History of the World: from the Back of a Boat - History of the World, #1

From the back of a boat it is easy to feel close to the past, even the very distant past. The waves that surge around you and the wind that fills your sails are the same as those that carried the ancient Phoenicians to Carthage, Columbus to the new world and Cook to the Pacific. We had long realised that we shared the sea with all those sailors who had come before us, some by many thousands of years, and wanted to sail in their wakes.
In doing so we discovered a world of endless enchantment and mystery, and we marvelled at how close we were able to feel to so many of the great men and women of bygone times.