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Article by: British Swim School
October 13 is the official anniversary of the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas.
And this day would not have happened if Columbus had not known how to swim…
Columbus went to sea when he was about 10 but the first voyage he made into the Atlantic Ocean was in 1476 when he was 25 years old. The ship he was on was attacked by French privateers who set the ship on fire. Columbus escaped by jumping overboard and swimming to the coast of Portugal. Privateers were sailors whose government gave them permission to attack merchant ships, sort of like pirates but acting with the okay of their government. Having gotten safely to Portugal, Columbus settled there and married a Portuguese woman. However, when he suggested the idea of sailing west to find a route to the East Indies, the Portuguese king and queen were not impressed. Neither were the rulers in Genoa or Venice. Finally, he was able to persuade the king and queen of Spain to give him the money to buy three ships. And the rest is history….
But to get back to the swimming. Some people in the 1400’s could, and did, swim but many did not including many sailors. Columbus had grown up by the sea so he probably had plenty of opportunities to learn how to swim and he must have been a strong swimmer. The distance from his ship to the shore must have been daunting.
So if Columbus had not known how to swim, October 12 would be just another day.
We hope you never have to jump off a burning ship but knowing how to swim can be life saving even if you are not under attack by privateers. Who knows what events might be possible if you learn how to swim?
Say what you want about Christopher Columbus, but at least he knew how to swim.