Circumnavigation
To circumnavigate a place, such as an island, a continent, or the Earth, is to travel all the way around it by boat or ship. More recently, the term has also been used to cover aerial round-the-world flights.
| Contents |
Notable global maritime circumnavigations
- Henry the Black, 1511–1521, the interpreter of Ferdinand Magellan (multiple voyages).
- The 18 survivors of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition, 1519–1522, in Victoria. (Magellan himself died in the Philippines in 1521; the circumnavigation was completed under the command of Juan Sebastián Elcano.) Discovered the Strait of Magellan.
- The survivors of Garcia Jofre de Loaysa's Spanish expedition, 1525–1536. None of Loaysa's seven ships completed the voyage, but Santa Maria de la Victoria reached the Moluccas before being wrecked in a Portuguese attack. Fernando de la Torre and eight survivors return to Spain on a Portuguese ship.
- Francis Drake, 1577–1580, in Golden Hind. Discovered the Drake Passage but entered the Pacific via the Strait of Magellan.
- Thomas Cavendish, 1586–1588, in Desire.
- The survivors of the expeditions of Jacques Mahu and Olivier van Noort, 1598–1601. Of Mahu's five and Van Noort's four ships only two returned.
- George Spilberg, 1614–1617.
- Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire, 1615–1617 in Eendraght. Discovered Cape Horn; the first expedition to enter the Pacific via the Drake Passage.
- Jacob l'Hermite and John Hugo Schapenham, 1623–1626.
- Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Carreri, 1693–1898. Multiple voyages, crossing Mexico on land.
- William Dampier (English) 1679–1691 and 1703–1707. First person to circumnavigate the world twice.
- George Anson, 1st Baron Anson, 1740–1744, in HMS Centurion.
- John Byron, 1764–1766, in HMS Dolphin. First circumnavigation in less than two years.
- Samuel Wallis and Philip Carteret, 1766–1768, in Dolphin and HMS Swallow. Carteret had served on Byron's expedition. Dolphin was the first ship to survive two circumnavigations.
- James Cook, 1768–1771, in HMS Endeavour. The first circumnavigation to lose no personnel to scurvy.
- Tobias Furneaux, 1772–1774, in HMS Adventure. The first circumnavigation from west to east. (Furneaux was a veteran of Byron's expedition so he was also the first person to circumnavigate in both directions.)
- James Cook, 1772–1775 in HMS Resolution.
- Robert Gray, 1787–1790, first American circumnavigation.
- Adam Johann von Krusenstern, 1803–1806 first Russian circumnavigation.
- Robert Fitzroy, 1831–1836, in HMS Beagle with Charles Darwin.
- Joshua Slocum, 1895–1898, first solo circumnavigation.
- Harry Pidgeon, 1921–1925 1932–1937, second solo circumnavigation, first person to circumnavigate solo twice.
- USS Triton, 1960 first underwater circumnavigation.
- Irving Johnson, 1934–1958, sail training pioneer together with his wife Electa "Exy" Johnson, circumnavigated the world 7 times with amateur crews.
- Sir Francis Chichester, 1966–1967, first single-handed circumnavigation with just one port of call.
- Robin Knox-Johnston, 1968–1969, first single-handed non-stop circumnavigation.
- Chay Blyth, 1971, first westwards single-handed non-stop circumnavigation.
- Naomi James, 1978, first woman to perform a single-handed (i.e. solo) circumnavigation.
- Marvin Creamer (USA), December 21, 1982 – May 17, 1984, only known person to circumnavigate the globe by boat with no nautical aids, not even a compass or watch [1].
- Kay Cottee, 1988, first woman to perform a solo non-stop circumnavigation.
Other notable maritime circumnavigations
- Pharaoh Necho II, first circumnavigation of Africa.
- Roman Governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola, first circumnavigation of Britain.
- Matthew Flinders, 1801–1803 first circumnavigation of Australia.
- James Cook, 1769–1770 first circumnavigation of New Zealand.
Record maritime circumnavigations
- Bruno Peyron (French), January–March 2005, fastest circumnavigation 50 days 16 hours 20 minutes 4 seconds.
- Jean Luc van de Heede (French), 2004, fastest westward single-handed circumnavigation, 122 days 14 hours 3 minutes 49 seconds.
- Ellen MacArthur (English), 2004–2005, fastest single-handed 71 days 14 hours 18 minutes 33 seconds.
Notable aerial circumnavigations
- United States Army Air Service, 1924, first aerial circumnavigation, 175 days, covering 44,360 kilometres (27,553 miles).
- LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin, 1929, first circumnavigation in an airship by Hugo Eckener, 21 days.
- Wiley Post, 1933, first solo aerial circumnavigation, 7 days, 19 hours, 49 minutes covering 25,110 kilometres (15,596 miles).
- United States Air Force, 1949, first non-stop aerial circumnavigation, 4 in-air refuelings, 94 hours, 1 minute, covering 37,743 km (23,452 miles) in the B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II.
- Yuri Gagarin in Vostok 1 was the first human spaceflight and orbited the Earth in 1961.
- Geraldine Mock, 1964, first woman to complete a solo aerial circumnavigation.
- Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, 1986, Voyager, first non-refueled circumnavigation in an airplane, 9 days, 3 minutes and 44 seconds.
- Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones, 1999, first non-stop balloon circumnavigation in Breitling Orbiter 3, 19 days, 1 hour and 49 minutes, covering 42,810 kilometres.
- Steve Fossett, 2 July 2002, first solo balloon circumnavigation.
- Steve Fossett, 3 March, 2005, first non-stop, non-refueled solo circumnavigation in an airplane, 67 hours, covering 37,000 kilometres.
External links
- Steven Dutch, Circumnavigations of the Globe to 1800