Quotes About Navigation

During a watch, a ship's boy supervised the half-hourglass

schooled in the royal tradition established by Prince Henry the Navigator. But he needed a sponsor.

crucial part of the map was obscured, however: the part that showed a waterway extending through South America

Magellan's crew, confined aboard their ships, relied on worm-eaten biscuits

By March 6, 1521, the fleet reached the island of Guam

Ten days later Magellan's fleet reached what is now called the Philippines

routes between Asia and Europe were severed. The prospect of establishing a spice trade via an ocean route opened up

severe storm sprang up. The strong offshore winds blew Magellan's ships out to sea

they had arrived at the Strait of Magellan

If a sailor devoted years of his life to getting there and back, and if he managed to bring home a small sack stuffed with spices

Magellan had a well-painted globe in which the entire world was depicted," wrote Bartolomé de las Casas

And on it he indicated the route he proposed to take.

Magellan's conception of the world he planned to explore was fatally inaccurate.

Like most explorers of the Age of Discovery, his ideas about the size of the globe, and location of landmasses

were inspired by Ptolemy. Had Magellan comprehended the size of the Pacific

its currents, storms, and reefs, it is unlikely that he would have dared to mount an expedition.

The quest began as early as 1419, when Prince Henry, the third son of João I and his English wife, Philippa

without the Pacific Ocean to inform his calculations, the estimated length of his route came to only half the actual distance.

predicted that it would take him at most two years to reach the Spice Islands and return to Spain with ships bulging with precious cargo.

he would have to do was find a way to get around or through South America

After three busy days in one of Tenerife's harbors, Pigafetta wrote, "We departed thence and came to a port called Monterose

This was nearly the same mistake that Columbus had made over and over

and accomplished mariners dared to venture into the Ocean Sea, as the Atlantic Ocean was then known.

set sail for the Spice Islands.