Quotes About Maritime

The fleet would be called the Armada de Molucca, after the Indonesian name for the Spice Islands. The ships were mostly black—pitch black.

They designed a new type of ship, the small, maneuverable caravel

The privileged pages maintained the sixteen Venetian sand clocks—or ampolletas—carried by Magellan's ships.

The ships were among the most complicated machines of their day

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

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

Concepción 90 tons, Victoria 85 tons;

Al cuarto!" they cried. Al cuarto! On deck! On deck!

With the exception of Santiago, a caravel, the ships were all classified as naos, a term that simply meant ships.

After several months at sea, the five ships of the Armada

accounts from Magellan's time mention their daunting stern castles, their multiple decks, and the profusion of obras muertas, or "dead wood

Each ship had three masts, one of which carried a lateen sail.

there he replenished his supplies and sailed farther east to establish an ocean route to India.

These provisions made for an unhealthy diet, high in salt, low in protein, and lacking vitamins that sailors needed to protect themselves

he was changing the name of the flagship from Pelican to Golden Hind

The prospect of a Portuguese leading a Spanish expedition through Portuguese waters

and sealing leaks. There was also a complement of divers aboard the fleet, whose job it was to swim under the ships

The fleet's barber was named Hernando Bustamente, who shipped out aboard Concepción

At the time, England's tiny navy, hardly more than twenty vessels

Magellan led his ships in and around the islands of the bay, but found no sign of a strait.

Finally, on February 27, the armada explored a promising inlet

He cautiously committed only six seamen to a landing party charged with fetching supplies

By "sea wolves" Pigafetta meant the sub-Antarctic sea lion or the sea elephant

At sea, days were divided into six four-hour shifts, called watches.