Temptation of the High Seas - The Centuries of Discovery - François Bellec - book

The high seas are those where all coasts have disappeared from a uniform and circular horizon, where the adventurous sailor has no other landmarks than the sun, the stars and the winds. The high seas are also the eye of all legends, of all myths, where the vanished Atlantis, the lost paradise, but also the bubbling maelstroms of hell, are hidden. When sail propulsion won out over the simple oar, pilots learned to use the winds and currents: the Maoris had long known the routes of the Pacific islands when Arabs and Chinese undertook the crossing of the Indian Ocean while the Vikings made short work of the icy seas of the North. It took the courage and the will of a small people from the far West, the Portuguese, to dare to deliberately set out to conquer the unknown seas. It took the determination of a visionary, Christopher Columbus, to bring America to Europe. Thus, over the centuries, sailors opened the oceans, leaving the lands they had discovered by chance beyond the horizon to soldiers, priests, and merchants. Complete with stunning maps and diagrams and original illustrations, this work by Rear Admiral Bellec, director of the Musée de la Marine, is a history of the science of high-seas navigation that led to the discovery of new lands.