The Paradoxal Compass: Drake's Dilemma

Enduring public appeal of the Age of Discovery, now set in a modern context. Makes the connection between the first exploration and mapping of the Arctic Ocean by Borough and Davis and the current controversial oil drilling in the region. Argues that a new environmental campaign is needed drawing on Devon's long-standing connections with the Arctic and argues for the relocation of the Hadley Centre for Climate Science to Exeter. Author has written extensively on media distortion covering subjects such as the EU referendum, migration crisis, the Ukraine, and climate change denial.

A compelling portrait of the Age of Discovery that uncovers some surprising truths about the Tudor navigators - and asks why and how these facts have been submerged for centuries.What motivated the 16th century explorers? The question is a vexed one the world over. To this day, a troubled folkloric status hangs about the better-known names. Many of the Tudor explorers set sail from the South West peninsula. Morpurgo, with his own deep connections to the Dorset coast, unearths the stories behind little-known key figures Stephen Borough and John Davis, and their brilliant navigational teacher, John Dee, inventor of the 'paradoxall compass'. Morpurgo dramatises an episode in Drake's circumnavigation during which the Golden Hind was stranded on a rock off Celebes, Indonesia. What altercation occurred between Drake and the ship's chaplain, Francis Fletcher, during those terrifying twenty hours? Morpurgo makes a compelling argument for what was really at the heart of that disagreement, and its present-day repercussions. He argues that the Tudor navigators and their stories may hold the key to how we should approach the current environmental crisis. This is the Age of Discovery as you've never heard it before.