When Ferdinand Magellan set out to sail around the world in 1519 he
was warned of certain disaster. Some said he would sail into Hell,
others that he would die in a boiling sea. Disaster did indeed
follow Magellan's fleet of five ships. Four of them were lost,
along with hundreds of men, before a lone vessel returned. This
penetrating book tells of the immense hardships faced by those
first circumnavigators - hardships imposed not only by the elements
but also by sadistic officers who thought nothing of ordering
torture and executions. Bergreen's account reveals all about life
afloat in the 16th century. (Kirkus UK)
The astonishing tale of the first sea voyage to circumnavigate the
entire globe. Magellan's dramatic maritime expedition in 1519
discovered the straits that enabled Europe to trade with the
Eastern spice islands and changed the course of history. In an era
of intense commercial rivalry between Spain and Portugal, Ferdinand
Magellan, a Portuguese navigator sailed to explore the undiscovered
parts of the world and claim them for the Spanish crown in one of
the largest and best-equipped expeditions ever mounted in the Age
of Discovery. Yet of the fleet of five vessels under his command,
only Victoria was to return to Spain after three harrowing years,
her captain murdered, more than two hundred of her sailors dead
from scurvy, torture, execution and drowning, and a small, ravaged
crew that survived to tell the extraordinarily dramatic story. What
emerged was a tale of mutiny, of orgies on distant shores, of
claims of cannibalism, of death and disease, of missionary zeal and
base cruelty, and of incredible discoveries: the earth was indeed
round, the Americas were not part of India, the earth was covered
mainly by oceans, and a new route that allowed Europe access to the
fantastic wealth of the Eastern spice islands. Indeed, despite the
devastating loss of life and vessels, the Victoria sailed back
laden with enough cloves and other spices for the expedition to be
considered a remarkable financial success. Accomplished despite the
fact that European mariners were exploring a world that was
unmapped and misunderstood, where superstition held sway and there
were real fears that you could literally sail over the edge of the
world, that sea monsters lurked in the briny depths, or that if you
passed the equator, the ocean would boil and scald you to death,
this was a truly spectacular achievement. The shockingly explicit
diaries of Antonio Pigafetta reveal much of the story. This is a
many-layered book - a voyage into history, a tour of the world as
it was emerging from the Middle Ages into the Renaissance, an
anthropological account of exotic tribes and a chronicle of a
desperate grab for political and commercial power. It is also a
gripping adventure story, compelling and full of suspense and
drama.
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