The Voyage of the Vizcaina - by Klaus Brinkbäumer & Clemens Höges (Paperback)

About the Book

Between 1492 and 1504, Christopher Columbus made four attempts to find the East by heading West. In the process he lost a fair number of ships; on his last journey alone he lost no fewer than four. Although Columbus also left written documentation of where his boats had gone down, no one has been able to locate even one of the wrecks. (His reports were probably inaccurate, perhaps willfully so--he was frequently less than truthful about his adventures in the New World.) In the mid-1990s, an American expatriate living in Panama--an aging surfer dude who ran a Scuba-diving outfitting shop and diving school--a Panamanian real estate agent, and an American on vacation with his son all claimed to have been the first to locate the remains of a small ship lying in fairly shallow waters in a small gulf in Panama. No one took the discovery seriously, since it had not been made by a team of established archeologists and scientists. Finally, in 2002, the authors of this book--journalists and amateur divers--decided to investigate. They organized a team of American scientists, all of them experts in carbon dating and underwater shipwrecks, who established not only that the Panama wreck was the oldest ever found in the entire Western Hemisphere--dating from around 1500--but that it was very likely the remains of one of Columbus' last ships, the Vizcaina.

To be published on the 500th anniversary of Columbus' death, THE VOYAGE OF THE VIZCAINA is a riveting account of shipwreck and adventure, giving readers the story of how the wreck was found and salvaged. Working backward, Brinkbaumer and Hoges combine archaeology and history to recreate the circumstances of the fourth journey, which began in 1502 and ended in 1504. This book is unique in its extensive use of detailed findings to frame its fascinating discoveries and conclusions about exploration in the New World, as well as about the genius and shortcomings of the man known as the Admiral, and credited with the greatest discovery of all time.

Book Synopsis

Of all the great seafaring vessels of the Age of Discovery, not one has been recovered or even--given the lack of detailed contemporary descriptions--accurately represented. Then, in the mid-1990s, a sunken ship was found in a small, shallow gulf off the coast of Panama. Chronicling both dramatic history and present-day archaeological adventures, Klaus Brinkbäumer and Clemens Höges reveal this artifact to be not only the oldest shipwreck ever recovered in the Western Hemisphere but also very likely the remains of the Vizcaína, one of the ships Christopher Columbus took on his last trip to the New World. The Voyage of the Vizcaína gives us an exciting tale of exploration and discovery, and the startling truths behind Columbus's final attempt to reach the East by going west.

From the Back Cover

Not since Morrison s classic book on Columbus has a volume so brilliantly captured the spirit of the man long credited with discovering the New World, yet been the subject of so much mythology and mystery. Filipe Castro, Nautical Archaeology Program, Texas A&M University
Of all the great seafaring vessels of the Age of Discovery, not one had been recovered when, in the mid-1990s, a sunken ship was found in a small, shallow gulf off the coast of Panama. Klaus Brinkbaumer and Clemens Hoges reveal this artifact to be not only the oldest shipwreck ever recovered in the Western Hemisphere but also very likely the remains of the Vizcaina, one of the ships Christopher Columbus took on his last, ill-fated trip to the New World. Bringing to life both Columbus s voyages and the present-day archaeological adventures involved in recovering this dramatic piece of history, The Voyage of the Vizcaina is an exciting tale of discovery.
[A] swiftly paced adventure biography. Archaeology
Blends archaeological and historical revelations with all the drama of a true adventure. Midwest Book Review

KLAUS BRINKBAUMER writes for Der Spiegel magazine. A graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, he is an experienced sailor and diver. He lives in Germany.
CLEMENS HOGES is a senior editor at Der Spiegel, where he has written extensively about underwater archaeology, seafaring, and piracy. He lives in Germany.
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Review Quotes

PRAISE FOR THE VOYAGE OF THE VIZCAÍNA

"Brings to the surface a fascinating portrait of one of the lesser-known adventures in the Age of Discovery."--THE WALL STREET JOURNAL --

About the Author

KLAUS BRINKBÄUMER writes for Der Spiegel magazine. A graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, he is an experienced sailor and diver. He lives in Germany.

CLEMENS HÖGES is a senior editor at Der Spiegel, where he has written extensively about underwater archaeology, seafaring, and piracy. He lives in Germany.