The Voyage of Magellan - Departure 1

Predawn of September 21, 1519, it was rather damp and cool at San Lucar. Five ships hoisted sail for departure. In the lead was the flagship Trinidad. It was flying the royal standard of Spain. Accompanying Trinidad were San Antonio, Conception, Victoria, and Santiago, with total 265 crew on board. The five-ship fleet was dubbed the Moluccan Fleet, as the fleet was to set sail to Moluccas. Southwesterly wind crossed over the Iberian peninsula and spread gentle toward the Atlantic. At dusk, with a few thunderous discharges of cannon, the ships slowly glided out of the harbor.

On the deck of Trinidad was a man with black beard, a lonely figure wrapped in a rough, woolen seaman's cloak against the clammy chill of September. The rhythmic creak and churn of water intensified his loneliness, immersing him ever deeply in troubled thoughts. He was looking at the disappearing harbor prancing slowing on the starboard. Each time he walked, he limped noticeably. It was because of the wound he received in Morocco during a Portuguese campaign against Morocco in his younger days. He was leaving behind his pregnant wife and an infant son, whom he would never see again.