Ferdinand Magellan is generally credited as the first person to ever circumnavigate the globe, from 1519 – 1522. He left Seville, Spain, with five ships and about 270 crewmen. However, he never returned, being killed about half way through on a beach in what is now known as the Philippines. Only one of the five ships returned along with eighteen surviving crew members.
Previous service at sea: Prior to the epic voyage, Magellan sailed for Portugal participating in the naval battles that brought Malacca, located strategically in southern Malaysia, and Goa, on the west coast of India, under the Portuguese flag. He was known to have remained in the vicinity of India for about eight years along with his cousin, Francisco Serrao, who later jumped ship in the Moluccas or Spice Islands. After Magellan returned to Portugal, it was letters from Serrao that told him about the potential of riches by trading in the Moluccas located in Indonesia.
Dispute with the Portuguese king: Magellan attempted to convince King Manuel I of Portugal to put together a flotilla for him to reach the Spice Islands in the east by sailing west. A dispute with the king over his compensation for the voyage led Magellan over to Spain with his plan to reach Malacca by sailing west around the southern tip of South America. King Charles I of Spain approved the expedition and provided most of the funding understanding that rival Portugal controlled the trade routes that went east around the Cape of Good Hope to India and the Moluccas, and a successful route to the west could benefit Spain.
The Voyage to the tip of South America: The crews of the five ships in Magellan’s flotilla were mostly Spanish, but included Portuguese and Italian sailors. One of them was a Venetian nobleman named Antonio Pigafetta, who kept a journal. However, another one was a Spanish nobleman named Juan Cartegena placed there by Spanish officials to be the second in overall command of the flotilla. They sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to Rio de Janeiro, and then began the journey southward to try to find a passage through the continent. After several months, they were beset by winter in the lower southern hemisphere that forced them to seek shelter in a natural harbor that is now known as Port of Saint Julian, Argentina.
Mutiny: While wintering in the Port of Saint Julian, the captains of the four other ships along with Cartegena led a mutiny which took place across all five ships. Magellan prevailed, however, and two of the captains were executed. Since Cartegena was a nobleman, it would be unwise to execute him at sea away from Spain. So, Magellan instead marooned him on a nearby island, and he was not seen or heard from again. Shortly after the mutiny, one of the ships was sunk in a storm. The remaining ships consolidated the survivors, reprovisioned, and carried on towards what is now Cape Horn.
Passage through the cape: On October 21, 1519, they discovered a strait that was surrounded by high, snow-capped mountains. The archipelago they passed through was named “Tierra del Fuego” for the numerous campfires observed set by the local Indian tribes. It took a month to pass through the strait owing to storms and unfavorable currents. Another ship disappeared by deserting the flotilla and returning to Spain, reducing the flotilla to three vessels. Later the strait was named “Straits of Magellan” by King Charles I of Spain.
Across the Eastern Pacific: Without accurate charts or maps, Magellan needed to use dead reckoning to find his way west to the Spice Islands. They left what is now the Chilean coast and sailed west into open sea. After 100 days in which some of the crew starved or died of disease (primarily scurvy), they reached the Marianna Islands where they restocked their ships. They then continued west until they encountered a large archipelago of islands (over 7,000) that became the modern-day Philippines. Magellan named the Ocean “Pacific” as it appeared to be very calm to him after rounding Cape Horn.
Island of Cebu: In the Philippines, they stopped at the populated island of Cebu. There they converted the king and population to Christianity and claimed the land for Spain. Hearing of a rival clan on the nearby island of Mactan that wouldn’t submit to Spain, Magellan took an armed force ashore to persuade their leader, Lapulapu, to surrender. Instead, the islanders refused to surrender, and a fierce battle erupted in which Magellan was killed. The king of Cebu also turned against the Europeans, killing twenty-six more by poisoning them at a feast and driving them out of the area. There were not enough able-bodied crew members left to service three ships, so they moved all they could from one of the ships into the two remaining ones, and then scuttled it.
Spice Islands: Continuing on, they reached the Spice Islands in November, 1521, after two years and four months of sailing. They restocked the ships with stores that included 381 sacks of cloves harvested from the Moluccas. However, one of the two remaining ships was found to be leaking. Again, they consolidated everything they could onto the last surviving ship, the Victoria. After ten more months, the Victoria made it back to Seville with only eighteen surviving crewmen. Pigafetta and his journal survived the entire trip with a complete summary of events and places encountered.
Aftermath: The crew of the San Antonio, the ship that deserted Magellan near Cape Horn and returned to Spain, were put on trial for desertion. But they succeeded in presenting a very unflattering view of Magellan and thereby were exonerated. The surviving crew of the Victoria also presented an unflattering view of the voyage’s commander. However, Pigafetta’s journal was copied and delivered to King Charles I giving what historians believe to be the most accurate account of the voyage. Pigafetta’s journal was later published. The surviving ship, Victoria, continued to carry freight for another fifty years until she was lost at sea returning from the Antilles.
Conclusions: Although the route they discovered did not turn out to be the most favorable to reach the Moluccas, the voyage itself was surprisingly profitable as the 381 bags of cloves they brought back turned out to be worth more than all five ships together along with all their expenses. Magellan’s reputation was slowly repaired by Pigafetta’s journal, and the subsequent failure of other expeditions to repeat the circumnavigation. It wouldn’t be until 1580 that Francis Drake would successfully circumnavigate the earth following the same route as Magellan around Cape Horn.
Sources: National Geographic History, March/April 2021, Around the World, by Julius Purcell.
Wikipedia.
the Magellan story certainly ranks with any other epic journey of exploration, including the Apollo program. fascinating reading, dave.