MAGELLAN, BORN TO BE WILD

 

   

 

ENJOYED IT? LIKE IT AND ROCK THE CLASS! YEAH !

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You little rascal ! Don't think i'm a bad professor ! Magellan really named the Pacific !

The ship Victoria has a replica and looks like that

Magellan was really a crazy dude to brave the unknown at sea with an army of guy ready to kill him. In this kind of situation, you really need balls. You can read more about him here

Its crazy to think Magellan survived ocean, mutiny, starvation and get killed by a simple poisonned arrow on what is called 'The Battle of Mactan'. A memorial is in Cebu, in Philippines.

Tradition of marooning over here

Other punishements and life at sea in the age of sail

Magellan Straight is a very difficult and dangerous straight to cross, so basically, not many sailors/boats use it. If you remember the cartoon 'The mysterious cities of Gold', Esteban has to cross the straight to reach Peru. Then, the captain Mendoza decides to not sleep for a week to get over it (aaaaaaaaaaaaaargh)

The canal of Panama has been built by a french guy who got the idea in 1880 (the canal opened in 1914). Its one of the craziest piece of engineering ever done and it was a very difficult project. But its impact on the maritime trade has been remarkable. A cargoship making his way from NY to Los Angeles will travel 9500 km thanks to the canal instead of 22 500 km by Cap Horn. And even Cap Horn which is a difficult passage is probably safer than Magellan straight.

A crazy french girl cross the pacific on a canoe 7 years ago, and crossed as well 8000km. Here is an article printed at that time. Her name is Maud Fontenoy

And if you are that lazy, here is a video about our daring Magellan.