The Voyage of Magellan - The Indian Ocean

The final voyage of the Victoria, the only remaining ship, was fighting against time and wind. As it was sailing southwest, navigating through the islands littered in the southern Malay Archipelago, it laid anchors at several islands to replenish its stores. After it made a major replenishment at Timor, it sailed into the Indian Ocean. Before the ship set out to the ocean, two men deserted the ship at night for fear of death while making another transoceanic voyage. As the entire Indian Ocean fell under the Portugal's control, the captain of the ship, Cano, wanted to keep a far distance from the coastal land surrounding the ocean, that is, the island of Malacca, India, and the Arabian peninsula. He wanted to turn around the Cape of Good Hope from a distance and go up north to return to Spain. But that soon turned out a dangerous plan. As the ship passed latitude 40 degree S in the middle of April, the weather became cold and increasingly intolerable. The ship was leaking badly and the crew had to put in long and exhausting hours at the pumps. Since they had run out of salt for preserving food, the meat they had taken aboard at Timor had spoiled. Only little rice and water were left for daily rations. Fearing a mutiny, Cano relented and headed toward Africa. Fighting bad weathers and headwinds, they finally sighted the African mainland on May 8. About two weeks later, they rounded the Cape.

The Cape of Good Hope

The long, nonstop transit of the Indian Ocean without enough fresh food resulted malnutrition, and it led to another outbreak of scurvy. As the ship rounding the Cape, four crew members died of the disease. Nine more died during the month of June. The Victoria crossed the equator on June 8. Scurvy continued to take its deadly toll. Desperate for fresh provisions, Captain Cano headed toward the coast of Guinea. On June 21, he hove-to in front of Cape Roxo, near the border of today's Senegal and Guinea-Bissau, and sent a boat crew ashore to search for food. While waiting for the crew to return, three more died in the ship. The boat crew returned empty-handed. The Victoria set sail again, beating northward toward Cape Verde. It was a dangerous gambling as the islands were under a firm guard by Portuguese force. But the captain sent a boat ashore with an instruction to the crew to tell the Portuguese, when asked, that they were sailing from "the Indies," and on its way to Spain, and they were just stopping to buy some fresh food for some sick crew members in the ship. The Portuguese port guards believed the story and let them buy food. Emboldened by the success of the deception, Cano sent a longboat with thirteen men. This time, it failed, and the longboat crewmen were arrested. A supernumerary of Portuguese birth is believed to have tipped off the truth. When the longboat did not return for two days, and it became apparent that the crews were captured, the captain ordered to set the sails and headed out to sea. The ship sailed south and then west to get around the Cape Verde islands, then headed north toward the Azores. The thirteen longboat crewmen were later released after King Charles of Spain appealed to the king of Portuguese when he was informed of the arrest from the survivors of the voyage.

The remaining crew of twenty two had to labor incessantly at the pump to keep the ship afloat. On August 6, another and the last seaman died and was cast into the sea. The wind was not cooperating all through the summer month. On September 4, the lookout spotted a cape at the southwest corner of the Iberian peninsula. Two days later, on September 6, 1522, with twenty-one exhausted survivors on board, the Victoria  entered the harbor of San Lucar. In fourteen days less than three years, the ship completed the first circumnavigation of the earth.