Word: zug
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...Zug, a contributor to the Atlantic Monthly and previously author of “Squash: A History of the Game,” seamlessly incorporates the written words of primary sources—some of which were obtained from Harvard’s Houghton Library—into an engaging narrative as jam-packed with action as Ledyard’s short life...
This undignified departure closed the door on a ministerial career, but, as Zug rightly points out, Ledyard would never have lasted long in such a strict, ordered profession. He joined a sea voyage to England in 1775, deserted, and was pressed into service in the Royal Navy as the Revolutionary War loomed on the horizon. In 1776, Ledyard seized the chance to serve on the renowned Captain James Cook’s third expedition, which hoped to discover a Northwest Passage to link the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans...
...explosive nature led to a fatal showdown with the Hawaiian people, and Cook was hacked apart for trying to kidnap the king. The crew later recovered “a horrifying package of burnt bones, thighs, calves, skull with one ear attached, arms and hands,” Zug notes...
...ships returned to England sans Cook, and Ledyard went back to his garrison. Feeling trapped in the rigid military, Ledyard deserted when his unit was stationed in Long Island for the Revolution. “Bound by the conventional and the ordinary, he would revolt,” Zug writes. Having quickly spent his navy pay, the poor Ledyard wrote a popular memoir of his voyage with Cook in an effort to drum up support among potential donors for a fur-trading expedition. Ledyard stirred up an interested group, but corruption abounded and Ledyard was cut out of the loop...
...expedition to Africa, and he, of course, volunteered. Unfortunately, so soon after his Siberian excursion, Ledyard’s health was not as vigorous as his spirit. “To those who knew him…the African adventure looked something like a death wish,” Zug writes. Ledyard only made it as far as Cairo. Suffering stomach pains, he took medication to induce vomiting. But he ingested too strong a dose, causing a blood vessel to burst. He died...