List of crossings of the Atlantic Ocean

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.

This is a list of notable crossings or attempted crossings of the Atlantic Ocean. For the purposes of this list, a transatlantic voyage goes between the Americas, Caribbean, or nearby islands; and Europe, Iceland, Africa, or nearby islands.

Sail and human-powered voyages

[edit]

Pre-1492

[edit]

Maritime explorations by Norse peoples from Scandinavia during the late 10th century led to the Norse colonization of Greenland and a base camp L'Anse aux Meadows[1] in Newfoundland,[2] which preceded Columbus's arrival in the Americas by about 500 years. According to the Vinland sagas, this includes journeys by:

Other pre-Columbian transoceanic contact theories involving transatlantic travel have not been supported by enough evidence to be widely accepted, such as the travels of Prince Madoc of Gwynedd, Wales in 1170.

15th to 16th centuries

[edit]

17th to 18th centuries

[edit]
  • 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,[8] founding the Plymouth Colony.
  • Over the summer of 1630, the Winthrop Fleet carried hundreds of Puritans from England to found the Massachusetts Bay Colony.[9]
  • In November 1732 the ship Ann crossed the Atlantic, from London to Georgia, carrying British soldier, Member of Parliament, and philanthropist James Oglethorpe. The journey took 88 days, arriving in Savannah in February 1733. Oglethorpe would found the colony of Georgia, of which he was the governor.
  • In 1764, William Harrison (the son of John Harrison) sailed aboard HMS Tartar, with the H-4 time piece. The voyage became the basis for the invention of the global system of longitude.

19th century

[edit]

20th century

[edit]
  • In 1952, Ann Davison was the first woman to single-handedly sail the Atlantic Ocean.
  • In 1956, the sail-equipped raft L'Égaré II crossed from Newfoundland to England, after the failure of L'Égaré I.[12]
  • 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.[13] 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.[14]
  • In 1980, Gérard d'Aboville was the first man to cross the Atlantic Ocean rowing solo.[15]
  • In 1984, Amyr Klink crossed the South Atlantic rowing solo from Namibia to Brazil in 100 days.[16]
  • 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.[17][18]
  • In 1985, American boatbuilder, Al Grovers, Sr., made the first outboard crossing of the Atlantic.[19][20]
  • In 1994, Guy Delage was the first man to allegedly swim across the Atlantic Ocean (with the help of a kick board, from Cape Verde to Barbados). Controversy followed because of lack of supervision and the time spent drifting on a support vessel.[21]
  • In 1997-98, the Floating Neutrinos sailed a vessel made from recycled materials across the North Atlantic from Maine to Ireland by way of Nova Scotia & Newfoundland. [22]
  • In 1998, Benoît Lecomte was the first man to swim across the northern Atlantic Ocean without a kick board, stopping for only one week in the Azores.[23] The accomplishment was questioned due to the time spent drifting on a support vehicle.
  • In 1999, after rowing for 81 days and 4,767 kilometres (2,962 miles), Tori Murden became the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean by rowboat alone when she reached Guadeloupe from the Canary Islands.[24]

21st century

[edit]

Powered sea vessels

[edit]

Aircraft

[edit]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Kuitems, Margot; Wallace, Birgitta Linderoth; Lindsay, Charles; Scifo, Andrea; Doeve, Petra; Jenkins, Kevin; Lindauer, Susanne; Erdil, Pınar; Ledger, Paul M.; Forbes, Véronique; Vermeeren, Caroline; Friedrich, Ronny; Dee, Michael W. (January 2022). "Evidence for European presence in the Americas in ad 1021". Nature. 601 (7893): 388–391. Bibcode:2022Natur.601..388K. doi:10.1038/s41586-021-03972-8. ISSN 0028-0836. OCLC 9389057830. PMC 8770119. PMID 34671168.
  2. ^ Linda S. Cordell; Kent Lightfoot; Francis McManamon; George Milner (2008). Archaeology in America: An Encyclopedia [4 volumes]: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. pp. 82–83. ISBN 978-0-313-02189-3.
  3. ^ "History of Greenland". visitgreenland.com. Government of Greenland. Archived from the original on 24 September 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  4. ^ John Cabot Biography Britannica, accessed 16 November 2022
  5. ^ The Huguenot settlement in 16th century South Carolina churchmousec.wordpress.com, accessed 28 October 2020
  6. ^ "Colonial America - Jean Ribaut". Archived from the original on 2015-12-08. Retrieved 2016-09-29.
  7. ^ Humphrey Gilbert Biography Britannica, accessed 16 November 2022
  8. ^ "Mayflower departs England". History. 4 March 2010. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  9. ^ Bilis, Madeline (2016-09-15). "TBT: The Village of Shawmut Becomes Boston". Boston Magazine. Retrieved 2023-12-18.
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ Shaw, David W. (1998) Daring the Sea : The True Story of the First Men to Row Across the Atlantic Ocean (New York City: Citadel Press) ISBN 978-0806525273
  12. ^ Beaudout, Henri. Voyage of L’Égaré II, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1957.
  13. ^ Tinkerbelle (1967; Harper & Row, New York City, N.Y.)
  14. ^ Ryne, Linn. Voyages into History. Retrieved 13 January 2008.
  15. ^ Maud Fontenoy (2005). Gerard D' Aboville (ed.). Across the Savage Sea: The First Woman to Row Across the North Atlantic. Martin Sokolinsky. Arcade Publishing. ISBN 978-1-55970-762-6.
  16. ^ "Biography | Amyr Klink". Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  17. ^ 5 cross Atlantic in tiny raft. News.google.com. 12 July 1984 Retrieved on 27 October 2011.
  18. ^ Expedicion Atlantis Archived 2009-04-25 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish)
  19. ^ "Our Story: Transatlantic Journey". Al Grovers Marina High and Dry.
  20. ^ "VIDEO: An epic Atlantic adventure". Soundings Online. March 26, 2017.
  21. ^ Craig R. Whitney (February 12, 1995). "For French, Long Swim Is Not Enough". The New York Times.
  22. ^ "Floating Neutrinos". www.floatingneutrinos.com. Retrieved 2024-01-22.
  23. ^ BBC News
  24. ^ "NOLS | Alumni Magazine - The Leader". www.nols.edu. Retrieved 2017-09-23.
  25. ^ "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.
  26. ^ Morrison, John Harrison (1903): History Of American Steam Navigation. New York: W. F. Sametz & Co., page 406.
  27. ^ Burrows, Edwin G. and Wallace, Mike (1999). Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-195-11634-8. Pages 675-676
  28. ^ Dumpleton, Bernard; Miller, Muriel (2002). Brunel's Three Ships. Intellect Books. pp. 130–148. ISBN 978-1-84150-800-9.
  29. ^ "The Atlantic Cable". The New York Times. 30 July 1866. ProQuest 392481871.
  30. ^ Jill, Lawless (16 October 2008). "Last Titanic survivor sells mementos". Associated Press. Retrieved 2015-08-06.
  31. ^ "The Lusitania Resource: Lusitania Passengers & Crew, Facts & History". Rmslusitania.info. Archived from the original on 8 July 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  32. ^ "Introduction" U-Boat Operations of the Second World War—Vol 1 by Wynn, Kenneth, 1998 p. 1