Close Menu
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Monday, December 11
    Trending
    • This Day in History on December 11th
    • History Short: What is the Greatest Video Game?
    • This Day in History on December 10th
    • History Short: The Biggest Heist, Japan Edition
    • This Day in History on December 9th
    • History Short: Midwest Murder Mayhem!
    • This Day in History on December 8th
    • History Short: When Russia Guaranteed Ukraine Territory Integrity
    History and Headlines
    • Arts & Entertainment
      • Cinema & TV
      • Games
      • Literature
      • Music
      • Sports
      • Video Games
    • Bizarre Bulletin
      • Misconceptions
      • The Bizarre
      • The Paranormal
      • The Unexplained
    • Lifestyle
      • Animals/Pets
      • Fashion
      • Food
      • Health/Medicine
      • Home Improvement
      • Horoscopes
      • Travel
    • Science & Tech
      • Inventions
      • Nature
      • Vehicles
    • Society
      • Business and Economics
      • Crime
      • Military
      • Politics
      • Religion
      • Society
    • About
      • Welcome to Our Site!
      • This Day in History (articles)
      • This Day in History (categories)
      • Table of Contents: A History of the World
      • Online History Textbooks
      • A Guide to Some of Our Favorite Scholars and Educators
      • Advance Screenings and Movie Reviews Archive
      • Schedule of Video Adaptations of Our Articles
    • Friends
      • Armchair History TV
      • Fact Fiend
      • RealClearHistory
      • Simply Charly
      • TopTenz
      • ​Unique Interpretations
    History and Headlines
    You are at:Home»June»June 23»5 Perilous Voyages of Discovery
    June 23

    5 Perilous Voyages of Discovery

    Major DanBy Major DanJune 23, 2016Updated:June 22, 20201 Comment7 Mins Read
    Email Facebook LinkedIn Pinterest Reddit Telegram Tumblr Twitter VKontakte WhatsApp
    Discovery

    A Brief History

    On June 23, 1611, the ship appropriately named Discovery, captained by explorer Henry Hudson, was in what is now called Hudson Bay and was the scene of a mutiny.  Hudson, his son and 7 loyal men of the crew were set into a small open boat and cast off by the angry mutineers.  Captain and loyal followers were never seen again, victims of a deadly voyage during the Age of Discovery.  Back in the day, 4 or 5 centuries ago, when brave explorers were sailing what today seem like tiny ships all over a strange world, finding new lands and seas, there was no guarantee of returning home alive to share the newfound knowledge.  Here we tell about 5 such voyages where the danger to captain and crew was extreme.

    Digging Deeper

    5.  Discovery, 1610-1611.

    Henry Hudson and his crew were attempting to locate the elusive Northwest passage around Canada to the Pacific Ocean when they were iced in over the winter and nearly starved.  The following June Hudson was still eager to continue exploring, but his weary crew would have no more of exploring and demanded to sail home.  When Hudson refused, the crew jettisoned the captain and his few loyal followers and left for home.  The fate of Hudson and the others in the small boat they had been cast adrift in is unknown, virtually certain not to be a happy ending.  Mutinous crews were a pall that hung over captains on dangerous and long voyages to uncharted waters and strange lands.  Many captains had their hands full trying to keep their crews in line.  Only 8 of the 13 mutineers made it back to England alive, and none were ever punished for the mutiny.  Survivors cleverly blamed the mutiny on those that had died.  Discovery was only 38 feet long at the main deck and displaced 20 tons!

    4.  USS Nautilus under the North Pole, 1958.

    Entering service in 1955, the Nautilus was the first nuclear powered submarine in the world.  Submarine service is dangerous at all times, but the Nautilus was routinely breaking speed and endurance records during her first years.  In 1958 she and her crew embarked on an exciting and perilous voyage to the North Pole, under water and under the ice.  The sub had a hard time even getting to the North Pole area because at first the distance between the bottom of the ice and the sea floor at the Bering Strait was not high enough for the sub to pass.  Once they did make it under the polar ice cap, the magnetic compass was virtually useless and the crew had to navigate by gyroscopic compass, always in constant danger of blundering into ice or an underwater mountain, or being trapped under many feet of ice.  The captain considered attempting to blow a hole in the ice with his torpedoes had the sub been trapped.  The ship and crew made their historic transit safely and surfaced off Greenland 4 days later, no doubt exhilarated and relieved.  The captain was awarded the Legion of Merit by President Eisenhower at the White House (a Cold War propaganda coup) and the crew awarded the Presidential Unit Citation.  The ship went on to serve until 1980, logging over 300,000 nautical miles while underway as early as 1966.  The Nautilus was 320 feet long with a beam of 38 feet and carried 105 officers and men.  Her nuclear reactors provided 13,400 horsepower and a speed of 23 knots.  The ship is now a museum in Groton, Connecticut.

    3.  Ferdinand Magellan Around the World Voyage, 1521.

    Often cited as the first captain to sail around the world, Magellan did not actually perform the feat as he died along the way.  Although in charge of the 5 ship fleet, Magellan was killed by Philippine Islanders at Mactan on the trip.  Prior to his death, Magellan had to deal with horrific weather and the grumblings of nearly mutinous crews.  Magellan died in an attack on natives he described as “ingenious and very thievous” that obviously did not go well, for Magellan and nearly 30 more of his men were killed.  When the lone remaining ship of the fleet of 5 returned to Spain, only 18 survivors of the 237 men that had set out with Magellan arrived alive.  Later, 4 more of Magellan’s sailors made it back to Spain on other ships, making a total death rate of over 90%.

    2.  Captain Cook and HMS Resolution, 1779. 

    The routes of Captain James Cook’s voyages. The first voyage is shown in red, second voyage in green, and third voyage in blue. The route of Cook’s crew following his death is shown as a dashed blue line.

    An experienced sailor and war veteran, James Cook had already completed other voyages of discovery mapping new lands and charting the seas.  In Hawaii he found his end at the hands of hostile native Hawaiians.  When natives stole one of his ships’ small boats, Cook set about to gain its return by bringing the local King to his ship, probably as a hostage.  Irate natives attacked the English at the shore, stabbing Cook and bashing his head with a club.  Hostile natives were always a dangerous possibility when exploring new lands.

    1.  Columbus’s First Voyage to New World, 1492.

    The voyage of Christopher Columbus that resulted in “discovery” of the “New World” of North and South America was based on the mistaken calculation that the distance from Iberia to Japan (the intended destination) was only about 2300 miles, the size of the Earth having been underestimated.  The real distance is more along the lines of 12,500 km (around 7500 miles), a voyage too far for any ship available at that time to carry sufficient provisions.  Thus, Columbus and his crew turned out to be quite lucky there was not open ocean all the way around the world to Japan or they would have almost certainly perished.  The 3 ship flotilla, Santa Maria, Santa Clara (nicknamed Niña) and the Pinta were tiny wooden sailboats, the largest being Santa Maria with a length (at the hull) of 62 feet and a beam of only 18 feet!  Santa Maria also had the largest crew, carrying 40 men.  The return trip was as harrowing as the Westbound voyage, with the Santa Maria being lost to striking a sandbar and the crew crowding onto the other 2 tiny ships.  Not only was the voyage farther away from Eurasia than white men had sailed, the compass discrepancy between true north and magnetic North created problems since Columbus was apparently not familiar with the phenomenon (though other Europeans were).  After 5 weeks of nervous hope, Columbus found land he believed to be Japan (which was actually the Bahamas) and China (which was actually Cuba).  Luckily for Columbus, the Native Americans encountered were not particularly warlike and did not slaughter him and his crew.  Incredibly the Niña and Pinta made it back to Portugal safely and Columbus would go on to further voyages.

    Question for students (and subscribers): What voyages would you add to the list?  (Honorable mention to Apollo 13.)  Please let us know in the comments section below this article.

    If you liked this article and would like to receive notification of new articles, please feel welcome to subscribe to History and Headlines by liking us on Facebook and becoming one of our patrons!

    Your readership is much appreciated!

    Historical Evidence

    For more information, please see…

    Hakluyt, Richard.  Voyages and Discoveries: Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques & Discoveries of the English Nation.  Penguin Classics, 1972.

    Rice, Tony.  Voyages of Discovery: A Visual Celebration of Ten of the Greatest Natural History Expeditions.  Firefly Books, 2008.

    The featured image in this article, a map by Jon Platek of the two North American voyages of Henry Hudson, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

    You can also watch a video version of this list below:

    Share. Email Facebook LinkedIn Pinterest Reddit Telegram Twitter Tumblr
    Previous ArticleJune 22, 1893: British Battleship Sinks British Battleship Without Firing a Shot!
    Next Article June 23, 1973: British Serial Murderer Kills First of 26 Victims
    Major Dan
    Major Dan

      Major Dan is a retired veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He served during the Cold War and has traveled to many countries around the world. Prior to his military service, he graduated from Cleveland State University, having majored in sociology. Following his military service, he worked as a police officer eventually earning the rank of captain prior to his retirement.

      Related Posts

      This Day in History on June 23rd

      June 23, 2023

      History Short: An American Tradition Since 2021!

      June 23, 2023

      Online History Textbooks

      August 5, 2021
      Follow Us!
      • Facebook
      • Twitter
      • YouTube
      • Patreon
      Sign Up For Our Newsletter!
      Most Recent

      This Day in History on December 11th

      December 11, 2023

      History Short: What is the Greatest Video Game?

      December 11, 2023

      This Day in History on December 10th

      December 10, 2023

      History Short: The Biggest Heist, Japan Edition

      December 10, 2023

      This Day in History on December 9th

      December 9, 2023
      This Day in History Video

      Advertisements




      Amazon Affiliate Disclosure Statement

      As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases via links in the “Historical Evidence” sections of articles.

      About HistoryAndHeadlines.com

      Thanks for visiting History and Headlines!  This site exists primarily for educational purposes and is intended as a resource for Dr. Zar’s students.  Articles are mostly written by either Dr. Zar or his dad (Major Dan).  To any guest readers, please keep that in mind when commenting on articles.   Thank you!

      We try to present our students with historical topics that are both diverse and a bit out of the ordinary.  Our motto is “We try until we succeed!”

      Contact us at admin@historyandheadlines.com

      Guidelines and Policies for Images used on This Site, as well as for Guest and Sponsored Articles, and Other Terms of Use

      Privacy Statement

      © 2023 History and Headlines

      All-Time Most Commented

      July 28, 1866: 18 Year Old Girl Wins Commission to Sculpt Statue of Lincoln (A Truly Great American Woman)

      July 28, 2014

      December 24, 1865: Birth of the Ku Klux Klan

      December 24, 2015

      December 25, 1868: President Johnson Pardons all Confederate Veterans

      December 25, 2015

      February 5, 1909: First Plastic Invented was called Bakelite!

      February 5, 2014

      November 23, 1876: “Boss” Tweed Turned Over to Authorities

      November 23, 2013
      Recommended Book
      © 2023 ThemeSphere. Designed by ThemeSphere.

      Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

      We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

      You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in .

      History and Headlines
      Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
      Privacy Overview

      This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

      Strictly Necessary Cookies

      Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

      If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.