In the 250 years since he set sail from Plymouth, readings of James Cook’s three maritime expeditions have zigzagged as wildly as the drunken-looking course of his vessels around the islands of the South Pacific. Did the self-made captain and cartographer from Teesside circumnavigate the globe three times in search of wonder, or plunder? Did his ships Endeavour, Resolution and Discovery blaze a watery trail for science or commerce, Enlightenment or imperialism? If the correct answer is (inevitably) “all of the above”, then …