Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ture, generations of travellers set out to 'put a girdle round about the
earth'. Some perished in the attempt. Some helped to build up an ac-
curate map of earth's remoter regions. Some emerged from and re-
turned to a homely obscurity. Fortunately, some left a record of their
experiences and impressions.
Francis Bacon, usually a wise commentator on the human
scene, was mistaken when he wrote, in his essay
Of Travel:
It is a strange thing, that in sea voyages, where there is nothing
to be seen but sky and sea, men should make diaries; but in land
travel, wherein so much is to be observed, for the most part they
omit it.
There are several reasons why mariners before and since the
sixteenth century wrote accounts of their voyages. There was the
need to produce rutters for fellow sailors and to keep logs which
might be demanded by owners and financial backers. There were
the long days to be filled when a vessel languished becalmed or
scudded before the obliging trade winds. And there were strange
and terrible experiences to be recorded which would thrill or chill
the blood of friends at home. So far from there being 'nothing to be
seen but sky and sea', the oceans presented a vivid kaleidoscope of
changing moods, and their depths teemed with creatures, curious,
beautiful and terrifying. For these and other reasons many of the
men who went down to the sea in ships left behind an extensive
literature of published works, manuscript journals, letters and log
books. It is on such material that this history is largely based.
Captains, ordinary seamen, pirates, merchants, yachtsmen and
yachtswomen, these are the principal characters of the long drama
of circumnavigation. Their stories are fascinating not only as travel-
lers' tales which tell us of battles with the sea and encounters with
strange peoples. Their narratives reveal much more about the voy-
agers themselves - how they prepared, how they raised the money,
how they handled subordinates, how they stood up to crises, how
