Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe QUOTES

1 " On September 6, 1522, a battered ship appeared on the horizon … A small pilot boat was dispatched to lead the strange ship over the reefs … The vessel they were guiding into the harbor was manned by a skeleton crew of just eighteen sailors and three captives, all of them severely malnourished. … Their captain was dead, as were the officers, the boatswains, and the pilots; in fact, nearly the entire crew had perished … the ship, Victoria, … had departed three years earlier. No one knew what had become of her … Despite the journey’s hardships, Victoria and her diminished crew accomplished what no other ship had ever done before. By sailing west until they reached the East, and then sailing on in the same direction, they had fulfilled an ambition as old as the human imagination, the first circumnavigation of the globe "

― Laurence Bergreen , Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe

2 " Oceans cover 70 percent of the Earth's surface. Our planet has been misnamed; it is the ocean planet. "

― Laurence Bergreen , Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe

3 " City of Gold. City of Water. City of Faiths. " Quien no ha visto Sevilla, " runs a saying, " no ha visto maravilla ". "

― Laurence Bergreen , Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe

4 " Of all the weapons the Europeans brought to the Pacific, guns included, none was more powerful and more capable of effecting lasting change than written language. "

― Laurence Bergreen , Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe

5 " Magellan's thirst for glory, under cover of religious zeal, led him fatally astray. "

― Laurence Bergreen , Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe

6 " The next day, Magellan gave the order to weigh anchor. The ships fired a salvo of cannon that reverberated among the splendid dark green mountains, gray ravines, and azure glaciers of the strait, and the armada set sail once again, heading west, always west. "

― Laurence Bergreen , Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe

7 " Most sailors were in their teens or twenties. Anyone who had reached his thirties was considered a veteran scalawag; by the time he had survived to that age, he had seen what life at sea held: brutality, loneliness, and disease; he had experienced flashes of camaraderie and heroism, as well as persistent dishonesty and callousness. He knew all about the avarice of shipowners, the uncomprehending indifference of kings under whose flags the expedition sailed, and the tyranny of captains. "

― Laurence Bergreen , Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe

8 " Fernão de Magalhães, or Ferdinand Magellan. According to most accounts, he was born in 1480, in the remote mountain parish of Sabrosa, the seat of the family homestead. He spent his childhood in northwestern Portugal, within sight of the pounding surf of the Atlantic. "

― Laurence Bergreen , Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe

9 " With their maneuverable sails and impressive seaworthiness, caravels became the vessels of choice for exploration. "

― Laurence Bergreen , Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe

10 " The mere mention of their names—white and black pepper, myrrh, frankincense, nutmeg, cinnamon, cassia, mace, and cloves, to name a few—evoked the wonders of the Orient and the mysterious East. "

― Laurence Bergreen , Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe

11 " These provisions made for an unhealthy diet, high in salt, low in protein, and lacking vitamins that sailors needed to protect themselves against the rigors of the sea. "

― Laurence Bergreen , Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe

12 " Their conversations turned to religion, and Pigafetta persuaded the prisoner to convert to Christianity. He was baptized, and the giant, whose original name Pigafetta never mentioned, became known as Paul. He died shortly thereafter, a Patagonian Christian who met a unique and tragic fate. Pigafetta did not record what kind of funeral rites Father Valderrama accorded Paul, but presumably he was given a proper burial at sea. "

― Laurence Bergreen , Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe

13 " The helmsman steered, the ship moved on; Yet never a breeze up-blew; The mariners all ’gan work the ropes, Where they were wont to do; They raised their limbs like lifeless tools— We were a ghastly crew. "

― Laurence Bergreen , Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe

14 " It was not that he lacked discipline, or the support of the men; the problem was that Espinosa, a soldier, was simply not qualified to command a ship. "

― Laurence Bergreen , Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe

15 " Everywhere Magellan looked, there seemed to be an idol mocking him; they were even arrayed along the shore, and their appearance was disturbing to European sensibilities "

― Laurence Bergreen , Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe

16 " From the time we left that bay until the present day, we sailed fourteen thousand four hundred and sixty leagues”—nearly sixty thousand miles—“and furthermore completed the circumnavigation of the world from east to west. "

― Laurence Bergreen , Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe

17 " Stripped of his command, and having learned nothing from the experience of his failed mutiny, Cartagena grew intensely resentful of his inexperienced replacement. From that moment, he burned with desire for revenge against Magellan, no matter what the cost to the expedition, and as Fonseca’s son, Cartagena had power to make great trouble. Of all the perils that Magellan faced on the journey’s first leg, the greatest was Cartagena’s treachery. "

― Laurence Bergreen , Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe

18 " On April 6, after more than three months of repairs, she finally weighed anchor and unfurled her sails. The ship carried a full load of spices, one thousand quintals of cloves—fifty tons!—more than enough to justify the expense of the entire voyage. "

― Laurence Bergreen , Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe

19 " seventy-five degrees or more, as your lordship "

― Laurence Bergreen , Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe

20 " Ptolemy's massive compendium of mathematical and astronomical calculations had been rediscovered in 1410, after centuries of neglect. The revival of classical learning pushed aside medieval notions of the world based on a literal--yet magical--interpretation of the Bible, but even though Ptolemy's rigorous approach to mathematics was more sophisticated than monkish fantasies of the cosmos, his depiction of the globe contained significant gaps and errors. Following Ptolemy's example, European cosmologists disregarded the Pacific Ocean, which covers a third of the world's surface, from their maps, and they presented incomplete renditions of the American continent based on reports and rumors rather than direct observations. Ptolemy's omissions inadvertently encouraged exploration because he made the world seem smaller and more navigable than it really was. If he had correctly estimated the size of the world, the Age of Discovery might have never ocurred. "

― Laurence Bergreen , Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe