On Jan 24, 12:27*pm, "Tim" wrote:
Here's an interesting article, that might fall in suit with this
thread.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/0...c.html?categor...



john0714 wrote:
On Sep. 6, 1522 the Spanish ship Victoria of the Magellan exposition
completed the first circumnavigation of the Earth. It even managed to
sail thousands of miles of open sea.
IIRC it is possible to circumnavigate the Earth and never get more than
2300 miles from land, the stretch between Easter Island and South
America, the next largest stretch is less than 1900 miles between the
Pitcairn Islands and Easter Island. Otherwise one can rermain much
closer to land. Was the Victoria the first ship capable of sailing
around the world had the crew known what to do? I wonder when the first
ships seaworthworthy enough to do so were built?

It seems to me the hardest part for the best ships of two thousand
years ago would be the stretch from Brazil around the horn to the
Pitcairn Islands. Were any of the ships that ancient seaworthy enough
to do so?- Hide quoted text -- Show quoted text -



Here's a link with a lot of detail about European voyages to North
America dating back about 500 years prior to 1492, along with a note
that Columbus is documented to have been in Iceland in 1477. There is
no *proof* that he learned of the vinyards, lumber camps, and ship
repair facilities operated by the Norse on the western shores of the
Atlantic, but it would almost stretch the imagination more to believe
that he somehow avoided doing so than to assume that he did. The site
documents the extensive use of iron fasteners in Norse ships as far
back as the 10th century.

http://www.hurstwic.org/history/arti...xploration.htm