| DAGAMA | Portuguese explorer who was the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India (5,2,4) |
| VASCODAGAMA | Portuguese explorer who was the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India (5,2,4) |
| VASCO | And 8 Across Portuguese explorer who was the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India (5,2,4) |
| HOARE | He was the commander of the Royal Flying Corps Canada |
| SCHIRRA | Commander of the first manned Apollo mission |
| CARPATHIA | First ship to answer the SOS from the Titanic (9) |
| ANCON | SS ___ (first ship to pass through the Panama Canal) |
| SCISSION | Cut three scientists on first ship to Israel (8) |
| GAMA | First person known to have sailed directly from Europe to India, Vasco da ... |
| DIAS | Portuguese explorer who in 1488 was the first European to get round the Cape of Good Hope (thus establishing a sea route from the Atlantic to Asia) (1450-1500). |
| GENERALHAIG | Ronald Reagan's first Secretary of State or the commander of the British Expeditionary Force during much of the First World War |
| SLIM | Surname of the commander of the 14th "forgotten" army of the Second World War (4) |
| MAGELLAN | Portuguese explorer who led and organised part of the expedition that resulted in the first circumnavigation of Earth before he was killed in a skirmish (8) |
| CAMERON | Verney, explorer who was the first European to cross Africa from coast to coast (7) |
| PRIMA | First, eg the Argo was the first ship, ____ ... carina, Ovid Met. 6.721 |
| CARTIER | Jacques, French explorer who was the first European to discover the Saint Lawrence River, Canada (7) |
| AMUNDSEN | Roald ___, Norwegian explorer who was the first man to reach the South Pole (8) |
| DESOTO | Hernando, Spanish explorer who was the first European to cross the Mississippi River (2,4) |
| MATTHEWFLINDERS | British explorer who was the first to circumnavigate and map the Australian coast, in 1802-03 (7,8) |
| DESERT | Nickname, used by his foes as well as friends, of the commander of the Afrika Korps during the Second World War (3,6,3) |
