Over the Edge of the World: Magellen's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe

by Laurence Bergreen

  “The palace has seventy-nine halls which contain only women who serve the king. Torches are always kept lighted in the palace, and it takes a day to go through it. In the upper part are four halls, where the principal men go sometimes to speak to the king. One is ornamented with copper, both below and above; one all with silver; one all with gold; and the fourth with pearls and precious gems. When the king’s vassals take him gold or any other precious things as tribute, they are placed in those halls, and they say, ‘Let this be for the honor and glory of our Santhoa Raia.’ ”

  Concerning the Cape of Good Hope: in Canto Five of The Lusíads, Luis de Camoes personified it as a mighty giant named Adamastor, who resented the intrusion of mere humans, even audacious Portuguese navigators, into his domain.

  I am that vast, secret promontory

  You Portuguese call the Cape of Storms,

  Which neither Ptolemy, Pompey, Strabo,

  Pliny, nor any authors knew of.

  Here Africa ends. Here its coast

  Concludes in this, my vast, inviolate

  Plateau, extending southwards to the Pole

  And, by your daring, stuck to my very soul.

  Espinosa’s sad comment about turning back is in Levesque (p. 306).

  Much of what is known about Trinidad ’stragic end comes from Barros, whose account is skewed in favor of the Portuguese. Barros (Chapter 10) states that Brito discovered the armada’s attempts to alter the locations of various lands, and Guillemard (p. 303) approvingly quotes Brito’s callous report to the Portuguese crown about the armada’s survivors. Trinidad’s tragic end inspired Barros to twist events so that Brito emerges as the savior of Magellan’s men, when in fact he was happy to let them die. “The first thing he did,” Barros writes of Brito, “on request of a certain Bartolome Sanchez, clerk of that ship, whom Gonzalo Gomez de Espinosa had sent for help due to their sorry condition, was to dispatch a caravel with plenty of provisions and anchors for the ship. . . . Antonio de Brito had the crew cured and tended as carefully as they had been natives of this kingdom, and not gone to those lands to cause us trouble.” In conclusion, Barros writes, “We are free of any suspicion.”

  The description of Espinosa’s travails in the Portuguese penal colony is drawn from Levesque (p. 306), Guillemard (p. 304), and Navarrete (vol. 4, pp. 378ff ).

  The vignette of Victoria’s encountering an indifferent Portuguese vessel at the Cape of Good Hope is related by Joyner (p. 231), and Morison (p. 461) mentions Victoria’s multiple crossings of the equator. Joyner (p. 234) explores Burgos’s character and motives for betraying his crew members.

  C H A P T E R X V: A F T E R M A G E L L E N

  The full text of Elcano’s evasive letter to King Charles is reprinted by Morison (pp. 471–473).

  Mitchell (pp. 178–182) provides the relevant documents pertaining to the subsequent inquiry into the expedition, and Joyner (p. 242) tells of Juan Rodriguez’s fate. Espinosa’s last days are accounted for by Joyner (pp. 265, 277–278) and Morison (p. 456). Morison (p. 477) also discusses the ill-fated Guadiana River conference. Those seeking still more detailed information on lawsuits arising from the loss of the armada’s ships should consult the Special Collections Department of the Brandeis University Libraries; documents there shed light on Cristobal de Haro’s efforts to recover the cost of backing the expedition.

  Accounts of Elcano’s last voyage and death can be found in Mitchell (pp. 148–157), Morison (pp. 475–483), Parry, The Discovery of the Sea (p. 257), and Nowell (p. 338).

  Lawrence C. Wroth’s Early Cartography of the Pacific (pp. 149–150) details the ultimate outcome of the struggle between Spain and Portugal for the control of the Spice Islands.

  The mournful tale of Victoria’s final voyage is told by Parry (p. 261), Joyner (p. 243), and Mitchell (pp. 106–107).

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