Burn Your Ships

Table of Contents

“In times of change, learners inherit the earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world which no longer exists.” - American moral philosopher Eric Hoffer

Remember, it is easier to do something 100% of the time - because there is no alternative. It it is 99%, there is always a small doubt and a choice.

Hernán Cortés

In the year 1519, Hernán Cortés arrived in the “New World” with 600 men, and upon arrival, made history by “burning his ships.” This sent a clear message to his men. There is no turning back! Two years later, he succeeded in his complete conquest of the Aztec empire. When Cortés arrived in what is today Mexico, his soldiers did not want to fight. They were tired of the voyage, the natives were not friendly, and it was a strange land. Cortés, who wanted to conquer this new land, would have none of it. To motivate his men, he burned his ships to the waterline. They were now all faced with a stark choice: fight or die!

When Cortez burnt his ships, he not only denied his men a way back, but more importantly, he denied himself that same option.

Cortez was a bullheaded psychopathic killer and hostage taker willing to slaughter an entire advanced civilization for money and glory, all justified in the name of Jesus. Even his own countrymen were sent to bring him back.

But that doesn’t mean that we cannot learn anything from what he did.

Lessons

When we burn our ships, we force ourselves to confront the unknown, our ability to adapt is heightened, and our resilience is increased.

When we are venturing into new territories that are unknown and can be potentially hazardous, if we already committed to doing it, we need to ensure ourselves (and those that we are leading) that there is no turning back. We need to be certain there is no off-ramp that we can use to avoid the challenges of our own new worlds. We need to burn the ships.

Which military commanders burned their own ships?

Reference: https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/14512/which-military-commanders-burned-their-own-ships

  1. One account of the Danaan invasion of Ireland has it that upon landing, they burned their ships, causing a great mist to rise up and terrifying the inhabitants who thought the Danaans arrived in a cloud.
  2. In Book V of the Aeneid, the Trojan women attempt to burn the ships after they arrive on Sicily, but a rainstorm thwarts their plans.
  3. In 351 BC, Sidon rebelled against Ochus, the King of Persia. They burned all the ships in the harbor to prevent anyone from fleeing. When it became clear that the city had been betrayed and the Persians were entering, they set fire to their own homes and the entire city was obliterated.
  4. In 296, the Praetorian Prefect, Asclepiodotus, commanded an army belonging to the emperor Constantius Chlorus, and led it against the usurper Allectus. Having arrived in Britain to confront Allectus, Asclepiodotus burned his own ships to prevent his men from retreating.
  5. In 363, Julian the Apostate, Emperor of Rome invaded Persia. After his army crossed the Tigris he had all the pontoons and barges burned so there would be no thought of going back.
  6. In 711, Tariq ibn Ziyad, for whom Gibraltar is named, landed there, burned his ships and embarked on the conquest of Spain.
  7. Some accounts claim that William the Duke of Normandy burnt his ships on arriving in England in 1066.
  8. In 1169, a group of about 250 English freebooters under the bastards Robert Fitz-Stephen, Meiler Fitz-Henry, and Meiler Fitz-David, along with a vassal of king Henry, named Hervey Montmorency, raided Wexford, and having been repulsed they were so ashamed, they burnt their ships and determined to succeed or die trying.
  9. Hernando Cortez supposedly burned his ships in 1519 to prevent anyone returning to Cuba and reporting his mutiny to the Spanish governor there.
  10. According to a book published in 1689, which purported to be the journal of a pirate named Raveneau de Lussan, he at one point led his men across the isthmus of the Americas through Honduras after first burning their ship to prevent anyone from defecting.
  11. In 1779, during the celebrated battle between John Paul Jones and the English ship of the line, Serapis, rather than flee or surrender Jones desparately kamikazeed his sinking ship into the Serapis and captured it va banque.
  12. In 1789, sailors serving on the HMS Bounty under the notorious Captain Bly mutinied and sailed to Pitcairn Island where they burned the Bounty.

References

  1. https://www.meandahq.com/sometimes-its-best-to-burn-your-ships/

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