In the Wakes of Magellan and Darwin

By Suzanne Adam

Our first night out to sea, standing on the deck, I feel the presence of Ferdinand Magellan. Sturdy hands on the railing of his ship Trinidad, the explorer must have seen this same full moon illuminate his path on the water as he searched for a route to the Pacific through this uncharted maze of islands and fjords sculpted by ancient glaciers. I had recently read “Over the Edge of the World”, Laurence Bergreen’s gripping account of the Magellan expedition’s circumnavigation of the globe from 1519 to 1522, demonstrating conclusively that the world is round. Now, I am aboard t...