Crossing the Atlantic: What Took Us So Long; How Did We Dare?

The speaker (“instructor” is too grand) for this course recently, and on the same day, had his breakfast in County Clare, Ireland, Europe, and his supper at home in Newport County, Rhode Island, America. This prompted him to wonder what took our ancestors so long to cross the Atlantic Ocean from Eurasia to America. It’s quite a tale! The speaker will try to summarize its thousands of years in 90 minutes. Shortly before his day of intercontinental meals, the speaker found himself (along with several other Salve Regina “Circular Scholars”!) being pitched and tossed in wind and rain by the Atlantic Ocean in a little boat cruising beneath the scary, towering, fogbound Cliffs of Moher (County Clare again). This prompted him to wonder how our ancestors even dared at last to make the crossing. To this question the speaker has no answer and will merely invite you to join him in his awe. Warning: after serious deliberation, the speaker proposes to treat Christopher Columbus as the unequivocally great man he was. The story of the world-shifting Genoan (briefly told) will conclude the course. (Please note the utter impartiality here: the speaker’s own ancestry is Norse rather than Mediterranean!)

Peter Baylor is offering his fifth course. He is, among other things, a septuagenarian husband, father, grandfather, friend, sibling, veteran, son (forever grateful to his parents), retired lawyer and working tour guide. Peter borrowed this line from a college professor: “I do not propose to teach you anything; I am trying to share an enthusiasm. OK?”