Bye bye, Lisboa

The sea is calm, sailing along the Cape of San Vicente, at 12 mph, aboard the Oceanographic vessel Sarmiento de Gamboa, the scientific work has already begun.

In these same Portuguese waters, died on 17 July 1592, the cosmographer Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa. A native from Pontevedra (Spain), this boat is named after him. Along with his colleague, the admiral Álvaro de Mendaña, from Congosto (Spain), and his wife Ysabel Barreto, they discovered the Solomon Islands and the Marquesas Islands. A fascinating  history.

I think of them tonight while reading a classic from Robert Graves: The Islands of Unwisdom.

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