Sunday, October 21, 2012

Seafaring Sunday: A Virginal Strait

October 21, 1520: Ferdinand Magellan's ships come upon a wide strait between South America and Tierra del Fuego. He names it the Strait of Eleven Thousand Virgins. It is now known as the Strait of Magellan.

Header: An anonymous portrait of Ferdinand Magellan via Wikipedia
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4 comments:

  1. Blue Lou LoganOctober 21, 2012 at 3:25 PM

    That's a whole lot of virgins.

    With a little digging, that's roughly the population of Half Moon Bay, CA, or Woodinville, WA. Up where you are, Pauline, that's more people than there are living in Sitka by almost 2,000.

    One might immediately ask, "What exactly was Magellan thinking of, or perhaps fantasizing about?" Apparently it comes from the legend of Saint Ursula, who supposedly brought said untainted thousands with her when she went to marry the pagan governor Meriadoc (not to be confused with Merry, Hobbit of the Shire).

    Man, dem Catholics dem sure can have wild imaginations.

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  2. Timmy!October 21, 2012 at 7:39 PM

    I remember doing a report on Magellen when I was in elementary school, Pauline... Talk about ancient history.

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  3. Charles L. WallaceOctober 22, 2012 at 6:32 AM

    Ah, Magellan.... died enroute and never actually circumnavigated the globe.

    Those few who made it did so by decimating the rat population onboard their ship, and boiling all available leather scraps for sustenance. Whew!

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  4. PaulineOctober 22, 2012 at 7:59 AM

    Boy you all; just not the "good old days" by any means.

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