Tall Ships

Magellan Circumnavigation 4

Victoria left the island of Tidore on December 21, 1521 and headed south west for the Cape of Good Hope. The Victoria was very vulnerable being alone and laden with spices. She entered the Banda Sea on January 8th, 1522, landed at Timor on January 25th , and left on February 11. The Victoria sailed down to 42 degrees South in order to double the Cape of Good Hope with the west and north west wind on their bow quarter. Halfway between Australia and Africa, the Victoria started to leak dangerously. They try to land on Amsterdam Island but cannot find an anchorage and make repairs at sea.

Meanwhile the Trinidad left the port of Tidore after three months of repair on April 6th 1522 with her holds loaded with more than fifty tons of cloves. Magellan's former flagship was commanded by Gonzalo Gomez de Espinosa and the pilot was Juan Batista Punzorol. The Trinidad sailed east past Gilolo and Morotai into the Phillippine Sea until the island of Komo where they took on provisions. The Trinidad sailed to the northeast until she reached forty two degrees North. They were hit by storms and scurvy and after five months at sea, Espinoza turned the Trinidad back to the Moluccas. When they arrrived back at Tidore they found a portuguese fleet and they were promptly arrested, their logs and charts confiscated and the Trinidad was sunk.

The Victoria had reached the coast of South Africa, probably Port Elizabeth, then battled to round the Cape of Good Hope. They just managed to sneak around when the winds abated and on May 22 they sailed exhausted into Saldana Bay, just north of Cape Town. After recovering their strength the crew of the Victoria loaded water and wood and set off north. On June 8th 1522 they cross the equator, reach Santiago in the Cape Verde Islands which was a portuguese possession. They manage to provision and get away before they were discovered by a mistake by some of the crew. The victoria was leaking and the men were exhausted and suffering from scurvy when they reached Tenerife on July 28. Finally they sailed into Sanlucar on Saturday September 6, 1522 with only eighteen men out of the sixty who had started from Tidore. On September 10th the Victoria docked in Seville, thus completing the circumnavigation that Magellan had started on the tenth of August 1519, more than three years ago.

Magellan Circumnavigation Resources

Magellan Circumnavigation part 1
Magellan circumnavigation part 2
Magellan circumnavigation part 3