Egyptians in the New World?

[Nathan Ross]

My point about sailing close to the coast was in reference only to the Atlantic - the Romans crossed the Med frequently and directly. The Greeks too were skilled navigators in the open ocean, and reached India and Britain. However, they knew of the existence of India and Britain; sailing very far west into the Atlantic would be a different matter as they wouldn't be sailing to anywhere, as far as they knew!

It might be possible for a ship sailing south from Britain or Gaul, perhaps wanting to avoid the Bay of Biscay and the dangerous north-west capes of Spain, to end up some way west into the open ocean. Perhaps with a clouded sky they would find navigation difficult, perhaps there might be strong gales from the north-east - they could then perhaps be caught in the Canaries current and carried south and then west. The problem would be that at some point they would realise that they were on a course for the open ocean (of which the Romans in particular had a healthy and reverent dread), and would do all they could to get back eastwards again: after all, as far as they knew there was nothing out there but half a globe of water! Even if they didn't succeed, the attempt would surely slow any westward course across the Atlantic, and make it less likely that anyone would survive to see Barbados...