Weary Dunlop under the Imperial Japanese Army. 
The Sword and the Blossom tells of the last twelve months of captivity: of transport to Japan in a derelict tramp steamer; of submarine attacks; of weathering typhoons with open hatches; of working in a coal mine under the Inland Sea at Ohama on the shores of Honshu until the advent of the two atomic bombs (one just to the north, the other just to the south) finally freeing POWs. 
Ray Parkin is the author of the award winning H.M. Bark Endeavour.

Biographies & Memoirs

Melbourne University Publishing

These brilliant books hum with action, adventure and courage. Honestly and plainly written, they are full of humanity and great wisdom.
Out of the Smoke tells of Ray's experiences as Action Chief Quartermaster in HMAS Perth, which was sunk while engaging an overwhelming Japanese naval force in the Sunda Strait. Two cruisers, HMAS Perth and USS Houston, fought until their ammunition was exhausted. Thus defenceless and surrounded, sunk by four torpedoes and gunfire. It had been a night action, desperate and determined until the inevitable end. A small party of the survivors tried to sail a derelict lifeboat to safety, only to land at a port in enemy hands. In his Introduction to the book, Sir Laurens van der Post describes Out of the Smoke as 'one of the great stories of war at sea'.
Into the Smother tells, direct from the author's diary, of his fifteen months as a POW on the Burma-Siam {Thailand} railway. The construction of this railway remains one of history's most awful instances of man's inhumanity to man. Ray documents with remarkable restraint the horrors and sufferings he and his comrades endured at the mercy of the cruel jungle and the Imperial Japanese Army. The book has an appendix by Sir Edward 'Weary' Dunlop, to whose care Ray had entrusted his secret writings, drawings and paintings when taken to Japan. Into the Smother is impressive in its honesty and inspiring in its evocation of courage and endurance.
The Sword and the Blossom tells of Ray's last twelve months of captivity. Shipped to Japan in an incredibly crowded, derelict tramp steamer, he and his comrades endured submarine attacks and weathered a typhoon with open hatches. They were then taken to a POW camp at Ohama, on the shores of Honshu, where they worked in a coal mine under the Inland Sea. With the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki—one just to the north of them, the other just to the south-the POWs found themselves free among a people who had held over them the power of life and death. The Sword and the Blossom gives the reader a remarkable insight into the Japanese way of thinking, and lights the ghastly experience with magnificent prose. 
These classic books are illustrated with Ray Parkin's evocative and detailed drawings and sketches, made secretly at the time.

Leaders & Notable People

H.M " Bark Endeavour "

The Miegunyah Press

H.M. Bark Endeavour Updated Edition

Miegunyah Press

H.M. Bark Endeavour Box Set

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Books by Parkin, Ray