Talk:Luís Vaz de Torres

Nationality

• Nobody is recorded as calling Torres a Portuguese - but they often referred to Quiros as such - which was one of the sources of tension with the crews
• There is no document indicating he was Portuguese or from Portuguese origins.
• There is only the statements were he is called a "Breton" which in those days simply meant "Celt".
• Nothing he wrote is in Portuguese or hints at a Portuguese background.
• There is only the fanciful roundabout speculations that he was descended of Portuguese who lived in Brittany simply due to an ancient misunderstanding that "Breton" meant he was from Brittany.

Unless somebody can show something other than unsupported speculations that he was in fact Portuguese, either directly or indirectly, then we should go with Ockham's razor and say he was Galician orat the very least Spanish. "Traditionally..." (in the English and Portuguese speaking worlds; no less!!!) is not good enough! December 2007. I have removed the speculation about Portuguese ancestory. I cannot find a single source to support this notion, from Collingridge to Hilder, there is no mention of this at all. --Nickm57 (talk) 08:52, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

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December 2007 revision

I have added some additional information about Torres voyage and provided citations and headings. The claim Torres was Galacian is speculative, so I have now identified him as Spanish, with the speculation appearing in the following paragraph under origins and early life.--Nickm57 (talk) 01:07, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

Spelling of Quirós - AGAIN

I have raised this issue of the spelling of Quirós' name before, but so far there hasn't been any further discussion. I favour spelling his name the traditionally accepted Castilian way. However, this article now has his name spelled in BOTH Portuguese and Castilian interchangeably, while the actual page on Quirós uses Portuguese! So what are we going to do folks?--Nickm57 (talk) 21:17, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

The spelling of Pedro Fernández de Quirós has been made consistent throughout. Also, as I have remarked above, this was the name he used in his adult life, and the documents he left are authored with this name.--Nickm57 (talk) 11:00, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

Death

We're saying that he disappeared from the historical record around June 1607. I have an old note that says he was known to have died some time before December 1613, but his actual date of death is unrecorded. Can anyone verify this, and remind me what the significance of December 1613 was? Thanks. -- JackofOz (talk) 01:17, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

I've never read this. Is the 1613 date you have seen to do with Prado's letters from Goa? It's possible they are a finally contemporary reference to Torres --Nickm57 (talk) 11:55, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

Relevance of addition

I think the addition "This led Captain Cook to undertake another voyage into the South Pacific. He was bitterly disappointed that it was Captain Cook and not him who was appointed commander of the expedition which eventually led in 1770 to the British discovery and charting of the Eastern coastline of Australia" is muddly and not very relevant to the story of Torres. I take it "He was bitterly..." means "Dalrymple was bitterly"? Do you want to have a reread and a think about this Lacalera?--Nickm57 (talk) 01:11, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

I have reverted the page. I suggest this material on Dalrymple-Cook goes on the relevant pages or at best is added in a footnote here. --Nickm57 (talk) 21:01, 3 February 2009 (UTC)