Admiral of the Ocean Sea

A Life of Christopher Columbus

De: Samuel Eliot Morison

Narrado por: Frederick Davidson

Winner of the 1943 Pulitzer Prize for Biography

Admiral of the Ocean Sea is Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison's classic biography of the greatest sailor of them all, Christopher Columbus. It is written with the insight, energy, and authority that only someone who had himself sailed in Columbus's path to the New World could muster.

Morison undertook this expedition in a 147-foot schooner and a 47-foot ketch, the dimensions of these craft roughly matching those of Columbus's Santa Maria and Nina. The result is this vivid and definitive biography that accurately details the voyages that, for better or worse, changed the world.

Samuel Eliot Morison, Rear Admiral, United States Naval Reserve (1887–1976), was an American historian noted for his works of history, especially maritime history, that were both authoritative and highly readable. At various times he held teaching positions at Berkeley, Oxford, and Harvard. A sailor as well as a scholar, he garnered numerous literary prizes, military honors, and national awards from both foreign countries and United States, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His Admiral of the Ocean Sea won the 1943 Pulitzer Prize for biography.

©1942 Samuel Eliot Morison; Renewed 1970 by Samuel Eliot Morison (P)1995 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Reseñas de la Crítica

“A splendid achievement and a lasting monument of American scholarship. The style is delightful and flowing, and the whole work is replete with beauty and humor. [A] supremely valuable contribution to the literature on Columbus." ( New York Times)

Morrison offers authentic portrait of Columbus

Columbus was truly a magnificent sailor, who ventured against all odds. This is a well - rounded classic from a great historian, Morrison. it is not hagiography, but a real history, which speaks of Columbus's weaknesses and failures, and highlights the courageous seaman he was. tome was masterfully read. Spanish (Castilian) and Latin (classical and not ecclesiastical) translations aided to the historical setting.

The best book on Columbus and his voyages.

This is the best book on Columbus and his voyages there is. The performance is often painful to listen to due to atrocious Spanish often tortured out of the reader's uneducated poorly pronouncing lips, but the underlying written words are likely the best / most honest account of the Great Adventure that exists. This is written before politics intervened and soiled the glorious memory of the greatest mariner that ever sailed the sea. Honest, complete, factual... very sad the publisher allowed the terrible torture of the Spanish language... clearly the decision makers at the publisher weren't bilingual. Non-bilingual listeners won't notice the problem. Listen and enjoy this amazing tale of true High Adventure. Other books have pieces of the story, this has it all.

Finest Columbus Biograghy

Where does Admiral of the Ocean Sea rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Samuel Elliot Morison,s volume is unsurpassed. Christopher Columbus was a truly great man deserving a great biography. He got it with Morison's Admiral of the Ocean Sea.
Enjoyably read and great for young readers.

What other book might you compare Admiral of the Ocean Sea to and why?

I would compare it to Whitiker Chamber's autobiography Whitness. It is brilliantly written and deals with great courage.

Which character – as performed by Frederick Davidson – was your favorite?

NA

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

NA

It was boring sometimes

During the process he spent too much time in talking about sea coordinates that most people don’t care about since most people are not mariners. One of the fact that call my attention the most is when in the narrative he said that in the most recent maps the capital of Dominican Republic is called cuidad Trujillo. Which is not true.

Honest, scholarly work

Admiral of the Ocean Sea: A Life of Christopher Columbus

Samuel Eliot Morison

I wanted to revisit this extensive biography of Christopher Columbus for two reasons. First is the rapacious hatred of the man within today’s woke culture. Second is the policy of academia to limit students to learning from only approved sources published recently. I wanted to know if this was justified in any way? If so, the completely flipped view of Columbus and the unquestionable honesty of Samuel Eliot Morison should be a good place to look.

The results may surprise you.

Morison is brutally honest about Columbus, presenting him with warts and all. The Admiral was a master navigator, seemingly able to find his way almost by instinct and documenting many locations in the Indies and Caribbean. At the same time, it took him years to figure out he had NOT made it to China and the Far East. On his third voyage, looking for a new continent (S. America) he sailed along its coast for a couple of weeks before realizing it was not a series of islands.

Most important for his detractors, Morison leaves no doubt it was Columbus’ decision to kidnap and enslave native men, women and children. First for display to royally at home, to train as interpreters, and then to sell into the slave trade. This was even after the Queen made clear to him she did not want slaves brought back to Europe. In any event, most of the Indians brought back died, as they were not accustomed to the climate or slave labor.

Columbus ended up fighting with disloyal crew on several occasions, and, not bringing back the riches he expected, not the path to the Orient he promised, he was mostly left in disfavor with the crown by the time of his death.

There is much more, if you have the desire for the great detail Morison provided. Including, of course, the honest fact that Columbus opened up a New World.

So back to my original questions. Yes, people have reason to hate Columbus and call out his decisions regarding the native population. I suppose it should be pointed out that the slave trade/mentality had been in place for centuries, and would be for centuries more.

The second question is the opposite. Modern academia has no justification for dismissing scholars like Morison out-of-hand. He published this work in 1942 after years of research, even following many of Columbus’ routes to learn the sailing difficulties involved. He was fair, detailed, and pulled no punches.

Fascinating sailing details

This book is long but it goes into great detail out of Columbus's logs of his sailing difficulties and is sailing successes. Navigation was a problem and often got it wrong but often got it right. And this book has more details about the various Indian tribes and their abilities to fish and hunt with their crude tools.

Great History told well!

I loved this book for its insight and depth of understanding of 15th century maritime science and navigation. I also appreciated the fair handed account the author gave of Columbus the man, telling of both his excellence and his error, as well of his triumph and his tragedy. It is a story that needs telling over and over again to each successive generation! Great History!

Very detailed, not an easy one

What made the experience of listening to Admiral of the Ocean Sea the most enjoyable?

This book is a real historian's work. It states clearly what the author knows from different sources and what he personally believes to be true. There are a lot of details about Columbus travels and how people reacted in Europe to the news of these discoveries. However, if you expect to be entertained all along, this might not be a great pick as the book really goes deep into each travel, with a lot of attention to life at sea. Great adventures are also made of some less exciting, or even boring parts and this book will give them to you too.

One of my favorites - a whole story I didn't know

Dr. Morison is such an accomplished author, and this book is informative about Columbus' life and trials, what exploring was like at the beginning of the 16th century, and how much of a difference and clash there was between the cultures in the Caribbean. There are so many elements and extraordinary accomplishments I didn't know about Columbus, so many firsts. It is both a great story well told and an historical exposition too. Very well written and I think extremely well performed.

Complex

Complex and hard book to read. Very interesting I must say but story is difficult to get into. It was easy for me to dive into it because most of this I learned back in my home country. But any new readers getting into this topic is not easy.