Volta do mar

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Henry the Navigator
's (c.1430–1460) lifetime. The further south ships went, the wider off sailing required to return

Volta do mar, volta do mar largo, or volta do largo (the phrase in

trade winds.[1]

History

Portuguese discovery in the Atlantic Ocean

The volta do mar was a sailing technique discovered in successfully returning from the

Horse Latitudes to catch the prevailing mid-latitude westerlies
.

Similarly in the South Atlantic with the exception that the South Atlantic gyre circulates counterclockwise. As India-bound Portuguese explorers and traders crossed the equator with the intention of passing the entire western coast of Africa, their voyages took them far to the West (in the vicinity of Brazil.)

Application to the Pacific Ocean – the Manila Galleon

Map of the five major ocean gyres
Route from Philippines to Acapulco, Mexico
Manila galleons
used the northern Trade winds going west and the westerlies going east.

The route of the

gyre as the Atlantic winds did. If, in the Atlantic, ships made the Volta do mar to the west to pick up winds that would bring them back from Madeira, then, he reasoned, by sailing far to the north before heading east, he would pick up the westerlies to bring him back to the west coast of North America. Though he sailed to 38 degrees North before turning east, his hunch paid off, and he hit the coast near Santa Catalina Island, California, then followed the coast south to Acapulco. Most of the crew was suffering from scurvy and only 18 remained strong enough to sail the ship.[2]

Notes

  1. .
  2. ^ Kelsey p. 119

References

Portuguese

  • Coutinho, Gago (1951). A náutica dos descobrimentos: os descobrimentos marítimos vistos por um navegador [The Nautical Discoveries: The Maritime Discoveries seen by a Navigator] (in Portuguese). Agência Geral do Ultramar.
  • Marques, Alfredo Pinheiro. Guia de história dos descobrimentos e expansão portuguesa [Historical Guide of Portuguese Discovery and Expansio] (in Portuguese).