Quotes from Laurence Bergreen

maneuverable sails and impressive seaworthiness, caravels became the vessels of choice for exploration.

The ships were among the most complicated machines of their day

even if he believed he was entitled to do so under his own contract with King Charles.

Basically a large hourglass, the sand clock had been in use since Egyptian times;

Magellan lost all interest in his visitors and busied himself readying the flagship against attack.

Prince Henry sent no less than fourteen expeditions to Cape Bojador within twelve years

wonders of Renaissance technology, and the product of thousands of hours of labor by skilled artisans working at their specialized trades.

it was essential for both timekeeping and for navigation.

Years before Magellan arrived at the Río de la Plata, both Spanish and Portuguese ships had searched for the strait at this very point.

satisfied that Trinidad's men would take his side when the mutiny inevitably erupted, awaited the inevitable assault

They were relatively small, out of necessity. One of Seville's limitations as a port was the shallowness of the Guadalquivir River;

The ampolletas consisted of a glass vessel divided into two compartments.

There was more. Cartagena was to function as the eyes and ears of the king throughout the voyage.

The upper chamber contained a quantity of sand trickling into the lower

Late that night, Concepción stirred with life. The captain, Quesada, lowered himself into a longboat

ships had to be sufficiently small and light to negotiate the narrow waterway to the Atlantic.

quietly made his way to San Antonio. He was joined there in the dark water lapping at the ship's hull by Juan de Cartagena

in 1434, Eannes finally accomplished what so many had said was impossible

the task was critical. Aboard a swaying ship, the ampolletas were the only reliable timepiece

He convinced Gil Eannes, a Portuguese explorer, to try once more

Immediately after the meetings at Valladolid, the potential co-leaders of the expedition presented a list of demands to the crown;

Thus Magellan's flagship, Trinidad, weighed 100 tons; San Antonio, which carried many of the provisions, weighed 120 tons;

In 1513, only six years before Magellan undertook his circumnavigation, Juan Ponce de León set out to find the Fountain of Youth.

the captain depended on them for dead reckoning and changing the watches. A ship without a functioning ampolleta was effectively disabled.