List of crossings of the Atlantic Ocean

This is a list of notable crossings of the Atlantic Ocean.

Main article: Transatlantic crossings
Ra II, a ship built from papyrus, was successfully sailed across the Atlantic by Thor Heyerdahl proving that it was possible to cross the Atlantic from Africa using such boats in early epochs of history.

Post-1492 crossings

15th to 18th centuries
  • In May 1497, Italian explorer John Cabot set sail from Bristol, England, in service of King Henry VII, arriving in what is believed to be Newfoundland, Labrador or Cape Breton, Canada in June of that year. Believing it to be Asia, he surveyed the coastline before sailing back to England. He made a second voyage the year after but never returned.[1]
  • In April 1563, Nicolas Barre and 20 other stranded Huguenots were the first to build a (crude) boat in the Americas and sail across the Atlantic. They sailed from Charlesfort, South Carolina to just off the coast of England where they were rescued by an English ship. Though they resorted to cannibalism, seven men survived the voyage, including Barre.[2][3]
  • English soldier and courtier Sir Humphrey Gilbert sailed across the Atlantic in 1583, landing in what is now St. John's, Canada and claiming the land for England. His ship sank somewhere off the Azores during the return voyage and he drowned.[4]
  • On 16 September 1620 (New Style), the sailing ship Mayflower, carrying English and Dutch Pilgrims on board, set sail from England to North America, reaching New England on 21 November (New Style) the same year.[5]

19th century

20th century
  • On 15 April 1912 the RMS Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg with a loss of more than 1,500 lives.[7]
  • 1939–1945, during World War II, the Battle of the Atlantic resulted in nearly 3,700 ships sunk and 783 U-boats destroyed.[8]
  • In 1952, Ann Davison was the first woman to single-handedly sail the Atlantic Ocean.
  • In 1965, Robert Manry crossed the Atlantic from the U.S. to England non-stop in a 4.1-metre (13-foot) sailboat named Tinkerbelle.[9] Several others also crossed the Atlantic in very small sailboats in the 1960s, none of them non-stop, though.
  • In 1969 and 1970 Thor Heyerdahl launched expeditions to cross the Atlantic in boats built from papyrus. He succeeded in crossing the Atlantic from Morocco to Barbados after a two-month voyage of 6,100 km (3,800 mi) with Ra II in 1970, thus conclusively proving that boats such as the Ra could have sailed with the Canary Current across the Atlantic in prehistoric times.[10]
  • In 1984, five Argentines sail in a 10-metre long (33 ft) raft made from tree trunks named Atlantis from Canary Islands and after 52 days 4,800 kilometres (3,000 mi) journey arrived to Venezuela in an attempt to prove travellers from Africa may have crossed the Atlantic before Christopher Columbus.[11][12]
  • In 1985, American boatbuilder, Al Grovers, Sr., made the first outboard crossing of the Atlantic.[13][14]

21st century

See also

References
  1. John Cabot Biography Britannica, accessed 16 November 2022
  2. The Huguenot settlement in 16th century South Carolina churchmousec.wordpress.com, accessed 28 October 2020
  3. "Colonial America - Jean Ribaut". Archived from the original on 2015-12-08. Retrieved 2016-09-29.
  4. Humphrey Gilbert Biography Britannica, accessed 16 November 2022
  5. "Mayflower departs England". History. 4 March 2010. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  6. William H. Longyard (2003). A speck on the sea: epic voyages in the most improbable vessels. International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-07-141306-0.
  7. Jill, Lawless (16 October 2008). "Last Titanic survivor sells mementos". Associated Press. Retrieved 2015-08-06.
  8. "Introduction" U-Boat Operations of the Second World War—Vol 1 by Wynn, Kenneth, 1998 p. 1
  9. Tinkerbelle (1967; Harper & Row, New York City, N.Y.)
  10. Ryne, Linn. Voyages into History. Retrieved 13 January 2008.
  11. 5 cross Atlantic in tiny raft. News.google.com. 12 July 1984 Retrieved on 27 October 2011.
  12. Expedicion Atlantis Archived 2009-04-25 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish)
  13. "Our Story: Transatlantic Journey". Al Grovers Marina High and Dry.
  14. "VIDEO: An epic Atlantic adventure". Soundings Online. March 26, 2017.
  15. "Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg makes trans-Atlantic boat trip to attend global warming conference". www.abc.net.au. 29 August 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
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