Magellan's Voyage: Part 2 - Set Sail for Mutiny

August 10th, 1519. By now it was quite some time ago that Columbus landed in the Caribbean and discovered the new world but that didn't mean that suddenly everyone saw things for what it was. Maps were comically inaccurate, with massive lands in wrong directions or far from where they actually are. Further, if they weren't sure what was beyond a certain point the typical response from that time was to reason it was due to horrible monsters. Massive whirlpools, sea satyrs, surprise magnetic fields that tear the nails out of boats - you name it, they said the open ocean had it. Their context for what was in the ocean was largely taken from Pliny the Elder - the 79 Pliny the Elder, as in 79 A.D. Yeah, things went through a period of lacking updates. Such is life in the Age of Discovery; you literally sail through the myths to occasionally find riches, never monsters, and more than anything else, seemingly endless, tedious open spaces. I bet sometimes they could go for a sea satyr just to spice things up a little bit. Nevertheless, hats off to those guys back then, because if I genuinely believed that a colossal sea monster had the very real possibility of emerging from the ocean and devouring me, I'd be quite content with my dreadful life of farming for essentially no pay.

So, this is a sea satyr. I expected something more akin
to what Godzilla would fight, and less
goofy-puppy-on-a-jacked-mermaid-body. I think the
secret to its defeat would be a good scratch behind the ears.

Fortunately for the sake of our story Magellan wasn't like me. Searching for a route to the spice islands in the east, hoping for a passage through what we now know are the Americas, he set sail on that August day from Seville. Landing in the Canary Islands shortly after, he gets the unpleasant news that he must hurry out of there because the Portuguese king had sent two fleets to arrest him. (The Portuguese had a number of well-kept secrets in regards to getting east by boat, and they weren't too keen on our man Magellan spilling the beans.) Scampering out of there with his tail between his legs they went south along the African coast, passing first through pirate infested waters to enter the more pleasant shark infested waters. The latter is better because the sharks you can eat. By the way, if we're to make a list of all the crazy stuff that happens on Magellan's voyage (Ferdinand's Greatest Hits?) eating sharks is just a sidenote along the way.

About sixty days in, having passed the pirates and the sharks, he headed straight into a larger, more important adversary: storms. Having been tossed around by the turbulent waters they came out alive but much worse for wear. The most pressing issue was that the storms depleted much of the precious food supply, something that Magellan decided not to share with the rest of the crew due to the fact they would be upset at the prospect of starving on the ocean. Unfortunately, you can't hide that forever and after quite some time many of the people on board the five ships began to think that perhaps this foreigner wasn't all he was cracked up to be.

Cartagena confronts Magellan. It's darn
near impossible to take this picture seriously
with the mixture of skin-tight pants,
knee-high boots and the most absurd
man-diaper attire currently on display.
I believe T.V. shows skip this time period
because no self-respecting actor would wear that.

Cartagena, the man that was placed on the boat to be the Spanish king's eyes and ears - and also the man who believed himself higher than Magellan's position to which the captain disagreed completely - was one of the first to bring up this issue. To spite Magellan, Cartagena began to openly address him improperly, calling him simply captain, not captain general. It seems a little nit-picky, but I assume it was a significant insult because eventually the two drew swords on each other, going so far that Cartagena demanded from the other captains to attack and kill Magellan. Fortunately for our good captain - pardon me, captain general - the other captains got cold feet and couldn't follow that dark, bloody path. Magellan then relieved him of command and placed him on a separate ship, as he couldn't take further action due to the man's status. Assuming his voyage would be successful, if he came back after having killed the eyes and ears of the king, well... it doesn't matter how many spices you're bringing.

Fortunately, the tensions were about to ease for a time. By December they arrived in Brazil, landing near a former Portuguese camp. Immediately they began trading with the friendly natives, taking particular interest in the trading of the native women. Having been on the ocean for quite some time exclusively with men, they were getting... well, rowdy. Exchanging knives and other metals for the daughters of the native Guarani Indians, they would finally leave at around Christmas time having probably left a few women with half-European children to raise in ten months or so. I really can't overstate this - it's a major, major draw for whenever they visit a village.

This stretch is a little light on pictures, so here are some
Guarani ceramic bowls. They make a darn good bowl.

For all intents and purposes the first meeting with natives went well (believe me, not all of them do) but it did little to fix the problems that were still present on the boat. Many were disapproving of Magellan's leadership, and Cartagena would make his return in short order. Things still bubbled underneath the surface. Bad tides were coming. Cartagena was ready to take the wind out of Magellan's sails. The first mutiny was just a shot across the bow. Not to worry though, Magellan was ready to batten down the hatches.

Man, sailing has the best idioms.

Anyway, it's nice to end on a moment of levity. As they went further south they bumped into some penguins and sea lions that they gave pretty hilarious descriptions for. That'll be the last little bit of joy before things go south. Believe me, Magellan goes pretty hardcore.