Category Archive: Adventurers

The motto of this British noblewoman was the words of Hafez: “everything on earth is not forever, except for acts for the benefit of people”. Traveler, archaeologist, scout, she played an important role in the formation of two states – Iraq and Jordan.
Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell was born in June 1868 in England, in county of Durham. Her grandfather Lowthian Bell owned steel mills and held the title of Baronet. And her father Hugh Bell continued the family business. Gertrude was only three years old when her mother died.
The girl received a good home education and at the age of 15 she entered Oxford College, where she was one of the best students. At the same time, she found time for entertainment, loved to dance, play tennis and perform on the stage of an amateur theater.
One day, Uncle Frank Lascelles, British Ambassador to Romania, invited her to stay in Bucharest. That winter, she plunged into social life, not without irony, remarking in a letter to her father about the Romanian aristocrats: “They have fun as if every day is the last in their life.”
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Ivan Fedorovich Kruzenshtern is a famous Russian navigator, admiral. He became the leader of the first Russian round-the-world expedition. For the first time he mapped most of the coast of Sakhalin Island, became one of the founders of the Russian Geographical Society. Today, the strait in the northern part of the Kuril Islands, the passage between Tsushima Island and the islands of Iki and Okinoshima in the Korean Strait, a mountain on Novaya Zemlya, islands in the Bering Strait and the Tuamotu archipelago are named in his honor.
Without a doubt, Ivan Fedorovich was a unique historical figure, one of the founders of Russian oceanology. He had a significant impact on the history of Russian naval expeditions, and in general on navigation. His brief biography is found in all textbooks today.
Adam Johann von Krusenstern was born on November 19, 1770. He is a descendant of the Russified noble family of the Krusenstern, the son of Judge Johann Friedrich von Krusenstern (1724-1791) and Christina Frederica (1730-1804). Adam was the seventh child in the family. At the age of 15 he continued his studies at the Naval Cadet Corps in Kronstadt. In 1787, he was promoted to midshipman. It should be noted that since childhood, the future navigator and admiral dreamed of circumnavigating the entire globe. This is the rare case when a childhood dream really came true.
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Klaus Stortebeker was a German pirate at the end of the XIV century. Songs about him were sung in the taverns of the port cities of Germany, centuries after his death. Even today, a musical festival dedicated to his memory is held on the island of Rugen. Störtebeker was known as a kind of German Robin Hood. And some researchers from Germany are even convinced that he served as the prototype of the legendary English forest robber.
Despite the fact that the life and work of Klaus Störtebeker, as well as his death in Hamburg are described in sufficient detail in various medieval sources, his birthplace and origin remain unknown. Up to 20 cities and towns are still fighting for the honor of being considered his homeland.
According to some sources, he was a descendant of a noble family from Halsmühlen on the Adler River near Verdun. Medieval chronicles describe the wild life of a young knight whose true name remains unknown. He constantly fought and drank. As a result, the young man was penniless, and when knightly armor and weapons were taken from him for debt, he went into the sea robbers. Is it true or just a legend? In the fourteenth century, some of the knights having completely gone bankrupt went to the sea to hunt in the vast expanses of salt water.
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One day George Mallory was asked: “Why do you want to climb Mount Everest?”
He answered shortly: “Because it exists.”
The biography of mountaineering legend George Mallory is standard for an English gentleman born at the end of the 19th century. A loving family, a happy childhood, successful studies in elementary school, a scholarship in college. Then he joined the climbing club, recruiting students to climb the Alps. After the conquest of Mont Blanc George entered the “big league” of English climbers.
Then Mallory became interested in socialism, taught at school, participated in the First World War. After the end of hostilities, he could not find himself in life. Soon he received an invitation to the expedition, the purpose of which was to conquer Chomolungma.
The idea of conquering Everest began to excite English minds at the end of the XIX century. Then the projects and lists of future conquerors were created, but at the last moment the plans collapsed for political reasons. Nepal did not let foreigners pass through its borders; Tibet, too, was reluctant to make contact. And when the problems with the passage to Everest were resolved (in the case of Tibet – by military means) and the money for the expedition was given, the First World War broke out.
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The third round the world voyage in history following Magellan and Drake was made by Englishman Thomas Cavendish. He managed to circle the globe in two years and fifty days. It was a speed record that lasted for two centuries.
Thomas Cavendish was born into the family of a landowner in Trimley Saint Martin near Ipswich (East Suffolk County), where his father had an estate in 1560. Since childhood Thomas wanted adventure, fame and money. At the age of 15, he began studying at the College in Cambridge, which he left two years later. Although he never received a degree, this did not prevent him from being elected to parliament from Shaftesbury (Dorset).
However, Thomas continued to dream of new lands and sea adventures. The dream led to the fact that a physically strong young man joined the royal fleet. When he realized that he had mastered the profession of a sailor well, he became a pirate in the Caribbean Sea. He managed to serve on several filibuster ships, after which he returned home.
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Francis Chichester has become a symbol of strong spirit and dedication. His love for the sea still inspires sailing lovers, and his around-the-world solo trip in 1966-1967 was called “the voyage of the century”.
Francis Charles Chichester was born in 1901 in Devon county into an aristocratic family. From the age of six he lived at a boarding school, then he studied at Marlborough College. At the age of 18, Francis emigrated to New Zealand, taking with him only £ 10. There he worked as a lumberjack, gold miner, sold newspapers, was an agent in a real estate company. It was real estate trading that enabled him to earn £ 10,000 and Chichester returned to the UK in 1929.
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The achievement of the famous Portuguese Vasco da Gama is difficult to overestimate. The brave navigator, having rounded Africa on a ship, was the first European to reach the Indian Peninsula. But besides this, he was a cruel conqueror, who hurt thousands of innocent people …
Thanks to the discoveries of Vasco da Gama, the poor kingdom of Portugal became one of the richest on the mainland.
Vasco da Gama was born in 1469 into the family of the royal governor of Estevan da Gama and his wife Isabel in Sines. Despite his noble birth, the boy grew up with the sons of fishermen, and therefore he learned to swim and sailed a lot. In the evenings, the children gathered around the old sailors, who told them about the adventures. Often there were stories about the African coast, where black people with big lips and bloodshot eyes lived. The Portuguese considered them savages and cannibals, and the boys took for granted the ruin of their settlements. There was no need to look for justifications for this – “in benefit of the crown and of Portugal.”
Vasco became a naval officer and soon received praise from the king himself. The fact is that in 1492 the French corsairs captured the Portuguese caravel with gold from Guinea. The king ordered the young officer to revenge. Vasco and his team, under cover of night, passed along the coast at lightning speed and captured all the ships of the French. Naturally, the enemy resisted, but Da Gama simply did not give them a chance. As a result, France returned the gold in exchange for the seized vessels, and the name of Vasco da Gama was pronounced after the prefix “ferocious corsair”.
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