Thanks Christopher Columbus

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Mar 2, 2011
489
Compac 14 Charleston, SC
While out sailing today, I pondered the voyage of Christopher Columbus and his brave crew. Imagine setting sail 519 years ago with the crudest of navigation tools to sail around the world.

While we are better prepared for a daysail on the lake than Columbus could have dreamed of. He had a passion and resolve to set off into the unknown. Most of us today have enough communication and navigation gear to find our way almost anywhere in the world but not nearly the nerve to try such a voyage.

I give thanks and respect to Columbus and his crew.
 

Ross

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Jun 15, 2004
14,693
Islander/Wayfairer 30 sail number 25 Perryville,Md.
Even the most rudimentary chart and a compass and a farmers almanac will put you centuries ahead of Columbus. We all follow the tracks of those that have gone before us.
 
Jul 27, 2011
4,988
Bavaria 38E Alamitos Bay
Yeah, but just remember. A sailboat running before the northeast trades could not possibly miss the New World, with or without instrumentation. All of his assumptions about the circumference of the world and the positions (and numbers) of the continents were wrong. Sure, he had great courage and skill as a seaman, but in the end just he lucked out. And, it took him a long time to even recognize his own discovery.
 

Ross

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Jun 15, 2004
14,693
Islander/Wayfairer 30 sail number 25 Perryville,Md.
Don't sell him short. He found his way home and back twice more.
 
Jan 22, 2008
280
Hunter 25_73-83 NORTH POINT MARINA/WINTHROP HA IL
And certainly not to diminish the great accomplishment of Columbus, we should not forget that a group of gentle souls from the North of Europe reached the New World 500 years before Columbus . . . the Vikings!
 

Ross

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Jun 15, 2004
14,693
Islander/Wayfairer 30 sail number 25 Perryville,Md.
It is widely believed that Portuguese fishermen were catching cod off the Grand Banks well before the Vikings were up there but that they never landed.
 
Jan 22, 2008
280
Hunter 25_73-83 NORTH POINT MARINA/WINTHROP HA IL
It is widely believed that Portuguese fishermen were catching cod off the Grand Banks well before the Vikings were up there but that they never landed.

If I remember my Old World History correctly, the Portuguese didn't fish that area until the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance led by a captain named Joao Fernandez in 1499, but what about the Irish monks in their skin Currachs who carried nothing but a poem, a song and some good Irish whiskey! Now there's some sailors!
 

higgs

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Aug 24, 2005
3,627
Nassau 34 Olcott, NY
Let us not forget that Columbus did not discover anything. There were plenty of people all ready living here who had already done the discovering.
 
Jan 22, 2008
280
Hunter 25_73-83 NORTH POINT MARINA/WINTHROP HA IL
Let us not forget that Columbus did not discover anything. There were plenty of people all ready living here who had already done the discovering.

Columbus never set foot on North American soil. The closest he got was the Bahamas, probably San Salvador Island.
 
May 11, 2005
3,431
Seidelman S37 Slidell, La.
What he discovered, or didn't

Does not take away from his accomplishments. If you ever get a chance to step foot on the Nina replica, you will be amazed at how small it is. Also keep in mind that the crew lived entirely on deck. No protection whatsoever from the elements. Regardless of how you rate his discoveries, or lack there of, he was one hell of a sailor. And obviously had some huge cajones.
 
Jan 22, 2008
280
Hunter 25_73-83 NORTH POINT MARINA/WINTHROP HA IL
Does not take away from his accomplishments. If you ever get a chance to step foot on the Nina replica, you will be amazed at how small it is. Also keep in mind that the crew lived entirely on deck. No protection whatsoever from the elements. Regardless of how you rate his discoveries, or lack there of, he was one hell of a sailor. And obviously had some huge cajones.

You are absolutely correct, but as an avid reader of History I find it interesting that "Columbus discovered America" is still taught in school. Popularly believed, historically incorrect.
 

Ross

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Jun 15, 2004
14,693
Islander/Wayfairer 30 sail number 25 Perryville,Md.
AND Columbus was in at the start of illegal immigration. He came he liked what he saw and told others and they came without regard for the people that lived here. They are still coming and we can't stop them either.
 
Mar 2, 2011
489
Compac 14 Charleston, SC
All political correctness aside, Columbus did find the "Americas" north and south as we all call these continents. The native inhabitants here didn't seek out Europe or a shorter route to Asia as Columbus did.

Historic perspective should be about the accomplishment not the demise of natives that Columbus didn't cause.
 

higgs

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Aug 24, 2005
3,627
Nassau 34 Olcott, NY
Fly: Columbus did not find anything. It had already been found - he just didn't know that.
 
May 24, 2004
7,129
CC 30 South Florida
History usually does a poor job of bringing to light the true intentions of the various participants in any event. I do not buy that Columbus was a seafearer who set out to prove that the world was not flat and to discover new trading routes to the Far East. It makes more sense to me that he had learned from fishermen and seafearers that there was land West across the ocean and he was an entrepenour looking to profit from their exploration. I don't think the Spanish Monarchy would have ventured to finance the expedition had they been offered anything less than access to the then know riches of the Far East. He is reported to have reached land within a handful of days from the date he had previously anounced to his crew so he probably had a good idea of its location and probably had an idea about the chain of islands he was to encounter. He likely found nothing in the Bahamas but it must have confirmed to him the probable thruth of other tales about rich lands further to the West. It must have been a delicate matter to return to Spain with nothing but a great achievement and more promises. It seems to me he was an able captain, an able organizer and a master salesman who was able to procure further financing for the following trip. The Spanish Monarchs came out as great visionaries but were probably nothing more than a lucky pair that got duped by lucky Colombus.
 

Joe

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Jun 1, 2004
7,999
Catalina 27 Mission Bay, San Diego
The greatest significance of the voyages of Columbus is that they heralded the beginning of the "Age of Discovery" during the period or cultural and artistic enlightenment in Europe known as the Renaissance.
 
Jan 22, 2008
8,050
Beneteau 323 Annapolis MD
Fly: Columbus did not find anything. It had already been found - he just didn't know that.
Hhmmm... I dunno... in the terms of the earth, the people already here didn't know where they were, so maybe were "lost"?:D
 
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