‘… the real challenge was not a great body of boiling water or ship-wrecking shoals or monsters of the deep or super storms or islands of magnets. It was human relations.’
Yes, it is a first, according to the Guinness World Records:
“The first ever circumnavigation of the world was accomplished on 8 September 1522, when the Spanish vessel Vittoria (aka Nao Victoria), under the command of the Spanish navigator Juan Sebastián de Elcano (aka Elkano in the original Basque), reached Seville, Spain. The ship had set out from Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Andalucía, Spain, on 20 September 1519, along with four other vessels as part of an expedition led by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. They discovered the Strait of Magellan off southern Chile, crossed the Pacific via the Philippines, and returned to Europe after sailing around the Cape of Good Hope. Vittoria was the only ship to survive the voyage, and of the 239 Europeans who set out, only 18 returned. A further 12 men, who were taken prisoner on the island of Santiago in the Cape Verde archipelago, completed the trip months later, so are also credited as having been part of the first circumnavigation. In fact, some argue that Cape Verde could be considered the end point of this round-the-world journey because, after departing Spain in 1519, the expedition called in at Cape Verde before setting off west across the Atlantic.”
Who were these record-holders?
“The 18 men that arrived in Spain aboard the Vittoria on 8 September 1522 were: Juan Sebastián de Elcano (Basque Country, Spain, navigator/captain); Francisco Albo (Greece, pilot); Miguel de Rodas (Greece, countermaster/master); Juan de Acurio (Basque Country, Spain, pilot); Martín de Judícibus (Italy, chief steward); Hernando de Bustamante (Spain, barber); Hans (surname unknown; Germany, gunner); Diego Gallego (Spain, leading seaman); Nicolás el Griego (Greece, leading seaman); Miguel Sánchez de Rodas (Greece, leading seaman); Francisco Rodrigues (Portugal, leading seaman); Juan Rodriguez (Spain, leading seaman); Antonio Hernández Colmenero (Spain, leading seaman); Juan de Arratia (Basque Country, Spain, ordinary seaman); Juan de Santandrés (Spain, ordinary seaman); Vasco Gomes Galego (Portugal, ordinary seaman); Juan de Zubileta (Basque Country, Spain, page); and Antonio Pigafetta Lombardo (Italy, supernumerary and chronicler of the voyage).”
“The 12 men to eventually complete the round-the-world trip, after being released from prison in Cape Verde in later months, were: Martín Mendez (Spain, notary/accountant); Pedro de Tolosa (Basque Country, Spain, seaman/steward); Ricarte de Normandía (France, carpenter); Roldán de Argote (Belgium, gunner); Felipe de Rodas (Greece, leading seaman); Gómez Hernández (Spain, leading seaman); Ocacio (Socacio) Alonso (Spain, leading seaman); Pedro de Chindurza (Basque Country, Spain, page); Vasquito Gallego (Spain, page); Juan Martin(ez) (Spain, supernumerary); Maestre Pedro (Spain, supernumerary); and Simón de Burgos (Portugal, supernumerary).”
Why is the leader of the expedition not on this list? “Ferdinand Magellan himself had been killed in a squabble in the Philippines in March 1521. Elkano became the captain of the voyage from that point onwards.” [https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/first-circumnavigation]
This accomplishment was hindered from the start by vested interests, double-dealing, available technology and very human fears that included the menace of the Kraken, the Devil Whale, and the very real Giant Pacific octopus. This pioneering mission had found themselves in literally uncharted waters, thus, survival meant measurements, and the Mission Leader himself “reputedly lowered a cannonball to around 750 metres in the Pacific Ocean and concluded that it was immeasurably deep.” [Paddy Ryan, ‘Deep-sea creatures’, Te Ara-the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/deep-sea-creatures/print]
But the real challenge was not a great body of boiling water or ship-wrecking shoals or monsters of the deep or super storms or islands of magnets. It was human relations.
The Magellan Expedition was responsible for the first Patagonian Glossary and the first Patagonian Christian — a so-called success that it sought to replicate in Samar (Homonhon) and Leyte (Limasawa) and Cebu: “The king replied that he wished to become a Christian, but that some of his chiefs did not wish to obey, because they said that they were as good men as he. Then our captain had all the chiefs of the king called, and told them that, unless they obeyed the king as their king, he would have them killed, and would give their possessions to the king. They replied that they would obey him. The captain told the king that he was going to Spagnia, but that he would return again with so many forces that he would make him the greatest king of those regions, as he had been the first to express a determination to become a Christian.” [Primo Viaggio Intorno Al Mondo by Antonio Pigafetta, ca. 1525, of events of 1519—1522. Translation by James Alexander Robertson]
It was Sunday morning, 14 April 1521: “Thus, before mass, there were 50 men baptised…
After dinner our chaplain and some of us went on shore to baptise the queen. She came with 40 ladies, and we conducted them on to the scaffolding; then made her sit down on a cushion, and her women around her, until the priest was ready. During that time they showed her an image of our Lady, of wood, holding her little child, which was very well made, and a cross. When she saw it, she had a greater desire to be a Christian, and, asking for baptism, she was baptised and named Jehanne, like the mother of the emperor…That day we baptised 800 persons of men, women, and children.” [The First Voyage Round the World by Antonio Pigafetta, translated by Lord Stanley of Alderley]
So far, so good. But what do you do with the outliers? “Magellan persuaded the king and his principal people to become Christians, which they did after some religious conferences, and were all afterwards baptised. This example spread over the whole island, so that in eight days the whole inhabitants became Christians, except those of one village of idolaters, who absolutely refused. The Spaniards therefore burnt this village, and erected a cross on its ruins.” [Robert Kerr. A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume X. Published: 1811-1820’s (14 vols.)]
A month prior, Magellan and 40 men (“the first landing by Europeans on an inhabited Pacific island”) had recovered the Captain-General’s personal dinghy, after they had burned 50 native houses and killed seven Chamorros. Enraged by the Guamanians’ so-called thievery, the Expeditionaries branded their first landing place as Islas de los Ladrones.
From curiosity to fear-loathing, finally bloodshed. Magellan and his merry men would then attempt to replicate this Guam rampage in a different island — Mactan. Who were the real menace? Not the sharks of Isla de los Tiburones. Not the man-eating “sea wolves.”
