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Chapter 8
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Wide Wide Sea, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Exploration and Discovery
Imperialism, Colonialism, and Science
Cultural Collision and Misunderstanding
Legacy and Historical Narratives
Summary
Analysis
On June 23, 1776, Cook says goodbye to Elizabeth and their three children. With Sandwich’s help, she receives a generous allowance during his absence. The next day, a carriage whisks Cook and Mai from London to the Chatham Dockyard, where the Resolution waits. Mai, cheerful and gracious, hands out farewell cards to his English friends. The Discovery, still docked separately, lags behind due to delays and its captain’s misfortunes. Meanwhile, Charles Clerke is locked in debtor’s prison, unsure if he will even sail.
Cook’s farewell to his family is understated but emotionally charged, underscoring the personal costs of duty and ambition. Sides frames the departure as a logistical transition, but the details—Elizabeth’s allowance, Mai’s cheerful farewells, Clerke’s imprisonment—reveal a network of personal uncertainties behind the imperial machinery.
Active
Themes
The Resolution loads food, arms, livestock, and over 200 crew members—sailors, marines, and specialists. As tensions flare in the colonies, British troops and German mercenaries set sail for America, just as the rebels finalize the Declaration of Independence. On July 8, Cook receives his final orders: return Mai to Tahiti, find the Northwest Passage, and claim any unoccupied land in the king’s name. Still lacking Clerke, Cook leaves England on July 12. The Resolution slips past Plymouth on the same day it had departed four years earlier—a coincidence the crew greets as a good omen.
Active
Themes
