We boarded the tall ship Royal Clipper after 24 hours in Barbados, and set sail for a week in the Caribbean “Sailing, Sailing, Over the Bounding Main”. But what exactly is the “main” and why is it bounding? What better source than boundingmain.com?
What is the Bounding Main?
In the 1500’s Spain claimed most of Central and South America. When referring to the Caribbean it was called The Spanish Mainland since ships coming to and from Europe caught the trade winds there, accessing Spain’s New World territories. It was eventually shortened to The Spanish Main. It was well understood that the Caribbean was subject to frequent hurricanes producing very bad sailing conditions.
Godfrey Marks wrote “Sailing, Sailing Over the Bounding Main” in 1880 but he did not coin the phrase. John Ogilvie used bounding main in his “The Day of Judgement” in 1753 and Lord Byron’s “Lara” crossed the bounding main in 1814. Tennyson used “bounding main” just after 1833 in his “In Memoriam for Arthur Henry Hallam.“
The phrase Spanish Main likely evolved into bounding main because of the summer weather in the Caribbean. Eventually bounding main became synonymous with all open waters.
Despite being the largest fully rigged clipper afloat, the Royal Clipper is still small by today’s cruise ship standards. Just 200 passengers and 108 crew, portholes not balconies and windows, and no elevators, skating rinks, nor evening shows. All those were good things as far as we were concerned!
Because we sailed in the dry season, the winds were steady with no risk of hurricanes and so the seas weren’t bounding, but the (mostly) gentle swells were just enough to rock us to sleep. The hoisting of the sails to the sound of 1492: Conquest of Paradise by Vangelis at every departure was always a highlight!
Listen to the song “Sailing, Sailing” while viewing our pictures of life aboard the Royal Clipper, or watch our video of the Royal Clipper’s sails being hoisted for a sunset departure.
Pictures on Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/100countries/albums/72177720324242424
