Seventy North to Fifty South is an annotation of the published journal written by Captain James Cook during his third voyage: the voyage with major geographic and political consequences. His journal reports were filled with navigational and geographical detail plus anthropological observations about the inhabitants.

For several years, Dr. Dale has collected a library of books relating the adventures of voyagers in sailing ships and yachts. Some years ago he acquired a worn first edition of the journal of Cook's third voyage — the basis of this book. Dr. Dale wrote Seventy North to Fifty South during a period of seven years, partly as a hobby, and partly to share this ancient journal with others who would relish a good sea story and value information on the nature of primitive man. He hopes, in the future, to publish other accounts of early voyages taken from his collection. - 1968