Circumnavigation Trivia Quiz

Answer: Martin Ignacio de Loyola

Also known as Martín Ignacio Martínez de Mallea, Loyola was a Franciscan friar who worked as a missionary in China. He travelled from Cadiz in 1582, going west, and returned in 1584, landing in Lisbon. His second circumnavigation was an easterly one, via China and Mexico. Loyola also visited South America.

If the name sounds vaguely familiar, it's because he was the grandnephew of the founder of the Jesuits, Saint Ignatius of Loyola.

Answer: Willem Schouten

Named for Sir Francis Drake, Drake Passage provides a way to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Although Drake completed a circumnavigation himself in 1578, he didn't actually sail through the area bearing his name (in English speaking countries). Schouten and Jacob Le Maire not only used Drake Passage but 'discovered' and named Cape Horn at the tip of South America, where the two major oceans meet.

Answer: James Cook

Cook is well known as an explorer, and is credited with making the first circumnavigation of the world without losing any personnel to scurvy, a common problem of the time. He also carried out another world circumnavigation between 1772 and 1775. Cook's voyage around New Zealand was followed by the first circumnavigation of Antarctica, as part of the 1172-1775 voyage.

Answer: Nellie Bly

Bly was a journalist, and her trip around the world was inspired by Jules Verne's novel 'Around the World in Eighty Days'. Bly left New York for England on 14 November 1889 on an ocean liner, then travelled through France, meeting Verne en route, Italy and several Asian countries, including China. All her journeys were made by ship or rail. Bly arrived back in the USA on 21 January 1890, with her final journey made by a private train chartered by Joseph Pulitzer, for whom she worked on the "New York World" newspaper.

Answer: Joshua Slocumb

Slocumb left from Boston in April 1895 in his sloop, named 'Spray', and returned to America in June 1898, at Newport in Rhode Island, having covered around 46,000 miles. In 1899, he published a book about his experiences, called 'Sailing Alone Around the World', describing how he had achieved the feat. Slocumb's thirst for adventure continued, and he disappeared in 1909 while sailing, on 'Spray', towards the West Indies.

Answer: Wiley Post

In 1929, the airship, 'Graf Zeppelin', had set the record for flying around the world. This was a challenge to the Americans, and Wiley Post took it on by flying his aeroplane around the world in 1931, accompanied by a navigator. In 1933, he decided to repeat the feat, this time alone, with the aid only of the then new-fangled autopilot and a direction finder - he succeeded in beating his own record. Amazingly, Post had only one eye, having lost his left eye in an accident in 1926 - it was the compensation for this that enabled him to buy his own aeroplane, called 'Winnie Mae' in honour of his daughter. Post died following an air crash in 1935.

Answer: Robin Knox-Johnston

The 1960s was something of a 'golden age' for British sailors to circumnavigate the world. Sir Francis Chichester had completed his journey with just one stop in 1966/7, followed by Sir Alec Rose, who stopped twice, in 1967/8. Robin Knox-Johnston left from Falmouth, in southern England, in June 1968, taking part in the Golden Globe Race sponsored by the Sunday Times newspaper.

He sailed via Cape Horn, arriving back in Falmouth in April 1969 - the only sailor to finish the race, for various reasons.

Answer: Ranulph Fiennes

Fiennes and his fellow explorer, Charles R. Burton, departed from Greenwich, London in 1979 and reached the South Pole in 1980. They then travelled north, reaching the North Pole in April 1982, returning to Greenwich in August 1982. The trip was called the Transglobe Expedition, and included the first west to east crossing of the Northwest Passage by an open boat.

Answer: Bertrand Piccard

Piccard and Jones travelled in the 'Breitling Orbiter', sponsored by the Swiss watch company of that name. The balloon was the third version to attempt the flight; two previous tries had failed. The pair took off from Switzerland at the beginning of March 1999, and landed in Mauritania on 20 March.

They became the first men to circumnavigate the world by balloon, a record which many others, including Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand, had attempted without success.

Answer: Steve Fossett

Fossett was well known for his adventures. He had already achieved the first solo circumnavigation of the earth by a balloon, in 2002, and had set speed records for sailing around the world in 2004. In 2005, Fossett flew around the world in the 'Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer', which was specially designed to carry enough fuel for a non-stop flight.

It's an ungainly looking craft, but it achieved its goal when Fossett took off from Salina in Kansas on 28 February 2005, returning sixty-seven hours later on 3 March. Fossett went on to set a record for the longest non-stop flight in 2006 in the same aeroplane.

He disappeared in 2007 while flying a normal light aircraft. It took over a year for the wreckage to be discovered and Fossett's death to be confirmed.