World history shows the sea has always been the source of prosperity, respect and culture for all the nations linked to it. This is time of the Croatian nation, too. Seafares are same sort of heroes who have permanently enriched the mankind by their explorations. In the whole seafaring tradition the Croatian seamen are among the first explorers of the unknown regions of the world, they have tamed the furious oceans, explored polar districts and having followed their vision of the winners over the sea, many of them have sacrificed their own lives.

An explorer of the unknown who couldn’t resist the challenge of strong winds and the sea was the captain of Dubrovnik, Nikola Primorac known all over the world. In 1870. in a six meter long boat he sailed across the Atlantic in both directions: from Liverpool to Boston and back wards. Even before and after Primorac there were some very andacious seamen who had decided to undertake voyages across the ocean in small boats, however, Nikola Primorac was the first to sail across the Atlantic in both directions in the smallest boat in the world. Having longed for adventures and being guided by an extraordinary will to discover the unknown, many brave seafarers act off towards the unknown

The Croatian seafaring tradition emerged from the mutual relationship between life and the sea. Such a tradition isn’t common to even more famous and more powerful seafaring nations in the world. We may suppose the seafarers of Dubrovnik were the first to settle in the New World – this may be proved by the fact many Indian words originaled form the Croatian ones. Even nowadays some people living in the North Carolina claim of having their origin in the Croatan – Indians.

The inhabitants of Dubrovnik were known worldwide as the masters of astrology and great nautical experts. They were eager to attain the level aheady reached by the Portuguese and the Spanish seafarers. Under supposition that some seamen of Dubrovnik had been sailing on board Columbus’s caravels we may conclude the citizens of Dubrovnik would have learned about newly discovered parts of the world from the first hand.

It’s believed that two seafarers of Sibenik, too were sailing on board Columbus’s caravels. This isn’t unusual at all having in mind the fact in the second half of 1468 the Turkish forces had penetrated into the region of Sibenik so that many of its citizens escaped from the town together with their families and found shelter on the nearby islands and even in Italy. It was there that they founded (together with other refugees form Dalmatia) the town of VASTO on the Adriatic coast. From there the most andacious ones being attracted by the new on recent discoveries, set off to Spain.
It’s common to the human nature it’s irresistibly attracted by dangers. The seafarers of those days preferred adventures to their own lives and this Fruth has been most strongly expressed in the proverb: