August 10, 1519

Today is the day when I finally set sail abroad the open sea and am able to fulfill my dreams of sailing. When I was born in Portugal in 1480, I only grew up only as a Paige for the king. But ever since my travels to the East Indies around twenty years ago, I learned about the various aspects of navigation and sailing. I always wanted, go sail the open seas and fulfill Portugal’s goal of discovering an Oriental empire. New trade routes will be opened and Portugal can finally conquer the Moslems.


Knowing this, I petitioned the king of Portugal several times to support me on a voyage to search for a passage from through South America to Asia. I was denied every time, so I went to Spain and sought out help from Charles V. I told him I had found a new route to the East Indies. The king was most surely interested so he provided me with five ships (Trinidad, San Antonio, Concepión, Victoria, and Santiago) and a crew of 237 men on deck ready to sail. Now I am off to sail for land, wealth, and fame!

Septmber 23, 1519

Many events have hindered our cause especially winter storms and generally bad conditions throughout the area, which has prolonged our stay and caused our supplies to dry up quickly. We have had our achievements too, three days ago my crew and I established a settlement called Puerto San Julian in which nearby many strange peoples live, Pantagonians we call them as they wear big and unsightly things on their feet. Today, though, was not a good one.

I experienced betrayal from two of my captains, one from the Concepion and another from the San Antonio, even a priest! But as I have expressed before my crew was loyal and not one man moved to help the overthrow me, instead we captured the mutinous three. I will contemplate on whether to execute all three, or to kill one and leave the lesser criminals stranded and shamed before I rest my body tonight. Their lives are in my hands and it’s up to me what happens to them.

February 17, 1520

My men and I have experienced our greatest feat yet. We have captured two if the Pantagonian Giants, both will be perfect to use as a showpiece slaves, or to put them on display in Spain. My plan of capture was ingenious; the dimwitted giants were helpless as I carried out my plan. The stupid looks on their faces as I piled their hands with simple tools of knives, scissors, and pieces of glass. What fools!

Then on my orders my men brought iron fetters; the giants were fascinated by the fetters, not knowing the purpose of which they were going to be used. I assured them, motioning to them that we had no intentions of doing harm to them; it was by there consent that my men then closed the fetters around the feet of the giants preventing them from running away. How they writhed, foamed, and yelled finally suspecting trickery helpless though that they were they tried with all their might to break free of the fetters, but to avail as they the bolts on were riveted onto the fetters.

Next we tied their hands, after much difficulty, loaded our prize, and quickly readied for departure to escape the rest of the giants, in case we were found out. Although our moods were heightened it was quickly diminished as a storm came crashing down upon us. The Santiago was sent on my orders to find for us new winter quarters, as the Pantagonians would not be willing to help after learning we had kidnapped two of their kind.

It shipwrecked though in a harsh storm, but two of the Santiago's shipmates came on foot in search for me to inform me that all the shipwrecked crew survived and were waiting to be picked by the remaining ships in Rio Santa Cruz, our new winter quarters. On arrival, we salvaged most of the ship's cargo which were kept well inside the estuary. Not much was lost, and the men from the Santiago I plan to divide evenly into the remaining ships. We will rest in Sana Cruz until winter passes and we are able to set sail once more.

July 3, 1520

What strange things have happened in the port of Saint Julian. For the first two months of our stay, we had thought the island was abandon for we had seen no one. It was only one day that we had spotted a giant man dancing around in the port. We did not know who he was so to make peace, I sent some of my men down to do the same as a sign of peace. They then brought him to me on a small island and when he saw me, he pointed to the sky thinking I was from above. Over the next few months we had many more encounters with the natives. Some of them were like the first being tall and giant like. There were others though who were fat and short. We then captured them!

During these encounters, another mutiny was being planned! The captains of the Victoria, San Antonio, and Concepion had all been plotting against me. I believe it was because I had to cut their rations and they were angry after enduring harsh weather conditions. Juan de Cartagena was the leader of the planned mutiny but I heard of this before he had the chance to revolt. I had two of the captains killed and quartered. Cartagena I left at Port Julian with one of the priests. I would like to know how he is now, but who cares? The devilish bastard is where he belongs.

November 29, 1520

It seems my calculations were set horribly wrong. I did not expect the path to the straight to be so long and rigorous. In addition to the hard sailing weather not being kind to us, many times we were lost in the midst of storms with no idea of the geography ahead. Many reefs, rocks, islands dotted the straight making it near impossible to navigate through the straight. On the 21st of October a storm swept the San Antonio and the Concepoion away, my own ship the Trinidad and the Victoria were put to the very limit of our ability as we desperately navigated our way out of the storm.

After spending several days on repairs we headed towards a rocky promontory beyond which we believed to be the wreckage of the two ships, instead we found, el paso, the strait that we had for so long been looking for. Good fortune smiled on me again when the San Antonio and the Concepion believed to be lost, joined us as we made way into the straight. We slowly made our way into the straight sending the Concepion and the San Antonio to scout and navigate the way for my ship and the Victoria. It turned out to be a grievous mistake, the San Antonio under Gomez's command defected from my cause and slipped past us, setting sail back east to Spain taking with it more than half of our supplies. Even with that I commanded my three ship fleet to go on, for thirty eight days we suffered through storms, the cold, and sailing around blocks of ice floating or even hidden in the narrow waters.

We have almost entirely eaten our rations, most have begun to spoil, but it does not matter now the journey from here to the Spice Islands is short and will only last for a few weeks. The ocean now looks very still though, it does not seem as though it will pose a threat to us. Very calm and beautiful, my shipmates and I have named it the Mar Pacifico.

March 17, 1521

My men have been sick for more than two months plagued by malnourishment and dehydration. We ate bread which had turned so stale felt like rock and it could only be consumed by grinding into powder. Even then it tasted foul, for the bread was full of worms and it stank of urine of rats that had previously gnawed on it. Other rations have completely depleted, for fiber in our diet we ate any available hide. Even the hide turned hard and inconsumable because of the weathering it received from sun, rain, and wind. They continuously chewed on it or even letting it soak in the salty ocean water then heating it over embers we ate it desperate. For additional meat we have resorted to rats my men have even been selling them amongst themselves for half an ecu per piece. Our water has become impure, having been exposed far too long and has the liquid even has a yellow hue now.

For ninety-eight days we traveled and twenty nine of my men have died due to maladies, one giant, and one Indian of the country Versin; there are only a few healthy men up till now. Now in the Archipelago of San Lazaro we have been given shelter and food by the generous people of Cebu. I hope to replenish our supplies, revive my men, and repair my ships here. We have recently been preaching to these indigenous people of Christianity they seem very compliant with Christianity and seem almost willing to take up our religion. My crew and I are debating whether or not to baptize these people or not.

There also seems to be tension among the tribes here too, I believe that the opposing group called the Mactan have been angry at our interference of their beliefs. Hopefully this disagreement will end in peace and we will soon be on our way to the Spice Islands, or we will have to act in the name of our new found friends.

April 10, 1521

Our explorations of this archipelago we call the St. Lazurus Islands have brought us to the friendly island of Cebu, which is inhabited by a men who call themselves the Cebuan. It brings joy to my heart to find that eight hundred of them all converted to the ways of Christ this day. I hope to spread the religion to others of this region.

This is an important victory, because after our terrible crossing of the Atlantic, my men had lost most of their confidence. Our first sight of land was the island of the Ladrones, a place called Guam. We arrived on March 6th and restocked on goods. These were a thievish race, so we left quickly, and soon entered the St. Lazurus Islands. We arrived here at the island of Cabo on April 7th.

We have entered an alliance with the islanders who have converted. We will help them attack the nearby island of Mactan, and hopefully we’ll get them to submit to the ways of Christ. We are preparing presently, and will be making our strike in a number of weeks. Many of my crew are critical of my interest, but during our brutal trip through the Pacific, I realized by survival could only be attributed to the work of the Lord, and that I must finish this voyage in his name.

April 28, 1521

It is both a tragedy and a cause for celebration that our captain, Magellan, has died. The fool that took us from danger to danger is gone, but so is the leader that has brought us this far around the world. On the 26th, the Mactan leader, Zzula, sent his son with the goats to give to Magellan, with the offer of peace. Magellan did not find the offer suitable however, and that night he and sixty armed men set off with another of Cebuans to fight in battle.

Magellan was certain that his superior weaponry would win the battle. He gave a final offer of peace, provided the Mactan’s would accept the name of Christ, but they refused. I watched from the ship as 49 of the men attacked a village, but they had thousands of men, and Magellan and his men were crushed mercilessly from all sides. Magellan ordered men to burn down the villager’s homes, but this only served to angry the natives more.

From the ship we debated whether to send reinforcements, but we were all bitter for the pain we had been put through, and so we did nothing but watch as he and his men fell. I watched in terror as natives swarmed him after being struck by lances. So a noble but foolish man died.

November 12, 1521

It has been a long time since this journal has been written in. I discovered it stashed in the desk of Magellan, and I will be continuing it for the rest of this voyage. I am Sebastian del Cano, and I have taken over the expedition after Magellan’s death. I was one of the many people to mutiny earlier in the voyage, but I was spared for want of ship pilots. We did not have enough men to man the ships we had after the battle, and were forced to burn down the Concepcion to continue.

Since then we have continued on our original voyage, and after a stop at Borneo from July 9th to September 27th, we finally arrived at the Moluccas. Here, the natives are very used to trading, and we have very quickly exchanged our goods for spices. It seems ironic, that so much life would be wasted just for food seasonings. Nevertheless, we set off again, only to be stopped when the Trinidad suffered from leakage, and from being weighed down by the cargo. We are currently waiting for it to be prepared, and our men are bracing themselves for anther difficult journey: crossing the Cape of Good Hope.

September 8, 1522

How strange it is to realize that this trip yielded a profit. We returned to Seville, with only one of the five original ships, and with only eighteen out of the original two hundred sailors returning. We were forced to leave the Trinidad behind, while it was being repaired, and began heading home alone. I later learned that the ship was attacked by the Portuguese, and was left shipwrecked near Tadore.

Rounding the Cape of Good Hope on April 7th to April 16th proved dangerous, and many of us suffered from scurvy and starvation. The journey was exasperated by rough weather, and disagreeable winds. When we finally passed it, we were sure our hardships were over, but one challenge still faced us.

We reached the Cape Verde Islands on July 9th, and were attacked by the Portuguese, who captured thirteen of our crew. Our arrival to Seville was a pathetic representation of what had been achieved. A battered ship and emaciated crew and baskets full of spice did little to justice to the fact that we men were the first to ever circumnavigate the world. I understand now that our voyage was not just for the spices, though they did end up paying for it in the end. The voyage is a turning point for mankind, where we finally know that the world is ours to master. For better or for worse, the door for trade with the east has been kicked open, and hopefully history will shine upon us.