Over the Edge of the World: Magellen's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe (62 page)

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Authors: Laurence Bergreen

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My thanks go also to the NASA scientists who provided up-todate satellite images of Magellan’s route and a better understanding of the physical nature of the globe. They include my good friends James Garvin, NASA’s lead scientist for Mars exploration; and Claire Parkinson, principal investigator for the AQUA mission. Thanks as well to Marshall Shepherd, research meteorologist, and Chester Koblinsky, head of the Oceans and Ice Branch, for their assistance.

Many other individuals generously offered guidance. In New York, I wish to thank my son Nick for his sailing expertise and my mother, Adele, and my daughter, Sara, for their encouragement; Wilma and Esteban Cordero; Ed Darrach of Bristed-Manning for travel-related services; Daniel Dolgin, for his unstinting advice and patience; Darrell Fennell; Sloan Harris; Emily Nurkin; Roberta Oster; Meredith Palmer; Natalia Tapies; Caroline Sparrow; Susan Shapiro; Joseph Thanhauser III; and the gang at Byrnam Wood. Thanks also to Jennifer O’Keeffe for research assistance in New York. Others who helped in various ways include Alexandra Roosevelt, Martha Saxton, and Robert Schiffman.

Because primary sources about Magellan exist in many languages, especially sixteenth-century Spanish and Portuguese, I am indebted to several translators for bringing these occasionally difficult texts to light, in some cases translating them into English for the first time. They include Isabel Cuadrado, Laura Kopp, Rosa Moran, and Víctor Úbeda.

In the course of my research trips to Spain, I received assistance from Kristina Cordero, my able researcher; Javier Guardiola; and Víctor Úbeda. In Madrid I conducted research at the Museo Naval and the Biblioteca Nacional, and in Seville I consulted the Archive of the Indies, where I am grateful for the assistance of Pilar Lazaro, chief of the Reference Division. Thanks to Francisco Contente Domingues in Portugal; and in Brazil, I extend appreciation to Alessandra Blocker and Elisabeth Xavier, my editors at Objetiva.

One of the highlights of research for this book was my trip to South America in January 2001 to travel along Magellan’s route through the strait that bears his name. In Patagonia I wish to thank the captain and crew of M/V Terra Australis, on which I sailed, and Jon V. Diamond, my traveling companion.

I also owe a debt to specialist readers of the manuscript for their perceptive comments and corrections. They include Dr. Bruce Charash; Daniel Dolgin; Professor Peter Pouncey of Columbia University; Patrick Ryan S.J.; Samuel Scott of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts; and Patricia Telles.

By way of personal thanks, I must acknowledge the contribution of my wife (and first reader) Betsy, who made it possible for me to undertake occasionally demanding travel that was an integral part of the research. During the time I worked on this book, I lost my brother and my father. They enjoyed hearing about it while it was in progress, and I wish they could have seen the finished product. For this reason, and for others that are far more important, I wish to dedicate it to their memory.

About the Author

L
AURENCE
B
ERGREEN
is the author of four biographies, each considered the definitive work on its subject:
Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life, Capone: The Man and the Era, As Thousands Cheer: The Life of Irving Berlin, and Voyage to Mars: NASA’s Search for Life Beyond Earth.
He is a graduate of Harvard University, and he lives in New York City.

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Also by Laurence Bergreen

Voyage to Mars:
NASA’s Search for Life Beyond Earth

Louis Armstrong:
An Extravagant Life

Capone:
The Man and the Era

As Thousands Cheer:
The Life of Irving Berlin

James Agee:
A Life

Look Now, Pay Later:
The Rise of Network Broadcasting

Credits

Photographic inserts were excluded from the electronic edition.

OVER THE EDGE OF THE WORLD. Copyright © 2003 by Laurence Bergreen. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader April 2008 ISBN 978-0-06-163396-6

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