The develation of the nautic enigmas

The sea beholds secrets for everybody. Since the beginning of time the human being has felt curiosity by what it keeps in silence. Although many of us only dream with the adventure and discoveries, a select group of men could undertake what the sea had reserved for them.  Only time separates them, but the restlessness to know beyond where the sun hides turned them into sailors, cartographers, explorers, captains and even pirates. Join us in the discovery of the world known sailors, we can share together a fragment of their adventures. The navigators of time welcome us aboard! 

 

 

Marco Polo

“I did not tell even half of what I saw, knowing well that they would not believe me”. 

Marco Polo was a Venetian trader and traveler, known for his trips to East Asia recounted in the book the million, story released in Medieval Europe which portrays the lands of Central Asia and China. He was born and learned to trade along side his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, with whom he traveled through Asia. Legend says they met Kublai Khan. In 1269 both returned to Venice, seeing Marco for the first time in their lives. The three of them embarked on an epic journey to Asia, visiting Armenia, Persia and Afghanistan through China, traveling across the Silk Road. On the return of the journey they passed through the Strait of Hormuz, through which they came to Venice in 1295 after a voyage of 24 years in which they had traveled more than 24,000 km, returning laden with riches.

 

 

On his return to Italy, Venice was at war with its rival Genoa and in the course of the conflict, Marco Polo was captured in 1298 and imprisoned by the Genoese. During his time in prison he recounted his fabulous trips to his cellmate, the writer Rustichello Pisa, later wrote the story in the book known as Il milione. Released in 1299, Marco Polo became a wealthy merchant and a member of the Grand Council of the Republic of Venice. He died in 1324 and was buried in the church of San Lorenzo in that city. The famous Venetian pioneer travels inspired, among others, Christopher Columbus. 

 

 

Zhen He

“The greatest discoveries have already been done. There is nothing outside China that can improve what we already have.”

Zheng He aka Ma Sanbao, was a military, marine and Chinese explorer, especially famous for his seven naval expeditions conducted between 1405 and 1433, which some identify with the legendary voyages of Sinbad.

During his expeditions, all of which began in Nanjing, Zheng He explored Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Ceylon, India, the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa all the way through to the Mozambique Channel.

The number of trips varies depending on the method of division, but it is generally considered he navigated and explored on seven occasions  the” Western Ocean”. His crew and vessels are impressive when compared with the European: nearly 30,000 men and a variable number of ships, between fifty and three hundred.

His travels were important in the diplomatic spheres, since trade and cultural exchange with foreign countries took place. Despite the organizational capacity and Chinese technological power, no territorial annexations occurred due to the lack of tradition of colonialism and imperialism in China during this time period.

After his death, the Confucian imposed his worldview, reason why in the following centuries isolationism was promoted. However Zheng He left a deep impression on Chinese society and, in other cultures, especially through out Southeast  Asia. 

 

 

Cristóbal Colón

“The sea will give each man new hope, as sleep gives new dreams.”

The origin of this navigator, probably Italian, is shrouded in mystery, primordially causing it himself and his first biographer, his son Hernando. It seems that Christopher Columbus began his life  as a modest craftsman and merchant, he made contact with the sea through coastal navigation for commercial purposes.

He conceived his plan to open a sea route to Asia by the West, based on the correct assumption that the Earth was round and much smaller than it was supposed to be,  at the time he ignored the existence of the American continent, which stood in the projected path. The economic interest of the Project  was with no doubt high, as the European trade with the Far East  was extremely lucrative, based on the import of spices and luxury goods, said trade was conducted through the Middle East which the Arabs controlled. The Portuguese had spent years trying to open a sea route to India along the African coast.

 

 

Finally, Queen Elizabeth approved the project of Columbus and entrusted the the king’s treasurer, Luis de Santángel, to make the payment, following the taking of Granada, which ended with the Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from Islam in 1492. The Queen gave the Capitulations of Santa Fe, for which Columbus gave a number of privileges in return for their risky business and financed a fleet of three ships, the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. Columbus departed from the port of Palos on August 3,1492.

Columbus had discovered America fortuitously as a result of intuition and willpower. Although he failed in his original idea to open a new trade route between Europe and Asia, he discovered a   “New World”, in the years to come, it would be explored by navigators, missionaries and soldiers of Spain and Portugal, incorporating a vast empire to Western civilization and profoundly changing political and economic conditions on the continent. Although the Vikings had reached North America some five hundred years before, they had left no permanent establishment nor had circulated the news of the discovery, leaving it therefore in an inconsequential manner to the time of Columbus. 

 

 

Américo Vespucio

“There we learned that the land was not an island, but a mainland due to the extending long beaches that surround us and it was packed with infinite inhabitants.”

Italian navigator whose name would cause the denomination of the American continent. As you know, Christopher Columbus died believing he had reached the Indies, without suspecting that those islands that he had taken possession of on behalf of the Crown of Castile belonged to a new continent. A friend of his, Amerigo Vespucci, was commissioned to tell the old Europe that the lands Columbus found were not Asian, but formed part of the world that would give his name involuntarily. This man, insignificant compared to the large figure of Columbus, also died without knowing the effects of its revolutionary news: the posthumous glory, derived from the casual baptism for him and his lineage.

He was a Florentine who had come to Spain as a trade employee shortly before the first departure of Columbus. The banking house of the Medici sent him to Castile for a commercial mission with a man called Beraldi, an Italian who settled in the vicinity of the court. When in March 15th of 1493 Christopher Columbus returned from his first trip and spoke of the immense riches found, trading houses in Genoa and Venice began to speculate on the possibility of opening new routes for the transport of spices. The Medici tried to learn this onformation in order to guide their future business, possibly the first news of Columbus came to them through the letters of Vespucci.

With the sudden death of Beraldi, Amerigo  was left without livelihood. The purpose of undertaking himself traveling to India was born. During his second expedition, led by Alonso de Ojeda he followed the route of the third voyage of Columbus, the ships sailed from Puerto de Santa María and, after twenty-five days at sea, they arrived to the mouth of the Orinoco, already discovered by Columbus. They began the journey from the coast to the north. The geographical characteristics of the low and flooded coast along with the prior entrance to lake Maracaibo, reminded Amerigo Vespucci of Venice and therefore he called those lands Venezuela or “ little Venice”. Ojeda ‘s expedition continued to Cape Vela, in present day Colombia. Cartographers first fixed parts of the boundary of the lands recently discovered at this time.

 In 1504 the booklet Augsburg Mundus Novus (New World) was published, in which a letter of Vespucci to Lorenzo de Medici recounting his trips was reproduced. The following year his second book was printed, Lettera di Amerigo Vespucci delle Isole nuovamente ritrovate quattro suoi viaggi, expressing his belief that Europe and Asia were new lands.

So extraordinary revelations fascinated the German cosmographer Martin Waldseemüller, who edited the letters of Vespucci in 1507. This work included portraits of Ptolemy and Vespucci, in his preface he wrote: “ Now that those parts of the world have been extensively examined and another fourth part has been discovered by Amerigo Vespucci, I see no reason why not call it America, meaning land of Amerigo, its discoverer. Le tus remember that  Europe, Africa and Asia were named after women. “

At his death in 1512, the New World was known by this name. 

 

 

Vasco de Gama

“The sea also selects ports where to laugh like sailors. The sea of people who are. The sea ports also choose where to die. As sailors. The sea of people who were.”

Navigator and explorer who opened for the Portuguese the spice route which consists of the trajectorie  around Africa to reach India. The figure of this great Portuguese sailor is comparable to that of Columbus or Magellan.  It is essential to understand the business transformations that operated in the West throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

From an early age, Vasco da Gama fully devoted himself to seafaring life, participating in several expeditions to the African coast, which was a great capacity test for him. Thus, the acquired experience and fame were enough, after studying mathematics and cosmography, he was named captain.

 

 

An episode ventured to emphasize his prestige as navigator. In 1493, the French seized a loaded of gold Portuguese ship that came from one of the lusas possessions in Costa da Mina, located on the Basque coast of Africa. Appointed commissioner by the sovereign to seize retaliation the French ships anchored in his dominions, he carried out his mission with remarkable speed and accuracy, leading to seize only ten of these ships in the port of Lisbon. Pressed as effectively, the French King Charles VII, was resigned to return the seized vessel without missing none of its precious cargo.

He was appointed governor with the title of viceroy and imposed Portuguese rule from Goa to Cochin, because of this, the little Lusitanian kingdom was transformed into a colonial and commercial power of the first order. In the journey of 1502, commanding a fleet of twenty ships heading to Quiloa (Kilwa) and Sofala in Mozambique, he managed to eliminate the Arab rivals and established the Portuguese maritime law in the Indian coast, building in Cochin the first Portuguese factory in Asia. In 1503 he returned to Lisbon and did not return to the sea until 1524, when he was appointed Viceroy of India. However, he could only hold office a few months. He died the same year he reached his destination. 

 

 

 

 

Fernando de Magallanes

“The church says the earth is flat, but I know that it is round, for I have seen its shadow on the Moon.”

In March 1505, at 25 years of age, he joined the Indian Navy, the fleet of 22 ships sent to install Francisco de Almeida as the first viceroy of India. Although his name does not appear in the chronicles, it is known that he remained there for eight years and was in Goa, Cochiny Quiloa. He participated in several military actions, including the naval battle of Cannanore (current port city of Kannur, Kerala) where he was wounded in the decisive battle of Diu. In 1509 he started the first expedition to Malacca commanded by Diogo Lopes de Sequeira, along with Francisco Serrão, his friend and possible cousin. At Malacca they were victims of a conspiracy and the expedition ended with nineteen prisoners left behind. Magellan had a crucial role to warning Sequeira and saving Serrão, these acts earned him honors and a promotions.

Serving the new governor Afonso de Albuquerque, alongside Serrão, he participated in the conquest of Malacca in 1511. After the conquest of the city, the ways of the friends parted: Magellan, promoted with a rich booty and in company of a slave acquired in Sumatra, Enrique of Malacca, returned to Europe. Serrão departed in the first expedition sent to the “ Spice Islands “, the Moluccas. He remained there and married a woman from Amboina, turning into a military advisor of the Sultan of Ternate. His letters to Magellan would be crucial, since they obtained information on the situation of producer points of spices. Meanwhile Magellan, after taking part in the Battle of Azamor (Morocco), was accused of illegally trading with the Moors, when tested various accusations he ceased work the 15 of May 1514. 

 

 

Later, in 1515, he was offered to join the crew of a Portuguese ship, but rejected the offer. Back in Lisbon, he studied the most recent letters of the research made by cosmograph Rui Faleiro, next to a passage to the Pacific to the South Atlantic and the possibility that the Moluccas were in the Spanish area defined in the Treaty of Tordesillas.

The Magellan - Elcano expedition was plagued by setbacks and difficulties. Magellan’s bad luck took the long course of three months between the Strait of Magellan and the Moluccas, during this time, no mainland had been seen;  famine and scurvy struck the crew, to the point that they would paid large sums in coins for a single rat to devour. The water was rotten, scurvy appeared and even men had to eat softened leather and sawdust.

Finally on March 6, 1521 an island where sailors took the opportunity to rest and pick up groceries was found.

In the Moluccas, the crew discovered that they had reached the Far East, serving the Columbus project. 

Magellan was killed in the Battle of Mactan by a Cebuano tribe led by the chieftain Lapu- Lapu, on the Philippine island of Mactan. After Magellan’s death in 1521, Gonzalo Gomez de Espinosa was elected leader of the expedition aboard the ship Victoria, of whom Juan Sebastián Elcano was captain. After arriving to the Moluccas island, the voyage back to Spain was defined. 

They managed to install a warehouse in Borneo, where they established good relations with the natives. Without means and with a single ship, they headed back, the best known way to lands where provisioned, trying to dodge ports and Portuguese fleets. The expedition was finished with only the Victoria vessel in July 1522, after almost three years of journey. In total, 216 men perished during theadventure, and only 18, including Elcano survived. Four other men out of the 55 from the original crew of the Trinity, who had undertaken a different route back from the Philippines, finally returned to Spain in 1525.

 

 

Juan Sebastián Elcano

“I knew that sailing on the ocean grants admirable things, I am determined to make sure with my own eyes to speak the truth of all that I had seen.”

 He was a Spanish explorer who completed the first circumnavigation of the world. The first notice we have of him is that of a Basque sailor with extensive nautical knowledge who participated in the expedition to Algiers Cisneros in 1509 and in the Italian campaigns of the Great Captain.

 

 

In 1518 he met in Seville the Portuguese navigator Magellan, who was preparing an expedition to service Spain and find the route to the Indies by sailing west. Elcano enlisted in the voyage, which departed from Sanlúcar de Barrameda in 1519, exploring the Rio de la Plata and the South of Argentina. After Magellan’s death in a clash with the natives of the islands of the Philippines and a lucrative acquisition of species in the Moluccas, Emperor Charles V received Elcano in audience, although he was not very generously rewarded for his achievement, his trip was a success, both geographically (as it experimentally confirmed the sphericity of the Earth) and economic (as the sale of goods in Antwerp vastly covered the costs of the voyage).

Business expectations opened a new House of Trade intended to specialize in the spice trade, it was founded in La Coruña. From there, a second expedition took place, funded by the Fugger family and commanded by Loaisa (an aristocrat), despite his protests, Elcano had to travel as Chief Pilot. This expedition failed due to the death of Loaisa and Elcano shortly after. 

 

 

Jacques Cartier

“The sea has never been friendly to man. It has always been an accomplice of human restlessness.” 

French explorer and navigator of great skill, in 1534 he was commissioned by Francis I to find a path to supply Europe with Asia through North America to elude the control established by the Spaniards on the continent. He failed, but his trip explored the coast of Newfoundland, New Brunswick and Canada whose waters were being frequented by Breton and Norman fishermen. On a second trip in 1535, he came in from the St. Lawrence River, took possession of the area of Quebec and created the first French settlement in North America in the Gaspé Peninsula, before reaching the village of Stadacona, situated where now nowadays is current Quebec. When he went to the indigenous population of Hochelaga, from whose mountain spotted the Ottawa River and the Lachine Rapids could be seen, he called this mountain Mont Réal (Mount Royal), from which it derives its current name from the city of Montreal. Then he returned along the route south of Newfoundland, and for the first time, crossed the Cabot Strait current.  

 

 

He made part of the topography of the área and granted the the name of Canada and the St. Lawrence River, as well as the  the Jacques Cartier Strait. During a third trip in 1541, he realized that he discovered lands that were worthless by the standards of time (since it did not provide metals or precious stones). However, his explorations were the origin of the later French presence in Canada, which lasted until 1763 and determined the existence of the French-speaking province of Quebec to the present day.

 

 

Henry Hudson

“You can not fly like an eagle with the wings of a sparrow.”

He was an English navigator and explorer, famous for making four important voyages to the Arctic. In 1607 he made his first trip sponsord by the Muscovy Company and reached the coasts of Greenland and Svalbard, he perhaps discovered the island of Jan Mayen. The following year, for the same company, he sought passage to India, this time sailing through the islands of Novaya Zemlya, Barents and lmar but failed. Upon his return, the Muscovy Company withdrew, but he remained looking for the Northwest Passage.

The Dutch East India Company continued to rely on finding the rout and entrusted him with the task, this would be his third trip in the year 1609, the Half Moon and a crew of eighteen or twenty men began the voyage. Once more, the search through the Novaya Zemlya begun, trying to break through the ice, the intense cold and extreme weather, the crew became restless and Hudson proposed a different plan. They headed west through Nova Scotia and down the coast of North America, in the certainty that the Atlantic and Pacific oceans were only separated by a narrow isthmus.

In September 1609 he arrived to the New York Bay, and during the following months he explored the Hudson River, tracing 240 kilometers from its mouth to the place where the city of Albany now stands. Before the year ended, Hudson and his men returned to England, being held by the British government. Hudson was ordered to work thereafter only for his country of origin.

In 1610, Hudson started in the last of his trips sponsored by a newly created company of Englishmen aboard the Discovery, in search of the Northwest Passage. A mid- year ago he had crossed the Hudson Strait and Hudson Bay was reached, where he spent three months exploring the islands and eastern coasts. In the belief that he was in the Pacific, he sailed south to James Bay. In November, the ship was trapped in ice, so after spending a harsh winter because of the cold and food shortages, widespread discord began to arise among the crew, ending in a riot in June 1611. Hudson, his son and seven other crew members were stranded in a small open ship and were never heard of again. The few mutineers who survived were able to reach England where they were imprisoned, though none was convicted.

 

 

Edward Teach

“Only the devil and I know where my treasures are buried.”

In the early eighteenth century, on the Atlantic coast of the present United States, some governors of the English colonies violated the trade of monopoly imposed from London to ignore pirate raids in the areas around their colonies. The misdeeds of pirates activated local businesses to sell the seized at lower prices while some were left hidden from the authorities.

Edward Teach was a native of Bristol, though others say he was born in South Carolina or even in Jamaica. According to other sources his real name was Edward Drummond. He participated in the War of Queen Anne, in which he took part as an English filibuster attacking French ships. Upon leaving England with the War of Succession in 1713, much of the British Royal Navy became unemployed. It is estimated that a total of 53,785 soldiers in 1703 were jobless, the troops fell to 13,430 in 1715, so it is estimated that there were 40,000 unemployed men. It is believed that Teach was then reconverted to pirate, during a time when piracy in America was in decline.

In its early piratices he was under the command of Benjamin Hornigold. Among his early misdeeds we find the charges of catching a Spanish freighter that came from Havana, one of Bermuda and the third from Madeira heading for South Carolina. In November 1717, he went to Martinique and on his way captured a large French ship which had its route traced between there and the African coast, he renamed it: The Queen Anne ‘s Revenge. This ship became the main weapon in their onslaught for a period of about seven months. The ship was armed with forty canons. In one of their first attacks, he faced a British navy ship, the HMS Scarborough, which was in great disadvantage next to The Queen Ann, Blackbeard let the HMS Scarborough sink. This incident gave him prestige, he had defeated a British military ship. Later, Hornigold decided to benefit from the forgiveness of George I, he was put under the command of the governor of the Bahamas and was transformed into filibuster.

In late 1717, Teach befriended Stede Bonnet, nicknamed “ The Gentleman Pirate,” former British official traveling on the ship Revenge. Blackbeard accepted the captaincy to a consortium. However, Bonnet  was separated from his ship Revenge, which was given to another lieutenant of Blackbeard. Because of his ineptitude in the art of seafaring, Bonett  was kept in a virtual prison. At that timeTeach’s preferred retreat was the island of Ocracoke.

There are several versions that speak of the end of Blackbeard. With the advance of piracy in the area, the governor of Virginia, Alexander Spotswood, decided to take action before the criminals were strengthened. In the fall of 1718 he heard from the presence of Blackbeard at Ocracoke, North Carolina. Not caring about the charter granted by Governor Eden, he decided to organize an offensive attack. He sent two ships, the HMS Pearl and HMS Lyme, along with two sloops: the Ranger and the Jane; the entire fleet was under the command of Lieutenant Robert Maynard, while Blackbeard remained aboard the Adventure with 19 men. When Edward Teach saw the crew in front of Maynard,  several pirates came on the evening of November 21 in order to attack the next morning. That day, a group aboard a small boat, managed to spot a pirate ship but had to retire.

The pursuers were attacked by pirates which resulted in the loss of the ship Ranger. Maynard resumed the siege to force the Adventure run aground and ordered his men to hide. Blackbeard, given the opportunity, boarded the ship with his crew. In the brawl he and Maynard battled face to face. The officer attacked him with his sword, but nothing touched the cartridge carrying the pirate, who dealt a blow to the fingers from the English, without damaging him. Maynard threw his sword and drew his firing gun instantly, Teach was rushed and made a cut on his face. Eventually the bandit fell with great loss of blood, in the end, Blackbeard’s suffered severe damage to the head. According to testimonies, the pirate had twenty injuries, five of them were shots to the body. The campaign ended when the the victorious vessel arrived in the town of Hampton, Virginia, with Blackbeard ‘s head on the bowsprit.

 

Text: Amura ± Photo: Canda History / Virtualology / STATIC / WPS / ARTELISTA / WPD / VENE MUNDO / WPD