MAGELLAN SAILS ROUND THE WORLD
They had left Seville on 20th September 1519. A week later they were
at the Canaries. Then past Cape Verde, and land faded from their sight
as they made for the south-west. For some time they had a good run
in fine weather. Then "the upper air burst into life" and a month of
heavy gales followed. The Italian count, who accompanied the fleet,
writes long accounts of the sufferings of the crew during these
terrific Atlantic storms.
"During these storms," he says, "the body of St. Anselm appeared to
us several times; one night that it was very dark on account of the
bad weather the saint appeared in the form of a fire lighted at the
summit of the mainmast and remained there near two hours and a half,
which comforted us greatly, for we were in tears only expecting the
hour of perishing; and, when that holy light was going away from us,
it gave out so great a brilliancy in the eyes of each, that we were
like people blinded and calling out for mercy. For without any doubt
nobody hoped to escape from that storm."
Two months of incessant rain and diminished rations added to their
miseries. The spirit of mutiny now began to show itself. Already the
Spanish captains had murmured against the Portuguese commander.
"Be they false men or true, I will fear them not; I will do my appointed
work," said the commander firmly.
It was not till November that they made the coast of Brazil in South
America, already sighted by Cabral and explored by Pinzon. But the
disloyal captains were not satisfied, and one day the captain of the
_S. Antonio_ boarded the flagship and openly insulted Magellan. He
must have been a little astonished when the Portuguese commander
seized him by the collar, exclaiming: "You are my prisoner!" giving
him into custody and appointing another in his place.
Food was now procurable, and a quantity of sweet pine-apples must have
had a soothing effect on the discontented crews. The natives traded
on easy terms. For a knife they produced four or five fowls; for a
comb, fish for ten men; for a little bell, a basket full of sweet
potatoes. A long drought had preceded Magellan's visit to these parts,
but rain now began with the advent of the strangers, and the natives
made sure that they had brought it with them. Such an impression once
made there was little difficulty in converting them to the Christian
faith. The natives joined in prayer with the Spaniards, "remaining
on their knees with their hands joined in great reverence so that it
was a pleasure to see them," writes one of the party.
The day after Christmas again found them sailing south by the coast,
and early in the New Year they anchored at the mouth of the Rio de
la Plata, where Solis had lost his life at the hands of the cannibals
some five years before. He had succeeded Vespucci in the service of
Spain, and was exploring the coast when a body of Indians, "with a
terrible cry and most horrible aspect," suddenly rushed out upon them,
killed, roasted, and devoured them.
Through February and March, Magellan led his ships along the shores
of bleak Patagonia seeking for an outlet for the Spice Islands. Winter
was coming on and no straits had yet been found. Storm after storm
now burst over the little ships, often accompanied by thunder and
lightning; poops and forecastles were carried away, and all expected
destruction, when "the holy body of St. Anselm appeared and
immediately the storm ceased."
[Illustration: AN ATLANTIC FLEET OF MAGELLAN'S TIME. From Mercator's
_Mappe Monde_, 1569, where the drawing is spoken of as "Magellan's
ships."]
It was quite impossible to proceed farther to the unknown south, so,
finding a safe and roomy harbour, Magellan decided to winter there.
Port St. Julian he named it, and he knew full well that there they
must remain some four or five months. He put the crew on diminished
rations for fear the food should run short before they achieved their
goal. This was the last straw. Mutiny had long been smouldering. The
hardships of the voyage, the terrific Atlantic storms, the prospect
of a long Antarctic winter of inaction on that wild Patagonian
coast--these alone caused officers and men to grumble and to demand
an immediate return to Spain.
But the "stout heart of Magellan" was undaunted.
On Easter Day the mutiny began. Two of the Spanish captains boarded
the _S. Antonio_, seized the Portuguese captain thereof, and put him
in chains. Then stores were broken open, bread and wine generously
handed round, and a plot hatched to capture the flagship, kill Magellan,
seize his faithful Serrano, and sail home to Spain.
The news reached Magellan's ears. He at once sent a messenger with
five men bearing hidden arms to summon the traitor captain on board
the flagship. Of course he stoutly refused. As he did so, the messenger
sprang upon him and stabbed him dead. As the rebellious captain fell
dead on the deck of his ship, the dazed crew at once surrendered. Thus
Magellan by his prompt measures quelled a mutiny that might have lost
him the whole expedition. No man ever tried to mutiny again while he
lived and commanded.
The fleet had been two whole months in the Port S. Julian without seeing
a single native.
"However, one day, without any one expecting it, we saw a giant, who
was on the shore of the sea, dancing and leaping and singing. He was
so tall that the tallest of us only came up to his waist; he was well
built; he had a large face, painted red all round, and his eyes also
were painted yellow around them, and he had two hearts painted on his
cheeks; he had but little hair on his head and it was painted white."
The great Patagonian giant pointed to the sky to know whether these
Spaniards had descended from above. He was soon joined by others
evidently greatly surprised to see such large ships and such little
men. Indeed, the heads of the Spaniards hardly reached the giants'
waists, and they must have been greatly astonished when two of them
ate a large basketful of biscuits and rats without skinning them and
drank half a bucket of water at each sitting.
With the return of spring weather in October 1520, Magellan led the
little fleet upon its way. He was rewarded a few days later by finding
the straits for which he and others had been so long searching.
[Illustration: FERDINAND MAGELLAN, THE FIRST CIRCUMNAVIGATOR OF THE
WORLD. After the engraving by Selma in Navarrete's _Coleccion de los
Viages_.]
"It was the straight," says the historian simply, "now cauled the
straight of Magellans."
A struggle was before them. For more than five weeks the Spanish
mariners fought their way through the winding channels of the unknown
straits. On one side rose high mountains covered with snow. The weather
was bad, the way unknown. Do we wonder to read that "one of the ships
stole away privily and returned into Spain," and the remaining men
begged piteously to be taken home? Magellan spoke "in measured and
quiet tones": "If I have to eat the leather of the ships' yards, yet
will I go on and do my work." His words came truer than he knew. On
the southern side of the strait constant fires were seen, which led
Magellan to give the land the name it bears to-day--Tierra del Fuego.
It was not visited again for a hundred years.
[Illustration: A SHIP OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. From Amoretti's
translation of _Magellan's Voyage round the World_.]
At last the ships fought their way to the open sea--Balboa's Southern
Ocean--and "when the Captain Magellan was past the strait and saw the
way open to the other main sea he was so glad thereof that for joy
the tears fell from his eyes."
The expanse of calm waters seemed so pleasant after the heavy tiring
storms that he called the still waters before him the Pacific Ocean.
Before following him across the unknown waters, let us recall the
quaint lines of Camoens--
"Along these regions, from the burning zone
To deepest south, he dares the course unknown.
A land of giants shall his eyes behold,
Of camel strength, surpassing human mould;
And, onward still, thy fame his proud heart's guide,
Beneath the southern stars' cold gleam he braves
And stems the whirls of land-surrounded waves,
For ever sacred to the hero's fame,
These foaming straits shall bear his deathless name.
Through these dread jaws of rock he presses on
Another ocean's breast, immense, unknown,
Beneath the south's cold wings, unmeasur'd, wide,
Received his vessels, through the dreary tide,
In darkling shades, where never man before
Heard the waves howl, he dares the nameless shore."
Three little ships had now emerged, battered and worn, manned by crews
gaunt and thin and shivering. Magellan took a northerly course to avoid
the intense cold, before turning to cross the strange obscure ocean,
which no European had yet realised. Just before Christmas the course
was altered and the ships were turned to the north-west, in which
direction they expected soon to find the Spice Islands. No one had
any idea of the vastness of the Pacific Ocean.
[Illustration: "HONDIUS HIS MAP OF THE MAGELLAN STREIGHT." From a map
by Jodocus Hondius, about 1590. It gives a particularly clear picture
of the ideas held by the age following Magellan's discovery of the
land which, it was supposed, enveloped the southern point of South
America.]
"Well was it named the Pacific," remarks the historian, "for during
three months and twenty days we met with no storm."
Two months passed away, and still they sailed peacefully on, day after
day, week after week, across a waste of desolate waters.
"Alone, alone, all, all alone,
Alone on a wide, wide sea."
At last one January day they sighted a small wooded island, but it
was uninhabited; they named it S. Paul's Island and passed on their
way. They had expected to find the shores of Asia close by those of
America. The size of the world was astounding. Another island was
passed. Again no people, no consolation, only many sharks. There was
bitter disappointment on board. They had little food left. "We ate
biscuit, but in truth it was biscuit no longer, but a powder full of
worms. So great was the want of food that we were forced to eat the
hides with which the main yard was covered to prevent the chafing
against the rigging. These hides we exposed to the sun first to soften
them by putting them overboard for four or five days, after which we
put them on the embers and ate them thus. We had also to make use of
sawdust for food, and rats became a great delicacy." No wonder scurvy
broke out in its worst form--nineteen died and thirteen lay too ill
to work.
For ninety-eight days they sailed across the unknown sea, "a sea so
vast that the human mind can scarcely grasp it," till at last they
came on a little group of islands peopled with savages of the lowest
type--such expert thieves that Magellan called the new islands the
Ladrones or isle of robbers. Still, there was fresh food here, and
the crews were greatly refreshed before they sailed away. The food
came just too late to save the one Englishman of the party--Master
Andrew of Bristol--who died just as they moved away. Then they found
the group afterwards known as the Philippines (after Philip II. of
Spain). Here were merchants from China, who assured Magellan that the
famous Spice Islands were not far off. Now Magellan had practically
accomplished that he set out to do, but he was not destined to reap
the fruits of his victory.
With a good supply of fresh food the sailors grew better, and Magellan
preferred cruising about the islands, making friends of the natives
and converting them to Christianity, to pushing on for the Spice
Islands. Here was gold, too, and he busied himself making the native
rulers pay tribute to Spain. Easter was drawing near, and the Easter
services were performed on one of the islands. A cross and a crown
of thorns was set upon the top of the highest mountain that all might
see it and worship. Thus April passed away and Magellan was still busy
with Christians and gold. But his enthusiasm carried him too far. A
quarrel arose with one of the native kings. Magellan landed with armed
men, only to be met by thousands of defiant natives. A desperate fight
ensued. Again and again the explorer was wounded, till "at last the
Indians threw themselves upon him with iron-pointed bamboo spears and
every weapon they had and ran him through--our mirror, our light, our
comforter, our true guide--until they killed him."
Such was the tragic fate of Ferdinand Magellan, "the greatest of
ancient and modern navigators," tragic because, after dauntless
resolution and unwearied courage, he died in a miserable skirmish at
the last on the very eve of victory.
[Illustration: THE FIRST SHIP THAT SAILED ROUND THE WORLD. Magellan's
_Victoria_, from Hulsius's _Collection of Voyages_, 1602.]
With grief and despair in their hearts, the remaining members of the
crew, now only one hundred and fifteen, crowded on to the _Trinidad_
and _Victoria_ for the homeward voyage. It was September 1522 when
they reached the Spice Islands--the goal of all their hopes. Here they
took on board some precious cloves and birds of Paradise, spent some
pleasant months, and, laden with spices, resumed their journey. But
the _Trinidad_ was too overladen with cloves and too rotten to
undertake so long a voyage till she had undergone repair, so the little
_Victoria_ alone sailed for Spain with sixty men aboard to carry home
their great and wonderful news. Who shall describe the terrors of that
homeward voyage, the suffering, starvation, and misery of the weary
crew? Man after man drooped and died, till by the time they reached
the Cape Verde Islands there were but eighteen left.
When the welcome shores of Spain at length appeared, eighteen gaunt,
famine-stricken survivors, with their captain, staggered ashore to
tell their proud story of the first circumnavigation of the world by
their lost commander, Ferdinand Magellan.
We miss the triumphal return of the conqueror, the audience with the
King of Spain, the heaped honours, the crowded streets, the titles,
and the riches. The proudest crest ever granted by a sovereign--the
world, with the words: "Thou hast encompassed me"--fell to the lot
of Del Cano, the captain who brought home the little _Victoria_. For
Magellan's son was dead, and his wife Beatrix, "grievously sorrowing,"
had passed away on hearing the news of her husband's tragic end.