The first circumnavigation 1519-1522
None other than Ferdinand Magellan is credited with the first circumnavigation of the globe. However, it was not Magellan who accomplished this, it was Juan Sebastián de Elcano.
Juan Sebastián de Elcano (x)
In fact, Magellan set out with 5 ships (Trinidad, San Antonio, Concepcion, Victoria and the Santiago) on 20 September 1519 to reach the Spice Islands, the Moluccas, which today belong to Indonesia. The plan was to buy the spices on the spot and not to buy them expensively from the Portuguese. There was still no talk of sailing around the world. He set out with 245 men from 10 different nations. There was still no talk about Elcano. He was born in 1486/87 in Spain and had originally been a merchant captain who had joined the Spanish navy 10 years before the expedition in order to escape a punishment that awaited him because he had illegally sold his ship abroad. He was part of the crew of the Concepcion and was in charge of navigation, whether as an officer or a boatswain is unclear.
Ferdinand Magellan discovering the sea passage, which would later become known as the Straits of Magellan, in November, 1520, the orginal was painted by Oswald Walters Brierly (1817-1894) (x)
In December 1519, the small fleet found itself on the coast of Brazil due to a gross navigational error. Magellan slowly felt his way along the coast until a mutiny broke out on 1 April. The officers of the San Antonio, Concepcion and Victoria rebelled against wintering and demanded an immediate return. The mutiny was put down by Magellan, but one captain was hanged, one was abandoned and the third had already died during the mutiny. On 22 May, the Santiago was lost. It took a long and nerve-wracking time, but on 28 November 1520, three ships reached the Pacific Ocean after crossing what is now known as the Strait of Magellan. The fourth ship, the San Antonio, experienced another mutiny and in the meantime had turned back towards Spain.
This is a painting of the mutiny to overthrow Magellan. - Stefano Bianchetti (x)
The journey continued for the other three and they reached the Mariana Islands on 6 March 1521. There the men hoped to find food and water, but were attacked by the natives. Only with the last of his strength did Magellan manage to retrieve his belongings and plunder the natives. Supplied with food, the Spaniards arrived on the 16th. March, the Spaniards reached the Philippines. Now wiser from their previous experiences, they looked for an uninhabited island from where they made friends with the natives of one of the islands. Sufficiently supplied with food and water, they went to the island of Cebu where Magellan died because of a promise to support the ruler in an invasion against the neighbouring island.
In the following weeks, many Europeans died of diseases and injuries, so that the Concepcion had to be abandoned. The Victoria and the Trinidad went to Borneo. There Elcano became captain and leader of the expedition. On 6 November they finally reached the Spice Islands and bought what they needed and tried to sail back across the Pacific. The Trinidad, which was too badly damaged, had to be repaired first and was then to return home alone.
Oceanic voyages of Ferdinand Magellan and his crew, 1519–22
Elcano tried his luck through Portuguese waters, but scurvy , which was a big problem in this expedition, struck again and Elcano had to sail to the Cape Verde Islands. His disguise of being a Spaniard off course worked until the Portuguese found the spices. Elcano was lucky to escape with 20 men, but he had to leave 13 behind, who ended up in prison. Elcano arrived back in Spain on 6 September. The Trinidad never made it, because she was attacked by the Portuguese and her crew was put in prison. Out of her 54 men crew, only 4 made it back to Spain.
Elcano became rich from the share of spices which were sold and was also knighted. However, he did not enjoy this for long, because he died somewhere in the Central Pacific in 1526 during another expedition to the Spice Islands, where he was the chief navigator.
