The Beginning
In September 1519, Spain granted Magellan a commission to seek an Atlantic route to the Spice Islands, and he received a fleet.
"The fleet, having been furnished with all that was necessary are having in the five ships people of diverse nations to the number of 241 in all was ready to depart and firing all the artillery, we set sail." His ships, the Victoria, San Antonio, Santiago, Concepcion, and Trinidad, set sail across the Atlantic on September 27, 1519. They sailed west through the most dangerous ocean in the world to find a passage no one was sure existed. The storms were awful and the men were exhausted.
"At sea, it isn't the exhausted body that gets you, its the exhausted mind." (BBC Documentary) Director- Chris Bould, 2006 At some point the sailors hoped for divine intervention. At the end of the worst storm, lights appeared in the sky. These 'magical' lights danced in the sky for two hours. This ‘miracle,’ a phenomenon known as St. Elmo's fire, renewed the crew's hopes.
|
|