Around the World
Magellan didn't know how far he had to go
Sinister pass. Next, a storm destroyed the Santiago. It took the better part of a year for the fleet to find a passable channel through the continent. On Nov. 1, 1520--All Saints' Day--the ships began sailing through what the deeply religious Magellan named All Saints' Channel. While he managed to navigate the route without maps, sonar, or reliable instruments, the pass daunted those aboard the San Antonio. They deserted, heading back to Spain with much of the fleet's provisions. On November 28, the remaining ships sailed out the western end of the strait now named for Magellan, into the calm waters of an ocean he called Mar Pacifico, or Peaceful Sea.
Magellan and his crew thought they were home free. Using calculations by ancient Greek geographer Ptolemy, Magellan assumed the Spice Islands were just a few hundred miles to the west. Ptolemy, though, had put the world's circumference at 19,000 miles--6,000 miles under the true figure. "If Magellan and his backers knew how big the world really was, they might never have gone," says Bergreen. Anticipating a short leg, Magellan didn't stop for supplies. According to Antonio Pigafetta, the voyage's official chronicler, during the nearly four-month journey, the men ate worm-ridden biscuits, rehydrated ox hides, rats, and even sawdust. Nineteen sailors died, mostly from scurvy. (Vitamin C in the officers' quince jelly seems to have protected them from the disease.)
The depleted crew reached Guam on March 6, 1521, stocked up on food and water, and set sail for the Philippines. There, to Magellan's surprise, Enrique understood the native tongue. Most historians think he had returned to his home region and thus traveled clear around the world.
It was here that Magellan's side goal of spreading Christianity got him in trouble. He persuaded the chief of the island of Cebu to be baptized, along with thousands of his people. Magellan then decided to storm Mactan, whose people he viewed as intractable heathens. The charge proved fatal: The captain died on April 27, 1521, amid a stabbing hail of bamboo spears.
Only the Victoria and 18 of the original crew made it back to Spain in September 1522, under the command of Spaniard Juan Sebastian de Elcano. There was little fanfare for Magellan: Portugal scorned him as a traitor, and Spain chose to honor its native Elcano. As for Enrique, who may have truly been the first to make the trip, he disappeared into the mists of history.
Magellan's route
[map labels]
Africa
China
Pacific Ocean
Strait of Magellan
Brazil
Spain
Rod Little--USN&WR
DID YOU KNOW?
The first men to cross Australia from south to north didn't live to boast of their feat. Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills left Melbourne in 1860 on one of the best-equipped expeditions to explore down under: 24 Indian camels, 28 horses, 80 pairs of shoes, and 20 camp beds. After food supplies dwindled, the pair ate their camels. Burke and Wills died of starvation in 1861, on the banks of Cooper's Creek.
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