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For details contact: DK Publishing Special Markets, 345 Hudson Street, New York, 10014 or [email protected] Contents Introduction 8 12 THE FIRST OCEAN SAILORS TO 1450 Exploring the Pacific 14 Seafaring in the Mediterranean 20 The First Sailing Vessels 22 Map: The Mediterranean Sea 28 The Voyages of the Vikings 30 Map: The North Sea and Baltic 36 Arab Seafaring 38 Finding the Way 44 The Voyages of Zheng He 46 Pilgrims and Galleys 52 The Battle of Winchelsea 58 62 THE AGE OF EXPLORATION 1450–1600 The New World 64 Map: The North Atlantic Ocean 68 Medieval Ships 72 To India by Sea 74 Circumnavigating the Earth 84 The Conquest of Mexico 94 Exploring Canada 104 Map: The South Atlantic Ocean 108 Drake’s Plunder 110 116 THE AGE OF EMPIRE 1600–1815 Colonies in America 118 Early Modern Ships 124 The Wreck of the Batavia 126 Map: The Indian Ocean 128 East Indiamen 134 A Life of Piracy 136 Slave Ships in the Atlantic 146 Cook in the Pacific 154 Finding Latitude 162 John Paul Jones and American Independence 164 The Battle of Trafalgar 174 Map: The Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico 176 Finding Longitude 182 Death in the Arctic 184 190 STEAM AND EMIGRATION 1815–1914 Fire on the Oceans 192 Early Steamships 196 Going to America 202 China, Japan, and the Perry Expedition 210 Map: The China Seas 216 The Birth of Oceanography 222 Saving Lives at Sea 230 The Alabama and America at Sea 240 The Great Tea Race 248 Clipper Ships 256 John Holland and the First Submarines 258 Early Submarines 264 To the Other Side of the World 266 The Birth of the Luxury Liner 272 The Great Arms Race 280 Dreadnoughts 282 288 THE WARS ON THE OCEANS 1914–1945 The Battle of Jutland 290 Modern Warships 296 High Society at Sea 300 The Battle of the Atlantic 308 The Battle of Midway 318 Map: The Pacific Ocean 322 The D-Day Landings 326 Landing Craft 328 334 THE GLOBAL OCEAN 1945–PRESENT The Container Revolution 336 The Cuban Missile Crisis 342 Exploring the Deep 350 Undersea Exploration 356 The Falklands War 358 Winning the America’s Cup 364 Ocean Racing 366 The Exxon Valdez Disaster 372 The Lawless Oceans 380 Glossary 388 Bibliography 390 Index 392 Acknowledgments 398 8 INTRODUCTION Introduction W hat is the ocean? Today we refer to five individual oceans—the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and Southern. But in ancient and medieval times, “the ocean” was the whole mysterious and frightening mass of water surrounding the only known lands—Europe, Asia, and Africa. In fact, nothing separates the oceans from each other. There is no moment when one passes from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, or from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific. The ocean is a great unity. As the Encyclopaedia Britannica said in 1911, it is “the great connected sheet of water which covers the greater part of the surface of the earth.” Ocean voyages were made as long ago as 1000 BCE, when Polynesians began migrating across the Pacific. From Europe, Viking sailors originating in Scandinavia crossed the North Atlantic to Iceland in the 9th century CE and had reached North America by 1000 CE. In the Middle Ages, sea trade routes linked China to Egypt and Venice to London. Most seafarers kept close to coastlines whenever possible, however, and for the learned scholars of the Muslim Middle East and Christian Europe, the ocean remained the subject of fear or denial. According to the Arab geographer Al-Masudi in 957 CE, the Pillars of Hercules at the exit from the Mediterranean Sea into the Atlantic had statues indicating that there was “no way beyond me.” The German chronicler Adam of Bremen wrote in 1076: “Beyond Norway, which is the farthermost northern country, you will find no human habitation, nothing but ocean, terrible to look at and limitless, encircling the whole world.” Around 1290, an Englishman, Richard of Haldingham, presented a map to Hereford Cathedral. In medieval fashion, it showed the world as consisting of three continents—Europe, Africa, and Asia. Even the Mediterranean was not accurately drawn, with a triangular