These daring people who convinced themselves that the world is round.

With most of the Geographical discoveries made, circumnavigators changed their goals towards gathering scientific information. This is the case of Fitzroy’s expedition. His ship, the “ Beagle” was endowed with remarkable scientific equipment whose value may have been surpassed only by one particular member of the crew: Charles Darwin. Young naturalist Robert Fitzroy spent considerable time studying and researching on- Galapagos Islands, Chile, Tahiti & New Zealand. This expedition was very productive thanks to Darwin’s rich scientific material. His highly detailed field journal permitted him to formulate some important observations that would form the basis of his revolutionary theory of evolution. Another theory he put up after the journey which is now unanimously accepted is the one explaining the formation of the Great Barrier Reef.

The solo journey by American Captain Joshua Siocum began in 1895 when he was 51. Measuring 11.2 metres length and 4.3 metres width the “ Spray”, an old boat which he personally repaired, left the docks of Boston. After a detour to the strait of Gibraltor, Siocum crossed back over the Atlantic, further following mainly the same course used by his great ‘ancestor’ Magellan. The “Spray” returned to Boston in 1898-it had covered 46000 miles. In 1900 he wrote a book about his journey

‘ Sailing Alone Around the World’ which became an international best seller. Siocum kept on navigating and In July 1910 his wife informed the news papers that she believed ‘he was lost at sea’. Ironically being an experienced mariner, Siocum never learnt to swim.

The 20th century brought a new way of circumnavigating the world. FLIGHT. In the early days of flight, nobody believed that this would be possible. Eventually the ultimate circumnavigation became the space flight around the earth in orbit. Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was put in orbit in 1961. The period of orbital revolution was 90 minutes. He became an international celebrity overnight and was awarded many medals and titles including the “ Hero of the Soviet Union’. This lucky man later stated “ Circling the Earth in the orbital spaceship, I marvelled at the beauty of our planet”

Circumnavigating the globe is still a tempting adventure for many. Some of them are pioneers by experimenting new ways.. Betrand Piccard and Brian Jones were the first to circumnavigate in a Hot Air Balloon. It was Betrand Piccard’s third attempt to circle the world in a hot air balloon. This took place in 1999. The journey lasted 19 days, 1 hour and 49 minutes having covered 42,810 Kms in a non stop, non fuelled flight.

For the record

1949: The first non stop flight around the world, by a team of US Air Force Planes.

1982: The first helicopter circumnavigation, by Ross Perot Jr and Jay Colburn.

Finally it’s about Jules Verne. He never had gone too far from home. Still he wrote probably the best book ever- ‘Around the World in 80 days,’ was published in 1873. Jules Verne’s interest in Geography combined with his ability to imagine possible future technological developments proved to be a successful recipe for his books. This book was adapted for stage, television and films, enjoying a lot of success all over the world. The influence of this book is still felt today as there is an international round-the-world race for the ‘ Jules Verne Trophy’.

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CIRCUMNAVIGATORS- Part 2