* Milton Waddams wrote, On 3/13/2007 11:34 AM:
With everyone going on about Roman, Phoenician and Egyptian sailors
one would think they invented sailing. The greatest sailors were the
Polynesians. They had the fastest boats and ranged over the greatest
area of sea. They were also the best navigators, all without compass,
astrolabs and telescopes.
The Mediterranean is just a big lake and so are the "seas" in the
Arabic countries.The Egyptians did make it to Australia, the credit is
due. But the Polynesians were #1 and I'd say the Chinese #2.


I certainly wouldn't argue with the nomination of the Polynesians as
#1. But, you should also give credit to the Norse, as well as their
predecessors (some call them the Albans) who sailed the North Seas to
Iceland, Greenland, and Newfoundland, originally in hide covered
boats. Up there, of course, a compass wasn't much good.

And also the Basque were probably fishing off New England a hundred
years before Columbus.