VOYAGES THAT CHANGED THE WORLD
by Peter Aughton
Quercus - RRP £15.00
“Mankind has always wondered about the unknown world. We have always wanted to sail beyond the horizon, to find new settlements or simply for the sake of adventure”.
Columbus, Magellan, Drake, Cook, Shackleton – all names that resonate down the centuries and are familiar to everyone, whether they have any connection with the sea or not. Such men have entered the history books through their courage and spirit of adventure, and this recently published book charts their voyages.
Taking a chronological approach, and starting with the early navigators migrating across the Pacific ocean, the narrative draws on contemporaneous accounts interspersed with maps and pictures, together with corresponding points of interest - the victuals taken on board the Mayflower for her journey to the New World and notable holders of the Blue Riband, for example. The book is also dotted with “fact boxes” on subjects as diverse as the lateen sail, Welsh bards, women pirates, the transit of Venus and nuclear submarines, and this makes the text very accessible to all.
From Erik the Red, through Vasco da Gama and John Cabot to the polar explorers, detouring via the real Robinson Crusoe and the Australian First Fleet, to end with advances in submarine warfare and scientific discoveries, these sailors have each shaped the course of history. Who knows, it may inspire you to do the same?