THE SEARCH FOR THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE

 by John Pennington

I have chosen this subject as it is History, Geography and Naval in content, all of interest to me.

In the 15C, the Muslims in the Middle East blocked the trade routes from Europe to The Indies. As a result, the Europeans went off in a number of directions to find an alternative route.

The most famous attempt was by Columbus in 1492, who sailed west to try to find a route. By now, the world was considered round, so it was a matter of going west until he found China. His mileage calculations were obviously far out, as when he did land in Grand Turk near the Bahamas, he thought he was in the Indies, naming the inhabitants Indians. They were of course Caribs.

Robert Whitehead and family - torpedoes to doe-ray-me

 by Lester Cowling

 

The Weymouth Whitehead Torpedo Factory was at Ferrybridge where the road crosses onto Chesil Beach and Portland. The site’s now a small housing estate.

Robert Whitehead invented the torpedo we’re all familiar with from war movies.

Torpedoes sank millions of tons of shipping and sent thousands to their death.

During two World Wars, torpedo attacks on vessels bringing vital supplies to  Britain brought the country to the verge of defeat.

As his biographer points out, for decades Whitehead’s invention exerted a greater influence over naval warfare than any other weapon, than any government or any admiral.

Yet ask people to list top Victorian inventors and Whitehead will be conspicuous by his absence.

His story - and that of the remarkable dynasty he established - starts in pre-Victorian Lancashire.