FERNANDO MAGELLAN

Fernando Magellan was a Portuguese navigator born in Oporto in 1470.  His real name was Maagalhaens but this was soon changed by the Spaniards to Magallanes.  In addition to his interest in navigation, Magellan was also devoted to astronomy and cosmography.  In fact, he spent quite some time with the court of Portugal, which allowed him to have a successful time in the East Indies.  With careful consideration, Magellan believed that his services were not well matched to Portugal so he decided to head for Spain. 

He arrived in Spain in 1517, the place where Charles V was living.  Upon arrival, Magellan was well received by Cardinal Jimenez, the person he would show his plan for finding a way to the Moluccas on the southern coast of America.  What made this so interesting is that this particular route was much different from the traditional rout going around Cape of Good Hope.  Even so, Magellan was able to inspire the cardinal along with the emperor, which led to an agreement that would allow him to become the admiral of the exploring fleet, as well as governor of lands he discovered.

With this, Magellan was granted command over a fleet of five vessels, which were equipped with 80 cannons.  The flagship was named Trinidad, the ship San Antonio was commanded by Juan de Cartagena, Victoria was under the control of Luis de Mendoza, Concepcion was guided by Gaspar de Quesada, and the Santiago under the lead of Rodriguez Serrano.  The fleet set sail in September of 1519 and although the voyage was difficult, they finally made their way to the Bay of Rio Janeiro two months later.  Once there, the ships took on fresh provisions.

At that time, Magellan rounded the coastline, taking great care to look for every inlet and bay.  Then in January of 1520, Magellan entered Rio de la Plata.  However, he spent several days sailing the strait, only to conclude it was not the one he had been searching for so he pushed further south until he reached San Julian port in March.  Interestingly, Magellan was met with rebellious captains who formed a conspiracy against him.  The crew grumbled about the difficult climate and poor provisions.  Most of all, they insisted that Magellan return to Spain.

Magellan waited for a few days to mull things over, realizing that the majority of his sailors were very devoted to him.  At that time, Magellan decided to have Mendoza on the ship Victoria stabbed in front of the crew.  He went on to order the body to be quartered and shortly after when Quesada visited Magellan, he too met the same fate.  Even with these deaths, he knew the death of Cartagena was not feasible because of his rank so he put him on shore along with a priest who had been a part of the revolt.  Following was the loss of the ship Santiago with the crew escaping and being spread out between the remaining four ships.

Leaving the Bay of Saollon Julian in October, the fleet followed along the coastline closely until reaching the cape the end of the month.  Since they arrived during the St. Ursula festival (11,000 virgins), he gave the location the name of Cape Virgins.  From there, Magellan moved along another unknown channel and then in November, he came around Cape Victory, a place he named after one of the five ships, going out into the Pacific Ocean.  However, the San Antonio left him in the middle of the strait, heading off to search for Juan de Cartagena.

With this, a Te Deum was chanted and the ships refitted.  Then, Magellan moved northwest, having his sights set on Moluccas.  After all, Magellan has gone three months and 20 days without having discovered land and provisions aboard the vessels were dwindling.  However, his luck changed when he spotted Ladrones in March of 1521 and then 10 days later, discovered an entire group of islands of what we know today as being the Philippines.