The first traveler to travel around the globe, believed to be Fernand Magellan. However, he had no intention of becoming the first. world traveler... His task was completely different - more mundane. And all the glory from global discoveries did not go to him at all.

Idea author

The idea of ​​the expedition leading to the discoveries was proposed by Fernand Magellan, born in 1470 and who died in 1521. A nobleman by birth, he was born in Portugal, was a royal page. It is known that Magellan was well educated, was engaged in cosmography, navigation and astronomy. His first voyage took place when Fernand was twenty years old: he participated in military battles. Magellan managed to suppress the revolt of the natives in Malacca, and then remained in the service in Africa. The false accusation ended the career of a sea captain. The idea of ​​sailing westward, proposed to the Portuguese king, was rejected.

In 1517, Magellan, with the approval of the King of Portugal, left for Spain, becoming her subject. He managed to convince King Charles V of the existence of a transition between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. If it were possible to find this strait, Spain would receive all the lands that are located west of Canary Islands(at the behest of Pope Alexander VI).

A friend, astronomer Ruy Falier, as well as the aristocrat De Aranda, who offered to give him 20% of the profits that the expedition would bring, in exchange for supporting the project, helped to get the royal “good”. So the project of finding a way to the Spice Islands was accepted by the king. However, Faler managed to reduce De Arand's share to 8%.

When Magellan proposed the idea of ​​his trip, the world already knew about Central and parts of South America, as well as about the ocean that stretches behind them. The Isthmus of Panama has already been passed. But then no one suspected that the East and the West could be connected by another path.

Magellan decided to find evidence that the Spice Islands were located in the New World, and not in Asia. This would mean that spicy wealth is the area of ​​influence of Spain, and not Portugal, as it was then believed.

Magellan did not think about traveling around the world. He was looking for a strait that could be in South America. He wanted to get to the Spice Islands, buy goods, bring them to Spain and make a profit.

Preparing for the expedition

Five ships set sail. There was enough money for their equipment. Many of the European merchants decided to participate in the venture. They wanted to access the lucrative spices directly, without the mediation of Portugal.

Despite the attempts of the Portuguese authorities to interfere with the expedition, because there was a fear that it would actually succeed, the journey took place.

The Portuguese ambassador to Spain, Alvaro da Costa, did his best to prevent Magellan from going on an expedition. He spread rumors about the impracticability of his venture. The fact that the Spaniards do not trust the captain, and from the royal officials, who will also participate in the voyage, one can expect only trouble. Magellan was also told that the Portuguese king was waiting for him in his homeland, where a favorable place was prepared for him.

It was all in vain. Then the ambassador organized an attempt on Magellan's life, which failed. Alvaro da Costa continued his work: he arranged for ships to be supplied with equipment and products of poor quality, and fixed various obstacles. All of this was unsuccessful.

True, in Spain there were many dissatisfied that the expedition would be led by a Portuguese, who, in addition, would receive a good jackpot: a fifth of the profit, twentieth from the new open lands, and the right to own a third of the new islands.

This led to a riot on the flagship, when Magellan's personal standard was hoisted over it: it strongly resembled the flag of Portugal. The mutiny was suppressed, but concessions had to be made. There could be no more than five immigrants from Portugal on the ship, and the standard was replaced.

The expedition went to sea on September 20, 1519. All along the way, Magellan was haunted by conflicts with the Spaniards, who sailed with him.

The first happened to Captain Juan de Cartagena. He was outraged that Magellan decided to change the approved route in order to avoid meeting with the Portuguese. The admiral decided to go to Africa and not to America as planned.

Magellan and Cartagena even got into a fight. The Spaniard was stripped of the captain's post and transferred to passengers on another ship. This boosted Magellan's credibility, but he had an angry enemy.

Atlantic Ocean

The journey across the Atlantic Ocean went quite smoothly. It was here that Magellan first applied his author's signaling system, with the help of which the ships were able to communicate with each other. This helped the ships not get lost in the ocean.

From the equator, the ships went to the Land of the Holy Cross, as Brazil was then called, and on December 13 stopped in the bay of Santa Lucia. Now Rio de Janeiro is located here. Having reached the shores of Brazil, the sailors found out that La Plata is the mouth of a river, and not a strait, as previously assumed.

Mutiny

By the end of March 1520, Magellan decides to stop for the winter in the harbor of San Julian. The strait, which they had been looking for for so long, was very close, but the sailors did not yet know about this.

I had to reduce the food ration. This was the reason for organizing a new rebellion. Officers from Spain led the riot. They secured the capture of three ships. One of the officers was killed for refusing to take part in the mutiny.

Magellan had to act decisively. With the help of cunning was captured big ship and the other two are blocked. The rebels had no choice but to surrender. The court sentenced the two main instigators (de Catahena and one priest) to leave in Argentina, on the rocks where the penguins lived. The fate of these people is unknown.

During the winter, one reconnaissance ship was badly damaged and out of order. About thirty people died from scurvy and other diseases.

The captains on the ships were people who were trusted by Magellan - immigrants from Portugal. During this time, five Aboriginal people were taken prisoner by cunning, but they all died on the way to Europe.

Strait of Magellan

The ships left San Julian on the twenty-fourth of August. Having reached the Santa Cruz River, we stopped and spent almost two months here. It was possible to replenish food supplies.

The strait appeared at the 52nd southern parallel. Two ships sent on reconnaissance found out that it was not a river. This meant that a new path to the East was found.

It took thirty 38 days to pass the strait. It was difficult and required courage from the leader of the expedition himself and all of its participants. All four remaining ships passed this route safely. But just before the very end of the strait, a riot began again on one of them. The ship was commanded by a Portuguese, and the leader of the rioters was also a native of Portugal, Gomes. He said that this is the end of the world - and we must go back, otherwise everyone will perish. The team arrested the captain and headed back to Spain, where they were arrested. Magellan decided that the ship died in the strait: he was not aware of the mutiny.

Pacific Ocean

For about 15 thousand kilometers, the ships sailed across endless expanses, not meeting a single island where people would live.

The food was running out. People even ate rats, which became a delicacy, and the leather upholstery that was removed from the masts and sides. Three months were very difficult.

However, in some ways the sailors were lucky: there were no storms along the way. This was the reason to call the new ocean the Pacific. He turned out to be much larger than Magellan had previously thought.

They managed to stock up on food and water on the island of Guam. I had to fight a little here with local residents who were angry that they could not steal anything on the ships.

In April 1521, the expedition reached the Philippines. And here Magellan's slave, who was born in Sumatra, managed to see people who spoke the same language as him. This became one more proof - the Earth has the shape of a ball.

Death of Magellan

In the Philippines, Magellan was unexpectedly supported by Arab traders who persuaded local population do not engage in combat with sailors. Magellan convinced one ruler, Humabon, to become a Christian and a vassal of the King of Spain. Soon Humabon complained that the neighboring Rajah was showing disobedience.

The sailors got involved in a battle that turned out to be difficult. The arrows of the natives hit right at the feet of the Spaniards, and the bullets of the sailors could hardly pierce their wooden shields. In this battle, Magellan died. He was 41 years old.

After that, the sailors had to urgently leave the Philippines. Since there were few people left, they could not manage three ships. It was decided to burn the "Consiepsin", setting off on a journey on two ships - "Victoria" and "Trinidad".

Completion of the expedition

It was not easy to get the squadron back. I had to dodge the Portuguese ships. The expedition reached the Moluccan Spice Islands, where they purchased the goods.

There were many battles, transitions, ships fell into storms. It was decided to disperse. "Victoria" went along the African continent, and "Trinidad" - along the Isthmus of Panama.

The first ship returned to Spain, and the second, unable to overcome the headwinds, went to the Moluccas. Off the African coast, the team had to fight the Portuguese, who had been waiting here since the moment when the expedition, led by Magellan, had just set off. The sailors were captured and sent to hard labor in India.

"Victoria" was led by the Spaniard Juan Sebastian del Cano (Elcano). Once he took part in a rebellion against Magellan, but the admiral forgave him. Kano managed to navigate the ship for several months on the stormy sea, overcoming a lot of dangers. Upon returning to his homeland, he received all the glory and good profits.

It turned out that the calendar of the sailors from the "Victoria" lagged behind the Spanish by a day. Later, such a discrepancy was described in the novel by Jules Verne.

Expedition results

The result of this campaign was the discovery of the western route to Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Philippine Islands, the coast of South America and the island of Guam, and the first trip around the world.

The Spanish ambitions were satisfied. The country announced that the Mariana and Philippine Islands were discovered by its subjects. The rights to the Moluccan Islands were also claimed.

It also became known for sure - the Earth is round, and most of it is covered with water. Before that, people believed that the main area of ​​the planet was land.

Of the three hundred people who went on a voyage with Magellan, only 18 returned home, then another 18 were released by the Portuguese from hard labor in India.

The money for the spices and gold went to cover the costs, but the investors still made a good profit. The Spanish royal court also received income.

Where Magellan was buried is unknown: his body remained with the natives. At that time, no one spoke of him as the discoverer and the first who made his way around the Earth. On the contrary, he was accused of disobeying the royal will. Now the name of this man bears the strait open to him and two constellations - Large and Small Magellanic clouds.

CIRCULAR SAILS AND TRAVELS, expeditions around the Earth, during which all the meridians or parallels of the Earth are crossed. The voyages around the world took place (in a different sequence) through the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Ocean s, were committed initially in search of new lands and trade routes, which led to the great geographical discoveries. The first ever voyage around the world was made by a Spanish expedition in 1519-22, led by F. Magellan, in search of a direct western route from Europe to the West Indies (where the Spaniards went for spices) under the command of six successive captains (the last one was JS Elcano) ... As a result of this, the most important in the history of geographical discoveries of navigation, a gigantic water area called the Pacific Ocean was revealed, the unity of the World Ocean was proved, the hypothesis of the predominance of land over waters was questioned, the theory of the sphericity of the Earth was confirmed, irrefutable data appeared to determine its true dimensions, the idea arose about the need to introduce a date change line. Despite the death of Magellan on this voyage, it was he who should be considered the first round-the-world sailor. The second round-the-world voyage was carried out by the English pirate F. Drake (1577-80), and the third - by the English pirate T. Cavendish (1586-88); they penetrated the Strait of Magellan into the Pacific Ocean to plunder Spanish-American port cities and capture Spanish ships. Drake became the first captain to complete a full voyage around the world. The fourth voyage around the world (again through the Strait of Magellan) was carried out by the Dutch expedition of O. van North (1598-1601). The Dutch expedition of J. Lemer - W. Schouten (1615-17), equipped by competing compatriot merchants to eliminate the monopoly of the Netherlands East India Company, paved a new path around the Cape Horn discovered by it, but the company's agents seized their ship from the Moluccas, and the survivors sailors (including Schouten) completed their voyage around the world already as prisoners on her ships. Of the three voyages around the world by the English navigator W. Dampier, the most significant is the first, which he performed on different ships with long breaks in 1679-91, collecting materials that allowed him to be considered one of the founders of oceanography.

In the second half of the 18th century, when the struggle for the seizure of new lands intensified, Great Britain and France sent a number of expeditions to the Pacific Ocean, including the first French round-the-world expedition led by L.A. de Bougainville (1766-69), which opened in Oceania a number of islands; Among the participants in this expedition was J. Bare, the first woman to sail around the world. These voyages proved, although incompletely, that in the Pacific Ocean, between the parallels of latitude 50 ° N and latitude 60 ° S, east of the Asian archipelagos, New Guinea and Australia, there are no large land masses other than New Zealand. The English navigator S. Wallis in his circumnavigation of 1766-68 for the first time using a new method of calculating longitudes rather accurately determined the position of the island of Tahiti, several islands and atolls in the western and central parts The Pacific Ocean. The largest geographical results were achieved by the English navigator J. Cook in three voyages around the world.

In the 19th century, hundreds of voyages around the world took place for trade, fishing and purely scientific purposes, and discoveries continued in the Southern Hemisphere. In the first half of the 19th century, the Russian sailing fleet played an outstanding role; during the first circumnavigation of the world, performed on the sloops "Nadezhda" and "Neva" by IF Kruzenshtern and Yu. F. Lisyansky (1803-06), countercurrents between trade winds in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans were revealed, and the reasons for the glow of the sea were explained. The subsequent dozens of other Russian voyages around the world connected St. Petersburg with the Far East and Russian possessions in North America by a relatively cheap sea route, and strengthened the Russian position in the northern part of the Pacific Ocean. Russian expeditions made a major contribution to the development of oceanography and discovered many islands; O. E. Kotsebue, during his second voyage around the world (1815-18), was the first to make a correct assumption about the origin coral islands... The expedition of F.F.Bellingshausen and M.P. Lazarev (1819-21) on the sloops "Vostok" and "Mirny" on January 16, February 5 and 6, 1820 almost came close to the coast of the previously mythical Southern Land - Antarctica (now the Shore Princess Martha and Princess Astrid Coast), has identified an arcuate underwater ridge 4800 km long, mapped 29 islands.

In the 2nd half of the 19th century, when sailing ships were driven out by steamers and the main discoveries of new lands were completed, three voyages around the world took place, which made a great contribution to the study of the relief of the bottom of the World Ocean. British expedition of 1872-76 on the corvette "Challenger" (captains J.S. Nares and his successor in 1874 F. T. Thomson) in Atlantic Ocean discovered a number of depressions, the Puerto Rico trench, underwater ridges around Antarctica; In the Pacific Ocean, the first depths were determined in a number of underwater basins, underwater uplifts and hills, and the Mariana Trench were identified. The German expedition of 1874-76 aboard the Gazelle military corvette (commander G. von Schleinitz) continued the discovery of the bottom topography and depth measurements in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. The Russian expedition of 1886-89 aboard the corvette Vityaz (commander S.O. Makarov) first revealed the main laws of the general circulation of surface waters in the Northern Hemisphere and discovered the existence of a "cold intermediate layer" that preserves remnants of winter cooling in the waters of the seas and oceans.

In the 20th century, major discoveries were made during circumnavigation of the world, mainly by Antarctic expeditions that outlined the contours of Antarctica, including the British expedition on the motor ship "Discovery-N" under the command of D. John and W. Carey, which in 1931-33 discovered the Chatham Rise in the South Pacific Ocean, traced the South Pacific Ridge for almost 2,000 km and conducted an oceanographic survey of Antarctic waters.

At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, round-the-world voyages began to be carried out for educational and sports-tourist purposes, including solo ones. The first solo voyage around the world was carried out by the American traveler J. Slowum (1895-98), the second - by his compatriot G. Pigeon (1921-1925), the third - French traveler A. Gerbeau (1923-29). In 1960, the first round-the-world voyage took place on the submarine "Triton" (USA) under the command of Captain E. Beach. In 1966, a detachment of Soviet nuclear submarines under the command of Rear Admiral A.I. Sorokin made the first round-the-world voyage without surfacing. In 1968-69 the first single non-stop circumnavigation took place on sailing yacht"Suhaili" English captain R. Knox-Johnston. The first of the women to make a solo round-the-world voyage in 1976-78 was the Polish traveler K. Choynowska-Liskiewicz on the Mazurek yacht. Great Britain was the first to introduce singles' round-the-world races and made them regular (since 1982). The Russian navigator and traveler F.F. 3rd (1998-99) - on the yacht "Modern Humanitarian University", participating in the international sailing race "Around the world - alone", 4th (2004-05) - on the yacht " Scarlet Sails". The first round-the-world voyage of the Russian training sailing ship "Kruzenshtern" in 1995-1996 was timed to coincide with the 300th anniversary of the Russian fleet.

The first round-the-world trip from west to east was carried out by P. Teixeira (Portugal) in 1586-1601, circumnavigating the Earth by ships and on foot. The second, in 1785-1788, was accomplished by the French traveler J. B. Lesseps, the only surviving member of the expedition of J. La Perouse. In the last third of the 19th century, after the publication of J. Verne's novel Around the World in 80 Days (1872), round-the-world travel in record time became widespread. In 1889-90, the American journalist N. Bly circled the Earth in 72 days; in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this record improved several times. In the second half of the 20th century, circumnavigation and travel no longer seemed to be something exotic, latitudinal ones were added to them. In 1979-82, for the first time in the history of mankind, R. Fiennes and C. Burton (Great Britain) made a round-the-world trip along the Greenwich meridian with relatively short deviations to the east and west through both poles of the planet (on ships, cars, motonarts, motor boats and on foot). Travelers contributed to the geographical study of Antarctica. In 1911-13 the Russian athlete A. Pankratov made the first ever round-the-world bicycle trip. The first round-the-world flight in the history of aeronautics belongs to the German airship "Graf Zeppelin" under the command of G. Eckener: in 1929 in 21 days it covered about 31.4 thousand km with three intermediate landings. In 1949, an American B-50 bomber (commanded by Captain J. Gallagher) made the first non-stop round-the-world flight (with air refueling). The first space flight around the Earth in the history of mankind in 1961 was performed by the Soviet cosmonaut Yu. A. Gagarin on the Vostok spacecraft. In 1986, the British crew made the first round-the-world flight in an airplane without refueling in the history of aviation (D. Rutan and J. Yeager). Spouses Keith and David Grant (Great Britain) with three children made a round-the-world trip in a van pulled by a pair of horses. They left the Orkney Islands (UK) in 1990, crossed oceans, countries in Europe, Asia and North America and in 1997 they returned to their homeland. A round-the-world horse trip in 1992-98 was made by Russian travelers PF Plonin and NK Davidovsky. In 1999-2002 V. A. Shanin (Russia) drove around the world in passing cars, airplanes, and cargo ships. On the hot-air balloon alone first flew around the Earth in 2002 S. Fossett (USA), he also in 2005 made the first in the history of aviation a single round-the-world non-stop flight on an airplane without refueling.

Lit .: Ivashintsov N. A. Russian round-the-world travel from 1803 to 1849 St. Petersburg, 1872; Baker J. History of Geographical Discovery and Research. M., 1950; Russian sailors. [Sat. Art.]. M., 1953; Zubov NN Domestic navigators - explorers of the seas and oceans. M., 1954; Urbanchik A. Alone Across the Ocean: One Hundred Years of Solitary Navigation. M., 1974; Magidovich I. P., Magidovich V. I. Essays on the history of geographical discoveries. 3rd ed. M., 1983-1986. T. 2-5; Faynes R. Around the world along the meridian. M., 1992; Blon J. The Great Hour of the Oceans. M., 1993. T. 1-2; Slokam J. One under sail around the world. M., 2002; Pigafetta A. Journey of Magellan. M., 2009.

The first round the world trip, or rather a voyage, was made by the expedition of the Portuguese Fernand Magellan in the period from 1519 to 1522. During the expedition, he was killed and one of the captains of Magellan's squadron named Juan Sebastian de Elcano completed the voyage.

During the first round the world trip, the spherical shape of the Earth was proved in practice. Magellan discovered the eastern coast of South America, the strait connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, as well as the island of Guam and the Philippine archipelago.

The second round-the-world voyage (and the first English round-the-world voyage) was made in 1577-1580 by Admiral Francis Drake. He discovered the strait between South America and Antarctica and explored West Coast South America.

The third and fourth voyages around the world were made in 1586-1588 and 1598-1601 by Thomas Cavendish and Olivier de Noort, respectively. They did not make any serious geographical discoveries.

The first trip around the world by the French took place in 1766-1769. An expedition led by Louis Antoine de Bougainville discovered islands in the Tuamotu and Louisiada archipelagos.

James Cook's three voyages around the world in 1768-1771, 1772-1775 and 1776-1779 opened the island status of New Zealand to Europeans, the existence of the Great Barrier Reef, mainland Australia, Hawaii and Alaska.

The first Russian round-the-world trip was made by an expedition under the command of Ivan Kruzenshtern in 1803-1806.

The second Russian voyage around the world was made in 1815-1818 by an expedition under the command of Otto Evstafievich Kotzebue. The expedition discovered a number of unknown islands in the Pacific Ocean and explored the North coast of Alaska.

During the Russian circumnavigation of the world in 1819-1821, the expedition under the command of Thaddeus Bellingshausen discovered Antarctica and several islands in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

Another Russian voyage around the world under the direction of Otto Kotzebue was made in 1823-1826. This time, islands were discovered in South Polynesia, Micronesia and other regions of the Pacific Ocean.

The round-the-world expedition of the Englishman Robert Fitzroy, made in 1831-1836, is famous for the fact that Charles Darwin took part in it and collected data for the future theory of the evolution of the organic world.

The first solo trip around the world dates back to 1895-1898. For 3 years, 2 months and 2 days, Joshua Slokum made circumnavigation of the world on a sailing yacht.

The first round the world trip by air, in an airship, was made in 1929 by the German aeronaut Hugo Eckener.
The first non-stop flight around the world was made in 1957 by three US Air Force B-52 aircraft.

1961 - Yuri Gagarin's flight around the Earth in a spaceship.

The first round-the-world trip under water in an autonomous mode without surfacing during the entire voyage was made in 1966 by a detachment of nuclear submarines of the USSR Navy under the command of Rear Admiral A. Sorokin.

The first autonomous voyage around the world on a sailing yacht without calling into ports and any outside support was made in 1968-69 in 313 days by Robert Knox-Johnston.

Ask anyone, and he will tell you that the first person to travel around the world was the Portuguese navigator and explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who died on the island of Mactan (Philippines) during an armed clash with the natives (1521). The same is written in history textbooks. In fact, this is a myth. After all, it turns out that one excludes the other.
Magellan managed to go only half the way.

Primus circumdedisti me (you walked around me first) - says the Latin inscription on the coat of arms of Juan Sebastian Elcano, crowned with a globe. Indeed, Elcano was the first person to sail around the world.

The San Telmo Museum in San Sebastian houses a painting by Salaverria "The Return of Victoria". Eighteen emaciated people in white shrouds, with lighted candles in their hands, staggering down the gangway from the ship to the embankment of Seville. These are sailors from the only ship that returned to Spain from the entire Magellan flotilla. Ahead is their captain, Juan Sebastian Elcano.

Much in Elcano's biography has not yet been clarified. Oddly enough, the man who circled the globe for the first time did not attract the attention of artists and historians of his time. There is not even a reliable portrait of him, and from the documents he wrote, only letters to the king, petitions and will have survived.

Juan Sebastian Elcano was born in 1486 in Getaria, a small port town in the Basque Country, near San Sebastian. He early connected his own fate with the sea, making a career that was not uncommon for an enterprising person of that time - first changing his job as a fisherman for a smuggler, and later enlisting in the navy to avoid punishment for his too free attitude to laws and trade duties. Elcano managed to take part in the Italian Wars and the Spanish military campaign in Algeria in 1509. Basque mastered the maritime business well in practice when he was a smuggler, but it was in the navy that Elcano received the "correct" education in the field of navigation and astronomy.

In 1510 Elcano, owner and captain of the ship, participated in the siege of Tripoli. But the Spanish treasury refused to pay Elcano the amount owed for settlements with the crew. After leaving the military service, which never seriously seduced the young adventurer with low earnings and the need to observe discipline, Elcano decides to start a new life in Seville. It seems to Bascu that a brilliant future awaits him - in a new city for him, no one knows about his not entirely perfect past, the navigator atoned for his guilt before the law in battles with the enemies of Spain, he has official papers that allow him to work as a captain on a merchant ship ... But the trading enterprises, of which Elcano becomes a member, turn out to be all unprofitable.

In 1517, in order to pay off debts, he sold the ship under his command to the Genoese bankers - and this trading operation determined his entire fate. The fact is that the owner of the sold ship was not Elcano himself, but the Spanish crown, and the Basque is expected to again have difficulties with the law, this time threatening him with the death penalty. At that time it was considered a serious crime. Knowing that the court would not take into account any excuses, Elcano fled to Seville, where it was easy to get lost, and then take refuge on any ship: in those days, captains were least interested in the biographies of their people. In addition, there were many Elcano countrymen in Seville, and one of them, Ibarolla, was well acquainted with Magellan. He helped Elcano to enlist in Magellan's flotilla. Having passed the exams and received beans as a sign of a good mark (those who did not pass received peas from the examination committee), Elcano became the helmsman of the third largest ship in the flotilla, the Concepcion.

On September 20, 1519, Magellan's flotilla left the mouth of the Guadalquivir and headed for the shores of Brazil. In April 1520, when the ships settled for the winter in the frosty and deserted San Julian Bay, the captains dissatisfied with Magellan revolted. Elcano found himself drawn into it, not daring to disobey his commander, the captain of the Concepción Quesada.

Magellan vigorously and brutally suppressed the rebellion: Quesade and another of the leaders of the conspiracy were cut off their heads, the corpses were quartered and the mutilated remains were stumbled on poles. Captain Cartagena and one priest, also the instigator of the rebellion, Magellan ordered to land on the deserted coast of the bay, where they later died. The remaining forty rioters, including Elcano, were spared by Magellan.

1. The first ever circumnavigation of the world

On November 28, 1520, the remaining three ships left the strait and in March 1521, after an unprecedentedly difficult passage across the Pacific Ocean, they approached the islands, later called the Mariana Islands. In the same month, Magellan discovered the Philippine Islands, and on April 27, 1521, he died in a skirmish with local residents on Matan Island. Elcano, struck by scurvy, did not participate in this skirmish. After the death of Magellan, Duarte Barbosa and Juan Serrano were elected captains of the flotilla. At the head of a small detachment, they went ashore to the Raja of Cebu and were cunningly killed. Fate again - for the umpteenth time - spared Elcano. Karvalio became the head of the flotilla. But only 115 people remained on the three ships; many of them are sick. Therefore, "Concepcion" was burned in the strait between the islands of Cebu and Bohol; and his crew was transferred to the other two ships - "Victoria" and "Trinidad". Both ships wandered between the islands for a long time, until, finally, on November 8, 1521, they dropped anchor off the island of Tidore, one of the "Spice Islands" - the Moluccas. Then it was generally decided to continue sailing on one ship - "Victoria", whose captain shortly before that had become Elcano, and "Trinidad" to leave in the Moluccas. And Elcano managed to navigate his worm-eaten ship with the starving crew through Indian Ocean and along the coast of Africa. A third of the team was killed, about a third was detained by the Portuguese, but still "Victoria" on September 8, 1522 entered the mouth of the Guadalquivir.

It was an unprecedented crossing, unheard of in the history of navigation. Contemporaries wrote that Elcano surpassed King Solomon, the Argonauts and the cunning Odysseus. The first ever voyage around the world has been completed! The king granted the navigator an annual pension of 500 gold ducats and knighted Elcano. The coat of arms assigned to Elcano (since then already del Cano) perpetuated his voyage. The coat of arms featured two cinnamon sticks framed with nutmeg and a carnation, a golden lock topped with a helmet. Above the helmet is a globe with the Latin inscription: "You were the first to go around me." And finally, by special decree, the king announced Elcano forgiveness for selling the ship to a foreigner. But if it was quite simple to reward and forgive the brave captain, then it turned out to be more difficult to resolve all the controversial issues related to the fate of the Moluccas. The Spanish-Portuguese Congress met for a long time, but it was never able to "divide" between the two powerful powers the islands located on the other side of the "earthly apple". And the Spanish government decided not to delay the dispatch of the second expedition to Molucca.

2. Goodbye La Coruna

La Coruña was considered the safest port in Spain, in which "all the fleets of the world could be accommodated." The importance of the city increased even more when the Chamber of Indian Affairs was temporarily transferred here from Seville. This chamber worked out plans for a new expedition to the Moluccas in order to finally establish Spanish rule on these islands. Elcano arrived in La Coruna full of bright hopes - he already saw himself as an admiral of the armada - and took up the equipment of the flotilla. However, Charles I did not appoint Elcano as commander, but a certain Jofre de Loais, a participant in many naval battles, but completely unfamiliar with navigation. Elcano's pride was deeply hurt. In addition, from the royal chancellery came the "highest refusal" to Elcano's petition for the payment of an annual pension granted to him of 500 gold ducats: the king ordered that this amount be paid only after returning from the expedition. This is how Elcano experienced the traditional ingratitude of the Spanish crown towards renowned seafarers.

Before sailing, Elcano visited his native Getaria, where he, a renowned sailor, easily managed to recruit many volunteers on his ships: with a man who walked around the "earthly apple", you will not disappear even with the devil in the mouth - reasoned the port brethren. In the early summer of 1525, Elcano brought his four ships to A Coruña and was appointed helmsman and deputy commander of the flotilla. In total, the flotilla consisted of seven ships and 450 crew members. There were no Portuguese on this expedition. The last night before the sailing of the flotilla in A Coruña was very lively and solemn. At midnight on Mount Hercules, on the site of the ruins of a Roman lighthouse, a huge bonfire was lit. The city said goodbye to the sailors. The cries of the townspeople, treating the sailors with wine from leather bottles, the weeping of women and the hymns of the pilgrims mingled with the sounds of the merry dance of La Muneira. The sailors of the flotilla remembered this night for a long time. They went to another hemisphere, and now they were faced with a life full of dangers and hardships. For the last time, Elcano walked under the narrow arch of Puerto de San Miguel and descended sixteen pink steps to the shore. These steps, already completely worn out, have survived to this day.

3. Misfortunes of the chief helmsman

Loaisa's powerful, well-armed flotilla set out on 24 July 1525. According to the royal instructions, and there were fifty-three of them in total, Loaisa had to follow the path of Magellan, but avoid his mistakes. But neither Elcano - the king's chief adviser, nor the king himself foresaw that this would be the last expedition sent through the Strait of Magellan. It was Loaisa's expedition that was destined to prove that this was not the most profitable route. And all subsequent expeditions to Asia were sent from the Pacific ports of New Spain (Mexico).

On 26 July, the ships circled Cape Finisterre. On August 18, the ships were caught in a heavy storm. On the admiral's ship, the mainmast was broken, but two carpenters sent by Elcano, risking their lives, still got there in a small boat. While the mast was being repaired, the flagship collided with the Parral, breaking its mizzen mast. The swimming was very difficult. There was not enough fresh water and provisions. Who knows what the fate of the expedition would have been if on October 20 the lookout had not seen Annobon Island in the Gulf of Guinea on the horizon. The island was deserted - only a few skeletons lay under a tree, on which a strange inscription was carved: "Here lies the unfortunate Juan Ruiz, killed because he deserved it." Superstitious sailors saw this as a formidable omen. The ships hastily filled up with water and stocked up on provisions. On this occasion, the captains and officers of the flotilla were summoned to a festive dinner at the admiral's, which almost ended tragically.

A huge fish of an unknown species was served on the table. According to Urdaneta, Elcano's page and expedition chronicler, some sailors who "tasted the meat of this fish, which had teeth like a big dog, had such a pain in their stomachs that they thought they would not survive." Soon the entire flotilla left the shores of the inhospitable Annobon. From here Loaisa decided to sail to the shores of Brazil. And from that moment on for the "Sancti Espiritus", the ship of Elcano, a streak of misfortunes began. Not having time to set sail, "Sancti Espiritus" almost collided with the admiral's ship, and then generally lagged behind the flotilla for some time. At a latitude of 31º after a violent storm, the admiral's ship disappeared from view. Elcano assumed command of the remaining ships. Then the San Gabriel separated from the flotilla. The remaining five ships searched for the admiral's ship for three days. The search was unsuccessful, and Elcano ordered to go further, to the Strait of Magellan.

On January 12, the ships stopped at the mouth of the Santa Cruz River, and since neither the admiral's ship nor the San Gabriel approached, Elcano called a council. Knowing from experience on a previous voyage that there was an excellent anchorage here, he suggested waiting for both ships, as it was provided for by the instructions. However, the officers, who were eager to enter the strait as soon as possible, advised leaving only the Santiago Pinassa at the mouth of the river, burying a message in the bank under the cross on the island that the ships were heading for the Strait of Magellan. On the morning of January 14, the flotilla weighed anchor. But what Elcano took for the strait turned out to be the mouth of the Gallegos River, five or six miles from the strait. Urdaneta, who despite his admiration for Elcano. retained the ability to treat his decisions critically, writes that such a mistake by Elcano amazed him very much. On the same day, they came to the real mouth of the strait and anchored at the Cape of Eleven Thousand Holy Virgins.

Replica of the ship "Victoria"
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At night, a terrible storm hit the flotilla. Raging waves flooded the ship to the middle of the masts, and it barely kept on four anchors. Elcano realized that all was lost. His only thought now was to save the team. He ordered the ship to run aground. Panic broke out on Sancti Espiritus. Several soldiers and sailors threw themselves into the water in terror; all drowned, except for one who managed to reach the shore. Then the rest crossed over to the shore. We managed to save some of the provisions. However, at night the storm broke out with the same force and finally smashed the Sancti Espiritus. For Elcano, the captain, the first seafarer around the world and the chief pilot of the expedition, the wreck, especially through his fault, was a big blow. Never before has Elcano been in such a dire situation. When the storm finally subsided, the captains of other ships sent a boat for Elcano, asking him to lead them through the Strait of Magellan, since he had been here before. Elcano agreed, but took only Urdaneta with him. He left the rest of the sailors on the shore ...

But setbacks did not leave the exhausted fleet. From the very beginning, one of the ships almost ran into the stones, and only the determination of Elcano saved the ship. After a while, Elcano sent Urdaneta with a group of sailors to fetch the sailors left on the shore. Soon, the Urdaneta group ran out of provisions. It was very cold at night, and people were forced to dig up to their throats in the sand, which also warmed a little. On the fourth day, Urdaneta and his companions approached the sailors who were dying on the coast from hunger and cold, and on the same day Loaisa's ship, San Gabriel and the Santiago pinassa entered the mouth of the strait. On January 20, they joined the rest of the ships of the flotilla.

JUAN SEBASTIAN ELCANO
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On February 5, a violent storm broke out again. The ship Elcano took refuge in the strait, and the San Lesmes was thrown by the storm further south, to 54 ° 50 ′ south latitude, that is, it approached the very tip of Tierra del Fuego. Not a single ship went further south in those days. A little more, and the expedition would be able to open the way around Cape Horn. After the storm, it turned out that the admiral's ship was aground, and Loaisa and his crew left the ship. Elcano immediately dispatched a group of the best sailors to the admiral's aid. On the same day, Anunciada deserted. The captain of the ship, de Vera, decided to independently get to Molucca past the Cape of Good Hope. Anunciada is missing. A few days later, San Gabriel also defected. The remaining ships returned to the mouth of the Santa Cruz River, where the sailors began to repair the admiral's ship, pretty battered by storms. In other conditions, it would have to be abandoned altogether, but now that the flotilla had lost three of its largest ships, this could no longer be afforded. Elcano, who, upon his return to Spain, criticized Magellan for staying at the mouth of this river for seven weeks, now he himself was forced to spend five weeks here. At the end of March, the somehow patched up ships again headed for the Strait of Magellan. The expedition now consisted of only an admiral's ship, two caravels and a pinassa.

On April 5, the ships entered the Strait of Magellan. Between the islands of Santa Maria and Santa Magdalena, the admiral's ship suffered another misfortune. A boiler with boiling resin caught fire, a fire broke out on the ship.

Panic began, many sailors rushed to the boat, not paying attention to Loais, who showered them with curses. The fire was still extinguished. The flotilla went further through the strait, along the banks of which on high mountain peaks"So high that they seemed to extend to the very sky," lay the eternal bluish snow. At night, the Patagonians' bonfires burned on both sides of the strait. Elcano already knew these lights from their maiden voyage. On April 25, the ships weighed anchor from the Sao Jorge mooring, where they replenished their water and firewood supplies, and set off again on a difficult voyage.

And where the waves of both oceans meet with a deafening roar, the storm hit Loaisa's flotilla again. The ships anchored in the bay of San Juan de Portalina. On the coast of the bay were mountains several thousand feet high. It was terribly cold, and “no clothes could keep us warm,” writes Urdaneta. Elcano was on the flagship all the time: Loaisa, without the appropriate experience, relied entirely on Elcano. The passage across the strait lasted forty-eight days - ten days more than Magellan's. On May 31, a strong north-east wind blew. The whole sky was overcast. On the night of June 1 to 2, a storm broke out, the most terrible of the former so far, scattering all the ships. Although the weather improved later, they were not destined to meet. Elcano, with most of the Sancti Espiritus crew, was now aboard the admiral's ship, where there were one hundred and twenty men. Two pumps did not have time to pump out the water, they feared that the ship could sink at any moment. In general, the ocean was Great, but by no means Quiet.

4. The helmsman dies as an admiral

The ship was sailing alone, on the immense horizon neither sail nor island could be seen. “Every day,” writes Urdaneta, “we waited for the end. Due to the fact that people from the wrecked ship have moved to us, we are forced to reduce our rations. We worked hard and ate little. We had to go through great hardships and some of us died. " Loais passed away on July 30. According to one of the members of the expedition, the cause of his death was a lack of spirit; he was so worried about the loss of the rest of the ships that he "grew weaker and died." Loais did not forget to mention in the will of his chief helmsman: “I ask that Elcano return four casks of white wine that I owe him. Rusks and other provisions that lie on my ship "Santa Maria de la Victoria", let them give to my nephew Alvaro de Loais, who is to share it with Elcano. " They say that by this time only rats remained on the ship. On the ship, many were sick with scurvy. Wherever Elcano glanced, everywhere he saw puffy, pale faces and heard the groans of sailors.

Since the time they left the strait, thirty people have died from scurvy. “They all died,” writes Urdaneta, “because their gums were swollen and they could not eat anything. I saw a man whose gums were so swollen that he tore off pieces of meat as thick as a finger. " The sailors had one hope - Elcano. In spite of everything, they believed in his lucky star, although he was so sick that four days before Loaisa's death he made his will. In honor of Elcano's inauguration as admiral, a position he had unsuccessfully sought two years earlier, a cannon salute was given. But Elcano's strength was running out. The day came when the admiral could no longer get out of bed. His family and loyal Urdaneta gathered in the cabin. In the flickering candlelight, one could see how they were emaciated and how much they suffered. Urdaneta kneels down and touches the body of her dying master with one hand. The priest watches him closely. Finally he raises his hand, and everyone present slowly kneels. Elcano's wanderings are over ...

“Monday, 6 August. The valiant lord Juan Sebastian de Elcano has died. " This is how Urdaneta noted in his diary the death of the great navigator.

Four people lift the body of Juan Sebastian, wrapped in a shroud and tied to a board. At a sign from the new admiral, they throw him into the sea. There was a splash, drowning out the priest's prayers.

MONUMENT IN HONOR OF ELKANO IN GETARIA
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Exhausted by worms, tormented by storms and storms, the lone ship continued on its way. The team, according to Urdaneta, “was terribly exhausted and exhausted. Not a day went by without one of us dying.

So we decided that it was best for us to go to the Moluccas. " Thus, they abandoned Elcano's bold plan, which was going to fulfill Columbus's dream of achieving east coast Asia, following the shortest route from the west. “I am sure that if Elcano had not died, we would not have reached the Ladron (Mariana) Islands so soon, because his always intention was to find Chipansu (Japan),” writes Urdaneta. He clearly considered Elcano's plan too risky. But the person who circled the “earthly apple” for the first time did not know what fear was. But he also did not know that in three years Charles I would give up his "rights" to Portugal for 350 thousand gold ducats. Of the entire Loaisa expedition, only two ships survived: the San Gabriel, which reached Spain after a two-year voyage, and the Santiago pinassa under the command of Guevara, which sailed along the Pacific coast of South America to Mexico. Although Guevara has only seen the coast of South America once, his voyage proved that the coast does not protrude far to the west anywhere and South America has the shape of a triangle. This was the most important geographical discovery of the Loisse expedition.

Getaria, in the homeland of Elcano, at the entrance to the church there is a stone slab with a half-erased inscription on which reads: "... the glorious captain Juan Sebastian del Cano, a native and resident of the noble and faithful city of Getaria, the first to circumnavigate the globe on the ship" Victoria ". In 1661, Don Pedro de Etave and Hazi, Chevalier of the Order of Calatrava, erected this slab in memory of the hero. Pray for the peace of mind of the one who was the first to travel around the world. " And the place where Elcano died is marked on the globe in the Museum of San Telmo - 157º West longitude and 9º North latitude.

In the history textbooks, Juan Sebastian Elcano undeservedly found himself in the shadow of Fernand Magellan's glory, but at home he is remembered and revered. The name Elcano is a training sailing ship in the Spanish Navy. In the wheelhouse of the ship you can see the coat of arms of Elcano, and the sailing ship itself has already managed to carry out a dozen round-the-world expeditions.

The discoveries of Russian travelers are striking. Let's give in chronological order short descriptions seven of the most significant round-the-world travels of our compatriots.

The first Russian round-the-world trip - Kruzenshtern and Lisyansky's round-the-world expedition

Ivan Fedorovich Kruzenshtern and Yuri Fedorovich Lisyansky were military Russian sailors: both in 1788-1790. participated in four battles against the Swedes. The sailing of Kruzenshtern and Lisyansky is the beginning of a new era in the history of Russian navigation.

The expedition started from Kronstadt on July 26 (August 7) ​​1803 under the leadership of Ivan Fedorovich Kruzenshtern, who was 32 years old. The expedition included:

• Three-masted sloop "Nadezhda". The total number of the team is 65 people. Commander - Ivan Fedorovich Kruzenshtern.
• Three-masted sloop "Neva". The total number of the ship's crew is 54 people. Commander - Yuri Fedorovich Lisyansky.

The sailors were all Russian to one - that was the condition of Kruzenshtern

In July 1806, with a difference of two weeks, "Neva" and "Nadezhda" returned to the Kronstadt roadstead, having made the whole trip in 3 years 12 days... Both of these sailboats, like their captains, became famous all over the world. The first Russian round-the-world expedition was of great scientific importance on a world scale.
As a result of the expedition, many books were published, about two dozen geographical points were named after famous captains.

Left - Ivan Fyodorovich Kruzenshtern. On the right - Yuri Fedorovich Lisyansky

The description of the expedition was published under the title “Travel around the world in 1803, 1804, 1805 and 1806 on the ships“ Nadezhda ”and“ Neva ”, under the command of Lieutenant-Commander Kruzenshtern,” in 3 volumes, with an atlas of 104 maps and engraved paintings. and has been translated into English, French, German, Dutch, Swedish, Italian and Danish.

And now, answering the question: "Which Russian was the first to travel around the world?", You can easily answer.

Discovery of Antarctica - round-the-world expedition of Thaddeus Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev

Aivazovsky's work "Ice Mountains in Antarctica", written on the basis of the memoirs of Admiral Lazarev

In 1819, after a long and very thorough preparation from Kronstadt, a southern polar expedition set off on a long voyage, consisting of two sloops - "Vostok" and "Mirny". The first was commanded by Faddey Faddeevich Bellingshausen, the second - by Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev. The crew of the ships consisted of experienced, seasoned sailors. There was a long way to unknown countries. The expedition was given the task of how to fully penetrate further south in order to finally resolve the question of the existence of the southern continent.
The members of the expedition spent 751 days in the voyage, covered more than 92 thousand kilometers. 29 islands and one coral reef were discovered. The scientific materials collected by her made it possible to form the first idea of ​​Antarctica.
Russian sailors not only discovered a huge continent located around the South Pole, but also conducted important research in the field of oceanography. This branch of spiders was in its infancy at that time. FF Bellingshausen was the first to correctly explain the reasons causing sea currents (for example, the Canary), the origin of the algae of the Sargasso Sea, as well as coral islands in tropical regions.
The discoveries of the expedition turned out to be a major achievement of Russian and world geographical science at that time.
And so on January 16 (28), 1820 it is considered - the day of the discovery of Antarctica... Bellingshausen and Lazarev, in spite of dense ice and fog, passed around Antarctica at latitudes from 60 ° to 70 ° and irrefutably proved the existence of land in the region of the South Pole.
Strikingly, the evidence for the existence of Antarctica was immediately recognized as outstanding geographical discovery... However, then scientists for more than a hundred years argued over what was discovered. Was it a mainland, or just a group of islands covered with a common ice cap? Bellingshausen himself never once spoke about the discovery of the mainland. It was possible to finally confirm the continental nature of Antarctica only in the middle of the 20th century as a result of long-term studies using sophisticated technical means.

Cycling around the world

1913 On August 10, the finish of the round-the-world trip on a bicycle, which was ridden by a 25-year-old Russian athlete Onisim Petrovich Pankratov, took place in Harbin.

This journey lasted 2 years and 18 days. Pankratov chose a rather difficult route. The countries of almost all of Europe were included in it. Leaving Harbin in July 1911, the courageous cyclist arrived in St. Petersburg at the end of autumn. Then his path ran through Konigsberg, Switzerland, Italy, Serbia, Turkey, Greece and again through Turkey, Italy, France, Southern Spain, Portugal, Northern Spain and again France.
The Swiss authorities thought Pankratov was crazy. No one would dare to cycle through the rocky mountain passes covered with snow, which are accessible only to experienced climbers. Climbing the mountains for a cyclist was not a small effort. He also crossed Italy, traveled through Austria, Serbia, Greece and Turkey. He had to sleep just under the starry sky, from food he often had only water and bread, but he still did not stop the journey.

Having crossed the Pas-de-Calais by boat, the athlete crossed England on a bicycle. Then, having also got to America on the ship, he again got on a bicycle and rode the entire American continent following the route New York ─ Chicago ─ San Francisco. And from there by ship to Japan. Then he crossed Japan and China by bicycle, after which Pankratov reached the original point of his grandiose route - Harbin.

The bike covered a distance of more than 50 thousand kilometers. To make such a trip around the earth Onisim was invited by his father.

Pankratov's round-the-world trip was called great by his contemporaries. The Gritsner bicycle helped him to make a round the world, during the trip Onisim had to change 11 chains, 2 steering wheels, 53 tires, 750 spokes, etc.

Around the Earth - the first space flight

At 9 o'clock. 7 minutes Moscow time from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan the spacecraft-satellite "Vostok" took off. Having made a flight around the globe, he returned safely to Earth in 108 minutes. The pilot-cosmonaut Major was on board the ship.
The weight of the satellite spacecraft is 4,725 kilograms (excluding the last stage of the launch vehicle), the total engine power of the rocket is 20 million horsepower.

The first flight took place in automatic mode, in which the cosmonaut was, as it were, a passenger on the spacecraft. However, at any moment he could switch the ship to manual control. Throughout the flight, two-way radio communication was maintained with the cosmonaut.

In orbit, Gagarin conducted the simplest experiments: he drank, ate, took notes with a pencil. "Putting" the pencil next to him, he accidentally discovered that he immediately began to float away. From this, Gagarin concluded that it is better to tie pencils and other objects in space. He recorded all his feelings and observations on an onboard tape recorder.
After the successful completion of the intended research and the completion of the flight program at 10 o'clock. 55 minutes Moscow time, the satellite ship "Vostok" made a safe landing in a given area of ​​the Soviet Union - near the village of Smelovka, Ternovsky district, Saratov region.

The first people who met the cosmonaut after the flight were the wife of the local forester Anna (Anikhayat) Takhtarova and her six-year-old granddaughter Rita. Soon, soldiers from the division and local collective farmers arrived at the scene. One group of military men took the descent vehicle under protection, and the other took Gagarin to the location of the unit. From there, Gagarin reported by phone to the commander of the air defense division:

I ask you to tell the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force: I completed the task, landed in the specified area, I feel well, there are no bruises or breakdowns. Gagarin

Immediately after Gagarin's landing, the burnt descent module Vostok-1 was covered with cloth and taken to Podlipki near Moscow, to the restricted area of ​​the royal OKB-1. Later it became the main exhibit in the museum of the Energia rocket and space corporation that grew out of OKB-1. The museum was closed for a long time (it was possible to get into it, but it was quite difficult - only as part of a group, according to a preliminary letter), in May 2016 the Gagarin ship became publicly available as part of the exhibition.

The first round-the-world voyage of a submarine without surfacing

February 12, 1966 - a successful round-the-world voyage of two nuclear submarines of the Northern Fleet started. At the same time, our boats passed the entire route, the length of which exceeded the length of the equator, underwater, without surfacing even in the poorly studied regions of the Southern Hemisphere. The heroism and courage of Soviet submariners were of outstanding national importance and became a continuation of the military traditions of submariners of the Great Patriotic War.

25 thousand miles have been covered and highest degree stealth, the duration of the voyage took 1.5 months

To participate in the campaign, two serial production submarines were allocated without any modifications. Missile boat K-116 of project 675 and the second boat K-133 of project 627A, which has torpedo armament.

In addition to its enormous political significance, it was an impressive demonstration of the scientific and technological achievements and military power of the state. The hike showed that the entire oceans became global launch pad for our nuclear submarines armed with both cruise and ballistic missiles. At the same time, he opened up new opportunities for maneuvering forces between the Northern and Pacific fleets. More broadly, we can say that at the height of the Cold War, the historical role of our fleet was to change the strategic situation in the World Ocean, and Soviet submariners were the first to do this.

The first and only sailing in the history of solo circumnavigation of the world, performed on a pleasure sailing dinghy with a length of 5.5 meters

On July 7, 1992, Evgeny Aleksandrovich Gvozdev on the yacht "Lena" (class "micro", length only 5.5 meters) from Makhachkala set off on his first solo voyage around the world. On July 19, 1996, the trip was safely completed (it was 4 years and two weeks). This set a world record - the first and only voyage in the history of solo circumnavigation, performed on an ordinary pleasure sailing dinghy. Evgeny Gvozdev went on a long-awaited trip around the world when he was 58 years old.

Surprisingly, the ship lacked an auxiliary engine, radio, autopilot, and stove. But there was the coveted "sailor's passport", which the new Russian authorities issued to the yachtsman after a year of struggle. This document not only helped Yevgeny Gvozdev to cross the border in the direction he needed: in the future, Gvozdev traveled without money and without visas.
On his journey, our hero experienced a severe psychological shock after a collision with the treacherous Somali "partisans" who robbed him clean at Ras Khafun Cape and almost shot him.

All his first trip around the world can be described in one word: "in spite of." The chance to survive was too scanty. Yevgeny Gvozdev himself sees the world differently: it is a world similar to a single brotherhood of good people, a world of complete disinterestedness, a world without obstacles to global conversion ...

In a hot air balloon around the Earth - Fedor Konyukhov

Fedor Konyukhov was the first in the world to fly around the Earth in a balloon (on the first try). A total of 29 attempts were made, and only three of them were successful. During the trip, Fedor Konyukhov set several world records, the main of which is the duration of the flight. The traveler managed to fly around the Earth in about 11 days, 5 hours and 31 minutes.
The balloon was a two-tier structure that combined the use of helium and solar energy. Its height is 60 meters. Below was attached a gondola, equipped with the best technical devices, from where Konyukhov piloted the ship.

I thought that I had committed so many sins that I would burn not in hell, but here

The trip took place under extreme conditions: the temperature dropped to -40 degrees, the balloon fell into a zone of strong turbulence with zero visibility, and also passed through a cyclone with hail and strong winds. Due to difficult weather conditions, the equipment broke down several times and Fedor had to manually fix the problems.

During the 11 days of the flight, Fedor hardly slept. According to him, even a moment's relaxation could lead to irreversible consequences. In moments when it was already impossible to fight sleep, he took an adjustable wrench and sat over an iron plate. As soon as the eyes closed, the hand released the key, it fell on the plate, making a noise, which made the balloonist instantly wake up. At the end of the journey, he did this procedure regularly. It nearly exploded at great altitude when, by mistake, various types of gas began to interfere. It's good that I managed to cut off the ignited balloon.
During the entire route, air traffic controllers at various airports around the world helped Konyukhov as best they could, clearing the airspace for him. So he flew the Pacific Ocean in 92 hours, crossed Chile and Argentina, circled the thunderstorm front over the Atlantic, passed the cape Good hope and returned safely to Australia, from where he began his journey.

Fedor Konyukhov:

I flew around the Earth in 11 days, it is very small, it must be protected. We have no idea about it, we, people, only fight. The world is so beautiful - explore it, get to know