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Ocean Explorers... |
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| Roland
Amundsen (1872 - 1928) was Norwegian and is consider to be one of the most
important Polar explorers in history. 1903 Amundsen started his first
Polar expedition with S/M motor vessel "Gjösa" and his objective was to sail
through the North West Passage and carry out accurate measurements in order
to determine the position of the magnetic North Pole. He succeeded on
both counts and the expedition reached San Francisco in the autumn of 1906. |
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Christopher Columbus (1451 - 1508) is considered to be the man who
discovered America. On August 3, 1492, three small vessels sailed from
Palos in Andalusia on one of the most daring voyages made in history.
Columbus led the expedition on board the ship "Santa Maria" and was followed
by two caravels under the command of two brothers Pinzon. After
sailing on a due West course from the Canary Islands, Columbus discovered
Cuba on October 28, 1492 and Haiti on December 2, 1492. |
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| Sir
Walter Raleigh (ca. 1552 - 1618) was a British pirate. admiral and statesman
who tried to rock the Spanish colonial empire by organizing expeditions and
commando raids against the first settlers in North America. In 1585
Raleigh sent a fleet of seven vessels to colonize Virginia (part of the
coast in the states now known as North Carolina. The name Virginia was
intended as a complement to Queen Elisabeth I. Raleigh was a great
favorite of Queen Elisabeth but was eventually executed on the block with
his pipe in his mouth 1618 accused for plotting against Jacob I. |
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| Vasco da Gama (ca.
1460 - 1524) was a Portugese seaman. In 1497 he took over the
leadership of an expedition to India. The expedition consisted of
four small vessels: the flagship San Gabriel and the sister-vessel San
Rafael of between 100 and 200 tons, about 30 m (100 ft.) long, and also
a stores vessel and Berrio, half as large as the other. His
vessels visited several places. On May 20, 1498 a sighting was
made of the mountains behind the port of Calicut, which was the centre
for trade carried out between India and the Arabs. By 1499, da
Gama and his fleet were back in Portugal. |
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Sir Francis Drake
(ca. 1540 - 1596), a relative of Sir Walter Raleigh, was a British hero
of the sea and an adventurer. After having learned the art of
coastal navigation, he sailed to the West Indies when he was thirty
years old on the first of many pirate voyages aimed at the Spaniards.
Drake was fascinated by the view of the Pacific Ocean and, after
returning to Britain, in 1577 he sailed south-wards with five vessels
over the Atlantic to South America. The journey through the Sound
of Magellan took 16 days and, haning arrived in the pacific, his ships
cattier out raids against the Spainards.
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| William Barents (ca.
1550 - 1597) was a Dutch explorer specializing in Polar ice and his
expedition consisted of repeated attempts to discover the sea route to
China and Japan north of Asia. During his last expedition, Barents
was forced to spend the winter in Novaja Semlja, 1896 -97 -
and his crewmen built houses of driftwood. Five of the 17 crewmen
died including Barents himself. However his Polar voyages had not
been completely fruitless since the possibility was found to carry out
large-catches of whales. |
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Henry Hudson (ca.
1550 - 1611) was an explorer and he tried with four expeditions to find
some marine connection between Europe and East Asia north of America.
His third voyage started 1609, and after some difficulties he found the
passage. During the following year 1610 his last expedition
started from Britian to the North and the expedition spent the winter in
Hudson Bay. However, mutiny broke out on board here and Hudson was
placed together with eight seamen in a small boat and they all froze to
death.
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| Genoa was
the principle trading city on the Mediterranean during the period 1250 -
1350. After an extensive war with the Venice, this city took over
trading with the Orient in 1381. When the sea route to India was
discovered in 1498. Venice lost more and more of its power. |
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| The
inhabitants of the Nordic area conquered the sea with their open boats which
were just as suitable for use on the open sea as they were for traveling up
shallow rivers. From the middle of the 8th century, the Vikings
started their trading and raiding expeditions to the coasts of England,
Scotland and Iceland. About the year 850 they colonized the Orkney and
Shetland Islands and started to live on Island. The voyages carried
out by the Vikings of Sweden were primarily eastwards and they established
several independent communities including the Kingdom of Gårda. (Greenland). |
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| Pedro Alvares Cabral
(ca. 1487 - 1526) was the Portugese seaman who, a few months after Vasco
da Gama had reached Portugal, was sent out with a fleet of 13 vessels to
repeat the voyage to India. However the vessels kept too far to
the West and reached instead the coast of Brazil which was occupied in
the name of Portugal. Then the ship sailed round the Cape of Good
Hope but suffered a very severe storm which sank three of them.
Inspite of this loss , they reached Calicut in India and established a
colony there in the year 1580. |
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Adolf Erik
Nordenskiold ( 1832 - 1901) was a nobelman, scientist and explorer.
On board "Vega" - a whale catcher of 500 tons powered by a 60 horsepower
engine, he started off in July 1878 on the expedition which was to
discover the North-East Passage. This sea route had no
significance for commerce, however, but the expedition carried out by
Nordenskiold had extensive scientific value.
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| James
Cook (1728 1779) was a British explorer and carried out three
extensive voyages at sea. His first voyage round the world was carried
out between the period 1768 -71. The primary objective of this
expedition was to make through studies of the planet Venus when it
passed over the surface of the sun. The best place for this
observation was the central parts of the Pacific. The expedition
completed its work and the vessel "Endeavour" sailed southwards. Cook
reached New Zealand, discovered Cook's Sound and mapped the country.
Then the expedition sailed along the coast of Australia and returned to
Britain. |
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| Ferdinand
Magellan (ca. 1480 - 1521) was a Portuguese explorer. On September 20,
1519, Magellan sailed from Sanlucar in Andalusia with a fleet of five
vessels in order to reach the attractive Spice Islands (Moluccas).
After passing the winter in quarters in Patagonia, the expedition passed
through the Tierra del Fuego. After having crossed the Pacific, three
of the vessels reached the Philippine Islands. It was here the
Magellan was killed in a battle with natives. Only one vessel -
"Victoria" survived and she sailed back to Spain in 1522. This
terminated the first voyage round the world. |
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