How did Johann Gottfried von Herder's 1769 sea voyage from Riga to Nantes affect his thinking?

Johann Gottfried von Herder’s 1769 sea voyage from Riga to Nantes was a transformative experience that provided him with a deeper understanding of his personal destiny.1

During the journey, documented in his Journal of My Travels in the Year 1769, Herder began to view himself as a "groundless being" who had departed from the safety of the shore to venture into an unknown future. This shift in perspective defined his subsequent vocation: he felt called to unveil that future by utilizing insights gained from the past, ensuring that the character of the future could be felt by his contemporaries.1

This voyage marked a pivotal change in his intellectual development, leading to prophetic criticisms of his own time that anticipated significant future advancements in fields such as aesthetics, the philosophy of language, history, and anthropology.1