do you want to come sailing with me on
my friend george's boat
welcome to watch mojo and today we're
counting down our picks for the top 10
most epic sea voyages
ever
the course was a difficult one south to
sierra leone enduring storms and long
calms all hands were safe
not one life had been lost for this list
we'll be looking at the most impressive
dangerous or otherwise historically
noteworthy journeys taken across the
high seas
since we're focusing on documented
expeditions we'll be excluding the no
less grand cruises of mariners
whose names are lost to legend since
these travelogues have inspired many a
movie
consider this your spoiler alert do any
of these adventures stir your wandering
heart
share your travel bucket list or other
opinions in the comments below
if you like what you're hearing be sure
to check out the full song at the link
[Music]
below
number 10 leif erikson's voyage to north
america
hey everybody it's leaf eriksen day
this viking came from a long line of
famous explorers
including his father eric the red who
founded the first settlement in
greenland
not to be outdone his son sailed further
west becoming the first european to lead
an expedition to north america
it's at this point that the viking
legends then make an extraordinary
assertion
a viking sailor named lace the lucky set
out onto the treacherous waters of the
north atlantic
and reached the american continent 500
years before
columbus one account claims he heard of
the new land from a trader who was blown
off course by a storm
another version says leif himself
stumbled upon it
either way traversing the cold stormy
waters of the north atlantic without gps
or even a magnetic compass was quite the
accomplishment
the medieval warriors new community
didn't stand the test of time
but he did manage to return home
ensuring his vanguard of vikings would
eventually get the credit they deserved
leaving one to ponder will we ever know
the extent
of the debt that columbus owed his
viking predecessors
number nine captain cook's first voyage
of all this captain's claims to fame
his first journey is his most
influential
full of danger and deception it almost
reads like an adventure novel
the story starts with cook racing from
england to tahiti to observe the 1769
transit of venus
after that secret orders instructed him
to search the south pacific
for a hypothetical continent thought to
balance out the land mass in the
northern hemisphere but a continent or
land of great extent may be found to the
southward
you are to proceed to the southward in
order to make discovery of the continent
while they never found it they did
become only the second group of
europeans to ever explore new zealand
and australia
the sailors almost sank on the great
barrier reef and finally made it home
nearly three years after setting sail
then the unthinkable the resolutions
foremast
the work of shoddy naval shipwrights
snapped during the violent squall
cook had no choice he had to re-route
his ships back to the safety of
kealakuku
bay cook wasn't as lucky on his third
trek when he died while trying to kidnap
the king of hawaii
number eight thor hairdoll's contiki
expedition
tohrdahl was about to become famous the
world over
as an explorer a scientist and a
navigator
if anyone can claim to be a real-life
indiana jones it's this norwegian
scholar
not only did he fight nazis during world
war ii he also led one of the craziest
odysseys of modern times
when others laughed at the thought that
ancient mariners could cross the mighty
pacific
this scholar put his money where his
mast was when nobody believed him
he made the decision one day to go out
and prove it people thought he was crazy
yeah he probably was in 1947
herrerdahl five other men and a parrot
named lorita
set out from peru aboard a balsa wood
raft the parrot gradually developed into
a real sea bird
if it got chilly lorita kept warm by
performing acrobatics in the gay roads
she hated to waste their time in the
cave using the winds and currents they
chased the sunset over 4
340 miles of ocean though his hypothesis
that south
americans colonized polynesia was wrong
subsequent research proved that
pre-colombian polynesians had made the
same journey
only in reverse peridol's legacy stands
as a monument to courage and curiosity
number seven ernest shackleton's trip
from elephant island to south georgia
sometimes life isn't a journey it's a
desperate struggle to not become a
leopard seals lunch
ernest shackleton and his crew learned
this when their ship endurance got
trapped in ice on route to antarctica
28 men fought unceasingly to save their
ship from the onslaught of the ice
the outside world had no idea of their
predicament
after a frosty year the floating glacier
crushed the endurance
two harrowing months later their island
started breaking up
forcing the lot to make a treacherous
crossing to the nearest barren rock
with no chance of rescue a small crew
set off on a lifeboat with a desperate
mission
and this is regarded as one of the epic
small boat voyages
ever undertaken across some of the
steepest
harshest seas in the world and indeed a
feat of navigation
by his captain frank worsley somehow
they crossed 800 miles of the world's
roughest seas during a hurricane
and 32 miles of snow-capped mountains
before finally arriving at a whaling
camp
shackleton wasted no time in rescuing
his compatriots
all of whom survived all hands were safe
not one life had been lost number six
christopher columbus's first voyage to
the new world
who was this man whose life was shaped
by one
great obsession a man who set in motion
forces he could not possibly grasp
few failures changed history like this
seafarer's first voyage
after sailing with no sign of land for
weeks his crew had run out of patience
fortunately for columbus an island was
spotted on october 12th over the next
months
they bumped into cuba haiti and
hispaniola
christopher columbus was about to
discover a new world
and within a few short years turn a
paradise
into a hell however they never found
japan
their original destination which was 6
000 miles or so further than old colombo
calculated
before heading home the admiral
plundered whatever gold
knickknacks and people he could narrowly
surviving a storm and capture by the
portuguese
he returned to spain on march 15 1493
he was hailed a hero and a delighted
ferdinand and isabella continued to
bankroll columbus's voyages
columbus's travels inspired others such
as giovanni cabot
better known as john cabot who led
england's first transatlantic foray only
a few years later
number 5 francis drake's
circumnavigation of the globe
this sea dogs expedition wasn't the
first to circumnavigate the globe but at
least drake actually made
it home in one piece not that all his
men were so lucky
in fact so many sailors died on the
journey's first leg that two ships had
to be scuttled
the elizabeth turned tail ended up
finding herself back in the strait and
sailed home to england
leaving only the golden hind alone in
the pacific after
executing a mutineer the little armada
pushed through the treacherous straits
of magellan
while only one vessel made it to the
pacific drake's daring never cracked
he plundered his way up the new world's
west coast amassing a vast fortune worth
hundreds of millions in today's money
after a quick rest in california
drake pushed on across the pacific
around africa
and finally back home where queen
elizabeth promptly had him knighted
he was the hero not of the hour but of
the decade
number four the first voyage of vasco de
gama
bartolomeo diaz reached the southern tip
of africa in 1488
after battling storms currents and a
mutinous crew
using what diaz learned nine years later
vasco de gama went even further
becoming the first european to sail to
india along the way
he explored east africa bombarded a city
and pirated a few trading ships
he is the first one successfully to get
into the indian ocean
work his way up the coast of east africa
and
ultimately reach india when the little
fleet finally reached its destination
their modest gifts failed to impress the
king of calicut
it became clear that any real trade
would be impossible
so after three months of fruitless
effort they set out for home
feeling insulted dagama decided to
kidnap several locals before hightailing
it out of asia
half his crew died during the return
trip but the adventurer himself survived
becoming a national hero in portugal
though folks in india and africa
definitely beg to differ number 3
joshua slocum's solo voyage around the
world
slocum's interests were narrow but deep
he was obsessed with the sea
in love with it in need of some alone
time the seafarer set out on an epic yet
solitary venture in 1895.
over the next three years he
single-handedly traversed 46 000 miles
of the briny depths
to become the first human to solo sail
around the planet
starting in boston he crossed the
atlantic after a quick jaunt to canada
dissuaded from a sunny mediterranean
cruise due to corsair activity
slocum reversed course he visited brazil
before passing through the straits of
magellan
where a few shoeless pirates boarded his
sloop finding the deck covered in nails
and the captain armed to the teeth
the bandits beat a quick retreat from
there it was mostly smooth sailing
across the pacific
around africa and finally back to
beantown
number two ferdinand magellan's
circumnavigation of the globe
in the wake of columbus's voyages
spanish expeditions continued pushing
further from home
the course was a difficult one south to
sierra leone enduring storms and long
calms in 1513 ponce de leon reconoidered
a peninsula he dubbed florida though
contrary to myth
he probably never searched for the
fountain of youth later that decade
ferdinand magellan
outdid them all planning to reach
indonesia by heading west
he barely suppressed a mutiny before
sailing around south america
the first european to do so the captain
dispatched
the leaderless crew quickly caved in
magellan took control of the ship
and then blocked the other ships from
escaping what was expected to be a quick
jaunt across the pacific turned into a
near four-month-long ordeal
that saw over two dozen men die likely
due to scurvy
in the philippines the explorer's
forceful proselytizing got him shanked
though his surviving crew carried on
finally reaching home in 1522
completing the first circumnavigation of
the globe
magellan changed the way europeans
navigated
he increased the knowledge of
seafaring navigation exponentially
before we unveil our number one pick
here are a few honorable mentions
jacques cousteau's antarctic expedition
the legendary french oceanographer
surveyed antarctica's frigid coast
off king george island and on the shores
of volcanic deception
diving explorations were made
and now calypso travels toward the
antarctic circle
and beyond james cameron's descent into
the mariana trench
the famous director takes a deep dive
plunging 6.8 miles below the ocean's
surface
the depth bud brighman went to in the
abyss
i'm doing it for real roz savage paddles
the pacific
this tough-as-nails adventurer quit a
job and marriage
to row her boat across the world's
oceans when i finally
saw this silhouette on the horizon of
antigua
i was just like i'm gonna get there
today if it kills me
so i just cancelled all my breaks i just
rode solidly for 12 hours
george vancouver maps northwest north
america
this british captain surveyed the
tempestuous dark waters of the pacific
northwest
[Music]
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number one journey of the survivors of
the essex
the tragedy of the essex inspired herman
melville to write moby dick
and the real story is even more
terrifying than the novel
the ship sailed from massachusetts to an
offshore whaling ground in the remote
south pacific
while hunting the huge beasts thousands
of miles from land
an enraged sperm whale estimated to be
85 feet long
sunk the ship with history's hardest
headbutt now stranded on boats little
bigger than surfboards the 20 men
foolishly headed for south america
instead of the marquesas islands fearing
rumors of man-eating natives
hey what are you all looking at i'm fine
having potter
fishing fiddle in a cruel twist of fate
the survivors themselves resorted to
cannibalism before being rescued
while far from a triumph this nightmare
still haunts sailors even
200 years later do you agree with our
picks
let us know in the comments and hey if
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now
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