The Conquest of the North Atlantic

by Geoffrey Jules Marcus

The early voyages into the deep waters of the Atlantic rank among the greatest feats of exploration. In tiny, apparently fragile vessels the Irish monks searched for desolate places in the ocean in which to pursue their vocation;their successors, the Vikings, with their superb ship-building skills, created fast, sea-worthy craft which took them far out into the unknown, until they finally reached Greenland and America. G.J. Marcus looks at the history ofthese expeditions not only as a scholar and historian, but also as a practical sailor. Besides the problem of what these early explorers actually achieved, he poses the even more fascinating question of how they did it, without compass, quadrant, or astrolabe. From the opening descriptions of the launching of a curach on the Aran Islands, through the great pages of the Norse Sagas describing the first recorded sighting of America, the author brilliantly conveys the excitement and danger of the conquest of the North Atlantic in a narrative that is based equally on scholarly research and sound seamanship.
G.J. MARCUS's previous books include The Maiden Voyage , on the sinking of the Titanic. Reprint; first published in 1980.

Genres: History

224 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1980

Reviews

[Joe White · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an exhaustively researched historical summation reference. It is strictly based on provable authentic written references. The casual reader will be amazed at how much detail exists in Icelandic Nordic references exists for fishing and shipping records to-from Iceland and Greenland; from the time period of the discovery of Greenland up to the 1600's.
Some details of the Hanse alliance as a competitor to the Norse and English merchant shipping to Iceland are given. The final chapter discusses the extension of the English fishing out to the Grand banks and Newfoundland within 2 to 4 decades before Columbus's exploratory voyage of discovery looking for an alternate trade route for the spice and Chinese trading.
Only the far North Atlantic history is covered, which consists solely in the author's view of Irish, English, Norse, and later the North Atlantic members of the Hanse alliance, and almost solely with respect to the discovery and exploitation of islands north of England, including Iceland and Greenland. Recognition is given to the Vinland expeditions and to the seamanship possibilities of navigation correction in adverse conditions which may have resulted in some voyages as far as North America which failed to be officially recorded and did not result in further follow-up settlement.
Ship types, their design, construction, and handling are discussed in moderate detail. Specific dating for landmark events, routes, or boat types are given.
In some places, the book material is repetitious. This is not light reading just trying to present a theme. It is more of a high level index to a pile of annotations, which consume the last third of the page content.