Product Description

Lying in only twenty-five feet of water in a small gulf off the coast of Panama, an unremarkable shipwreck managed to escape detection for centuries before being discovered in the mid-1990s. In 2002, Klaus Brinkbaumer and Clemens Hoges, journalists and keen amateur divers, were the first to assemble a team of experts to analyse the remains. They discovered that it was not only the oldest wreck ever found in the Western Hemisphere, but almost certainly the remains of the Vizcaina, one of the ships Columbus took on his final trip to the New World. "The Voyage of the Vizcaina" combines investigative journalism, archaeology and history to give us the fascinating story and startling truths behind Columbus's final attempt to reach the East by going west.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1131900 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

About the Author
Klaus Brinkbaumer writes for Der Spiegel magazine and is an experienced sailor and diver. Clemens Hoges is senior editor at Der Spiegel, where he has written extensively about underwater archaeology, seafaring, and piracy.

Customer Reviews

Voyage of Discovery
The Age of Discovery, when Spanish ships sailed in hopes of discovery to the New World, took place over a very short time interval, no more than about 30 years. Columbus and subsequent seafarers used a type of ship called a caravel, which was extremely fast and manoueverable. However, we do not know what a caravel looked like, as no drawings have survived, or no remains have ever been conclusively found.

In the mid-1990s, ship remains were found near Belaporto in Panama. It was possibly the oldest shipwreck found in the Americas, and is possibly the remains of the Vizcaína, one of the caravels that Columbus took with him on his last voyage to the Americas.

The authors combine a story of modern maritime archaeology with an in-depth recounting of the story of Columbus. The whole myth of Coulmbus is investigated right from his early years in Genoa through to his four voyages of discovery to the New World. What we end up with is an informative and exciting story of exploration and human nature.