Q 01/05

Which stinging sea creature is named for its float's likeness to a caravel under full sail?

A) Moon jellyfish

B) Man o' war

C) Sea nettle

D) Box jellyfish

Answer · why

B) Man o' war

The Portuguese man o' war has a gas-filled float that reminded sailors of a small warship under full sail. The animal is not a true jellyfish at all, ...

Q 02/05

Which Columbus caravel, his fastest ship in 1492, shares its name with Lonesome George's Galápagos island?

A) La Niña

B) Santa María

C) La Pinta

D) Victoria

Answer · why

C) La Pinta

La Pinta carried the lookout who first sighted land in October 1492. Centuries later a Galápagos island was named in the ship's honor, and it became h...

Q 03/05

Columbus sailed home on the caravel Niña after his flagship ran aground on which holiday in 1492?

A) Easter Sunday

B) New Year's Day

C) All Saints' Day

D) Christmas Day

Answer · why

D) Christmas Day

Christmas Day 1492 ended with the flagship stuck fast on a sandbank and abandoned. Her timbers went into a fort on shore, and the admiral finished the...

Q 04/05

Sailors on Columbus's caravel Niña are said to have copied which invention from Caribbean islanders in 1492?

A) Hammock

B) Canoe

C) Barbecue

D) Maracas

Answer · why

A) Hammock

Hammock beds caught on after the crew saw islanders sleeping in hanging nets. Navies across Western Europe later adopted the idea, which saved space o...

Q 05/05

The caravel Santiago was wrecked off Patagonia in 1520 while scouting for which explorer's globe-circling fleet?

A) Ferdinand Magellan

B) Francis Drake

C) Giovanni da Verrazzano

D) Amerigo Vespucci

Answer · why

A) Ferdinand Magellan

Ferdinand Magellan had sent the ship ahead to survey the coast when a storm drove it onto the shore. Nearly all the crew escaped, and two sailors walk...