_S. Antonio_, was caused by Esteban Gomez, a Portuguese pilot, who,
from rivalry with Magellan, and envy at seeing others promoted instead
of himself, after the executions, got up a conspiracy on board the _S.
Antonio_, and proposed to return to Spain. The mutineers put Alvaro de
Mezquita in irons; they then went to the coast of Guinea, and thence
to Spain. When the _S. Antonio_ arrived at Seville, Alvaro de Mezquita
was handed over to the authorities and kept in prison until the ship
_Victoria_ arrived. Esteban Gomez, Juan do Chinchilla, Geronimo Guerra,
and Francisco Angulo, were also arrested; and Magellan’s wife and
family were put under surveillance to prevent their going away to
Portugal. According to Herrera, Juan de Cartagena and the priest, who
were left behind, did not come away with the _S. Antonio_, and orders
were given to send and look for them.
* * * * *
More ample details of the suppression of the mutiny are given by Gaspar
Correa in the following account of Magellan’s voyage, in his _Lendas da
India_ (tome II, cap. xiv):—
“Ferdinand Magellan went to Castile to the port of Seville, where
he married the daughter of a man of importance, with the design of
navigating on the sea, because he was very learned in the art of
pilots, which is that of the sphere. The emperor kept the House of
Commerce in Seville, with the overseers of the treasury, with great
powers, and much seafaring traffic, and fleets for abroad. Magellan,
bold with his knowledge, and with the readiness which he had to annoy
the King of Portugal, spoke to the overseers of this House of Commerce,
and told them that Malacca, and Maluco, the islands in which cloves
grew, belonged to the emperor on account of the demarcation drawn
between them both [the Kings of Spain and Portugal]: for which reason
the King of Portugal wrongfully possessed these lands: and that he
would make this certain before all the doctors who might contradict
him, and would pledge his head for it. The overseers replied to him,
that they well knew that he was speaking truth, and that the emperor
also knew it, but that the emperor had no navigation to that part,
because he could not navigate through the sea within the demarcation
of the King of Portugal. Magellan said to them: ‘If you would give me
ships and men, I would show you navigation to those parts, without
touching any sea or land of the King of Portugal; and if not, they
might cut off his head.’ The overseers, much pleased at this, wrote
it to the emperor, who answered them that he had pleasure in the
speech, and would have much more with the deed; and that they were
to do everything to carry out his service, and the affairs of the
King of Portugal, which were not to be meddled with; rather than that
everything should be lost. With this answer from the emperor, they
spoke with Magellan, and became much more convinced by what he said,
that he would navigate and show a course outside of the seas of the
King of Portugal; and that if they gave him the ships he asked for, and
men and artillery, he would fulfil what he had said, and would discover
new lands which were in the demarcation of the emperor, from which he
would bring gold, cloves, cinnamon, and other riches. The overseers
hearing this, with a great desire to render so great a service to the
emperor as the discovery of this navigation, and to make this matter
more certain, brought together pilots and men learned in the sphere,
to dispute upon the matter with Magellan, who gave such reasons to
all, that they agreed with what he said, and affirmed that he was a
very learned man. So the overseers at once made agreements with him,
and arrangements, and powers, and regulations, which they sent to the
emperor, who confirmed everything, reserving specially the navigation
of the King of Portugal; thus he commanded and prohibited, and ordered
that everything which Magellan asked for should be given him. On this
account, Magellan went to Burgos, where the emperor was, and kissed
his hand, and the emperor gave him a thousand cruzados alimony for
the expenses of his wife whilst he was on his voyage, set down in the
rolls of Seville, and he gave him power of life and death[453] over all
persons who went in the fleet, of which he should be captain-major,
with regard to which he assigned him large powers. So, on his return to
Seville, they equipped for him five small ships, such as he asked for,
equipped and armed as he chose, with four hundred men-at-arms, and they
were laden with the merchandise which he asked for. The overseers told
him to give the captaincies, with regard to which he excused himself,
saying that he was new in the country and did not know the men; and
that they should seek out men who would be good and faithful in the
emperor’s service, and who would rejoice to endure hardships in his
service, and the bad life which they would have to go through in the
voyage. The overseers were obliged to him for this, and held it to be
good advice, and decided to inform the captains they might make, and
the crews they might take, of the powers which he had received from
the emperor. This they did, and they sought in Seville for trustworthy
men for captains, who were Juan de Cartagena, Luis de Mendoça, Juan
Serrano, Pero de Quesada. This fleet having been fitted out, and the
crews paid for six months, he sailed from San Lucar de Barrameda in
August of the year 1519. So he navigated to the Canary Islands, and
took in water; whilst he was there a vessel arrived with letters from
his father-in-law,[454] in which he warned him to keep a good watch
for his personal safety, because he had learned that the captains whom
he took with him had said to their friends and relations, that if he
annoyed them they would kill him, and would rise up against him. To
this he replied, that he would do them no injuries so that they should
have reason to act thus; and on that account he had not appointed them,
but the overseers, who knew them, had given them; and whether they were
good or bad, he would labour to do the service of the emperor, and for
that they had offered their lives. The father-in-law showed this answer
to the overseers, who greatly praised the good heart of Magellan.”
“He sailed from the Canaries of Tanarife, and made the Cape Verde,
whence he crossed over to the coast of Brazil, and there entered a
river which is named Janeiro. There went, as chief pilot, a Portuguese
named Joan Lopes Carvalhinho, who had already been in this river, and
took with him a son whom he had gotten there of a woman of the country.
From this place they went on sailing until they reached the Cape of
Santa Maria, which Joan of Lisbon had discovered in the year 1514;
thence they went to the river San Julian. While they were there taking
in water and wood, Juan de Cartagena, who was sub-captain-major, agreed
with the other captains to rise up, saying that Magellan had got them
betrayed and entrapped. As they understood that Gaspar de Quesada was
a friend of Magellan’s, Juan de Cartagena got into his boat at night,
with twenty men, and went to the ship of Gaspar Quesada, and went in to
speak to him, and took him prisoner,[455] and made a relation of his
captain of the ship, in order that all three might go at once to board
Magellan and kill him, and after that they would reduce the other ship
of Joan Serrano, and would take the money and goods, which they would
hide, and would return to the emperor, and would tell him that Magellan
had got them entrapped and deceived, having broken faith with his
instructions, since he was navigating in seas and countries of the King
of Portugal: for which deed they would get first a safe conduct from
the emperor. So they arranged matters for their treason, which turned
out ill for them.”
“Magellan had some suspicion of this matter, and before this should
happen, he sent his skiff to the ships to tell the captains that the
masters were to arrange their ships for beaching them to careen them;
and with this pretext he warned a servant of his to notice what the
captains answered. When this skiff came to the revolted ships they
did not let it come alongside, saying that they would not execute any
orders except those of Juan de Cartagena, who was their captain-major.
The skiff having returned with this answer, Magellan spoke to Ambrosio
Fernandes,[456] his chief constable, a valiant man, and gave him orders
what he was to do, and to go secretly armed; and he sent a letter to
Luis de Mendoça by him, with six men in the skiff, whom the chief
constable selected. And the current set towards the ships, and Magellan
ordered his master to bend a long hawser,[457] with which he might drop
down to the ships if it suited him. All being thus arranged, the skiff
went, and coming alongside of Luiz de Mendoça, they would not let him
come on board. So the chief constable said to the captain that it was
weakness not to bid him enter, as he was one man alone who was bringing
a letter. Upon which the captain bade him enter. He came on board, and
giving him the letter, took him in his arms, shouting: ‘On behalf of
the emperor, you are arrested!’ At this the men of the skiff came on
board with their swords drawn; then the chief constable cut the throat
of Luis de Mendoça with a dagger, for he held him thrown down under
him, for so Magellan had given him orders. Upon this a tumult arose,
and Magellan hearing it, ordered the hawser to be paid out, and with
his ship dropped down upon the other ships, with his men under arms,
and the artillery in readiness. On reaching the ship of Mendoça, he
ordered six men to be hung at the yard-arms, who had risen up against
the chief constable, and these were seized upon by the sailors of the
ship, of which he at once made captain, Duarte Barbosa, a Portuguese,
and a friend of his: and he ordered the corpse of Mendoça to be hung
up by the feet, that they might see him from the other ships. He then
ordered Barbosa to prepare the men for going and boarding one of the
other ships; and to avoid doing the harm which it was in its power to
have done, and since he was a Portuguese, and the crews belonged to the
emperor, he used a stratagem, and spoke secretly to a sailor, whom he
trusted, who fled to the ship of Cartagena, where, at night when the
current set for Magellan’s ship, which was astern, the sailor seeing
his opportunity, cut the cable or loosed the ship of Cartagena, so that
it drifted upon that of Magellan, who came up, shouting: ‘Treason!
treason!’ Upon which he entered the ship of Cartagena, and took him and
his men prisoners, and made captain of the ship one Alvaro de Mesquita,
whom Cartagena had arrested and put in irons, because he found fault
with him for the mutiny which he was making. Seeing this, the other
ship at once surrendered. He ordered Cartagena to be quartered, having
him publicly cried as a traitor; and the body of Luis de Mendoça also
was quartered; and he ordered the quarters and the executed men to
be set on shore, spitted on poles. So the Castilians had great fear
of him, for he kept the mutineers prisoners in irons, and set to the
pumps, during three months that he remained in this river, in which he
careened and refitted his ships very well.”
“When he was about to set sail, he ordered the prisoners to be set at
liberty, and pardoned them, and he sent them to go along the shore,
following the bank of the river until they found the headland from
which they could see the sea on the other side; and whoever returned
to him with this news he would give him a hundred ducats as a reward
for good news. These men went for more than forty leagues, and returned
without news; and they brought back two men, fifteen spans high, from a
village which they found. He then sent Serrano, because his vessel was
the smallest, to go along the river to discover its extremity; and he
went with a strong current, which carried him without wind. And, going
along thus, his ship grounded on some rocks, on which it was lost, and
the boat returned laden with the crew. Magellan sent the boats thither,
and they saved everything, so that only the hull was lost. Then he
ordered two priests, who had taken part in the mutiny, to be set on
shore, and a brother of Cartagena, whom he pardoned at the petition of
Mesquita, and he left them thus banished.”
“Then he sailed from the river and ran along the coast until he reached
a river, to which they gave the name of Victoria, and which had high
land on either side. From this river Mesquita’s ship ran away, and it
was not known whether they had killed him, or if he had gone of his own
accord; but an astrologer and diviner told him that the captain was a
prisoner, and that they were returning to Castile, but that the emperor
would do them an injury.”
“Then Magellan, with the three ships which he had, entered the river,
through which he ran for more than a hundred leagues, and came out on
the other side into the open sea, where he had a stern wind from the
east, with which they ran for more than five months without lowering
their sails, and they fetched some uninhabited islands, in one of which
they found some savages, who lived in huts underground. They went to
another island where they gave them gold for its weight of iron, by
which means they collected much gold: the people also were of a good
disposition, and had a king. They were well governed people, who were
at war with other neighbours who were more powerful than themselves;
for which reason the king became Christian, with all his people, in
order that Magellan might assist him against his enemies. This Magellan
offered to do, and with his armed men, and the people of the country,
he went against the enemy, of whom he killed many, and burned a
village. The enemy got assistance from others, and many came to fight
with Magellan, who defeated them, and the struggle was a severe one.
They acted with cunning, for they had placed ambuscades of men hidden
in the bush, who, seeing the Castilians wearied, came out against them
and killed many, and another ambuscade came out of the bush to seize
the boats, which were on the beach without men: then the king came out,
and fought with them, and defended the boats, and brought off the men.”
“The king who had fled, seeing himself defeated, plotted treachery
with the Christian king, and made an agreement with him to give him
his daughter in marriage, and plighted his troth to him, that when he
died, for he was already old, all would remain to him, and they would
always live as friends; because the Castilians would depart, and if he
did not act thus he would always make war on him: and this was with the
condition that he was to find him means for killing the Castilians. And
the Christian king, like a brutal man, consented to the treachery, and
prepared a great feast and banquet for carrying it out, to which he
invited Magellan, who went to the banquet with thirty men, of the most
honourable and well dressed: while they were enjoying themselves at the
banquet, the armed enemies entered, and killed Magellan, and all the
Castilians, and none of them escaped, and they stripped Serrano, and
dragging him along, brought him to the beach, where they executed him,
and killed him thrown down on the ground.[458]”
“Those who were in the ships, seeing the misfortune on shore, which
the sailors who had gone in the boats related to them, raised up from
among them as captain, Carvalhinho, the pilot of the flag-ship, whom
all obeyed. He ordered one of the ships, which was very leaky, to be
stripped, and set fire to it in the midst of the sea, so that the
people on shore should not profit by the iron, and he made captain of
the ship of Serrano one Gonzalo Gomez d’Espinosa, who was a relation of
the astrologer,[459] who also died with Magellan, and did not divine
the evil which befel him.”
“The two ships departed thence, running between many islands, and they
went to one which had much very fine cinnamon. From this place they
went running through many islands to the island of Borneo, where they
found in the port many merchant junks from all the parts of Malacca,
which made frequent visits to Borneo. Here Carvalhinho sent a present
to the king of scarlet cloth, and coloured silks, and other things,
with which the king was much pleased, and he did him great honour, and
gave him leave and safe conduct to remain on shore for twenty days, for
such was their custom to give to new people, the first time that they
came to their port, in which they could buy and sell freely as much as
they pleased. But the king, knowing how much goods the ships contained,
got up a plot to kill them, and take the ships. This treachery was
concerted by the king with the Javanese who were in the port in large
junks; and for this object the king showed great honour to those who
went on shore, and sent refreshments to the ships, and leave to remain
in the port as long as they pleased. Carvalhinho became suspicious
at this, and ordered good watch to be kept day and night, and did
not allow more than one or two men to go ashore. The king perceiving
this sent to beg Carvalhinho to send him his son who had brought the
present, because his little children who had seen him, were crying
to see him. He sent him, very well dressed, with four men, who, on
arriving where the king was, were ordered by him to be arrested. When
Carvalhinho knew this he raised his moorings, and with armed men went
to board a junk which was filled with many people and ready to sail.
They entered this junk and plundered much gold and rich stuffs, and
captured a son of the King of Luzon, who was captain of the junk and of
three others which were in the port, and who had come in them to marry
a daughter of this King of Borneo. They found in this junk valuable
things of gold and jewellery which he had brought for his wedding; and
they found there three girls of extreme beauty, whom Carvalhinho took
care of, saying that he would take them to the emperor: at which all
rejoiced. But he did not act thus, but slept with them, so that the
Castilians were near killing him; but he divided with the Castilians so
liberally that they became friends; for he agreed with the bridegroom,
that he and his people should escape by night, and for that should
give him much wealth of precious stones, and by night they got away by
swimming; and Carvalhinho pretended to have been asleep, and woke up
complaining of the watch. But the Castilians understood the deceit, and
took Carvalhinho and put him in irons, and took from him all he had,
and raised up as captain one Juan Bautista, master of the ship, because
he understood pilot’s work.[460]”
“Thence they sailed and went to Maluco, Ternate, and Tidore, where
they took to the kings the presents which Magellan had set apart for
them. They paid them great honour, and received them hospitably,
for they also gave to their ministers; and to the kings they gave
an embassage on the part of the emperor, relating to them his
magnificence, so that both soon obeyed him, and did homage as vassals
for ever; and they established trade and prices for buying and selling,
and established factories on shore, and began to collect cloves, and
very much was brought to them, because the Castilians gave what they
asked, for they had a superfluity of merchandise; thus they became
lords of the land. As the ships were much injured, they patched them
up a little, the best they could, and hastened to fill both ships with
cargo, which they did in one month. When they were about to sail there
came to the Castilians a Portuguese, named Juan de la Rosa, who had
come to Ternate, saying he was a pilot, and would take them to Castile,
upon which they agreed with him to give him fifty quintals of cloves in
each ship, because he said he would take them to the island of Banda,
which had more riches than Maluco. So the Castilians rejoiced greatly
at taking this man back to the emperor, for the greater certainty as
to their discovery. This Juan de la Rosa warned the Castilians that
they would come from India and seek for them, and kill them all, for
this was spoken of in India. To this the Castilians gave much credit,
and on that account did him great honour. They settled with the King
of Tidore to leave with him a factor with the merchandise, which they
had, because many ships would soon come, sent by the emperor; for which
reason they should have much cloves collected together. They then set
sail, making de la Rosa captain of the ship of Carvalhinho.”
“When they were at sea they freed him from his irons, from the need
they felt for his navigation, and they went to the island of Banda,
where they restored to Carvalhinho his captaincy, and they went to
Banda, where they took samples of nutmeg and mace, as they had nowhere
to take in cargo of it. All having been consulted, they set sail to
make for the Cape of Good Hope, and navigate thence to Castile, for
they did not dare take any other course. Setting sail with this design,
they met with hard weather, with which the ship of Carvalhinho put into
port, and that of la Rosa continued her course. Carvalhinho put into
Maluco, where he discharged half the ship’s cargo, and heeled her over,
and repaired her as well as possible; this he did in twenty days, and
again set to taking in cargo and departing; but he fell ill with the
labour, and died on setting sail. They made Gonzalo Gomez d’Espinosa
captain of the ship again, and he, by the instructions of Carvalhinho,
took a course to search for the river (strait) through which they had
come; but when at sea, the ship again took in so much water, that they
ran before the wind to beach her on the first land they made, which
was in Batochina, where they beached the ship, and saved from her no
great quantity of goods. Whilst they were at this juncture D. Gracia
Anriques arrived at Maluco, with a ship to take in cloves, which came
from Malaca, and learning how these Castilians were there he sent to
call them under his safe conduct, that they should all come, because if
they did not he would hold them as enemies, and would go at once and
fetch them. The Castilians therefore, constrained by fortune, went to
where D. Gracia was, like as men who were lost, so that D. Gracia had
compassion upon them, and gave them a good reception, and supplied them
with necessaries, and having laden his ship, he embarked them all with
him, and they were more than thirty, and he took them to Malaca, where
Jorge d’Albuquerque was captain, who ordered the factor to give them
provisions for their maintenance, and in the monsoon to send them to
India, where D. Duarte [de Meneses] was governor. He commanded those
who chose to be written down in the rolls for pay, and he forbade
the ships of the kingdom to take them, that they might not return to
Castile; and in fact all died, only Gonzalo Gomes d’Espinosa passed to
Portugal in the year 1525, and he was made a prisoner in Lisbon, and
set at liberty by a letter which the empress sent to the king.”
“The other ship followed its course, so that la Rosa made the Cape of
Good Hope, and while she was going near the land Pero Coresma, who was
going to India in a small ship, met her, and spoke her; and he was told
she belonged to the emperor, and came from Maluco, and it did not come
into his understanding to send her to the bottom, that she might not
return to Castile, and the ship entered the watering place of Saldanha,
and thence fetched Cape Verde, where they went ashore to get wood and
water; there some Portuguese, learning that the ship came from Maluco,
took the boat when it came ashore, with twenty Castilians; and as
there was no ship in the port they got into a boat to go and capture
the ship; but the ship seeing the boat come with armed men, for the
arms glittered, weighed and set sail for Cape St. Vincent, and thence
entered San Lucar with thirteen men, for now there were no more, and it
arrived in the year 1521. From Cape Verde they wrote to the king about
the Castilians, who remained there; the king ordered that they should
let them go till they died, but never to allow them to embark for any
port; and so it was done.”
COST OF MAGELLAN’S FLEET.
_From Navarrete_, Document No. XVII.
The _Conception_ was of ninety tons.
„ _Victoria_ „ eighty-five tons.
„ _S. Antonio_ „ a hundred and twenty tons.
„ _Trinity_ „ a hundred and ten tons.
„ _Santiago_ „ seventy-five tons.
+Summary+:
_Maravedis._
Five ships, with rigging, artillery, and arms, cost 3,912,241
Five ships, of 445 tons, five more or less, which
makes each ton come to a cost of 8,791½
_maravedis_.
Various necessaries 415,060
Provisions, biscuit, wine, oil, fish, meat, cheese,
vegetables, and barrels 1,585,551
Four months pay for 237 persons 1,154,504
Merchandise 1,679,769
————-
Total 8,751,125
————-