Around Cape Horn

Magellan's Journey

Our lecture today was on Magellan; whose ships were the first to circumnavigate the world. He was born into a noble family in Portugal and sailed several times to the Southern Pacific via the Eastern route through the Red Sea and then along the coast of Asia. He thought that it might be a shorter route to the Spice Islands by heading West, rather than East. At the time, most people believed the world was flat, but Magellan felt it was round because he had seen the round shadow of the earth on the moon, when there was a lunar eclipse. The King of Portugal wouldn’t fund his trip, so he went to Spain and gave his theories and facts to the royal court, who funded the voyage. They left with 5 ships and 260 men in 1519. The king insisted that he could have only 5 Portuguese on the trip: he had a few more, but 3 of the 5 Captains were Spanish. The maps of the world at that time, only went as far South as Rio de Janeiro. He had explored the libraries at the time and heard that some people felt there would be a Western passage at the Rio de Plato (near Buenos Aires). They sailed along the along the coast of Africa and then headed West to Rio de Janeiro. They explored the Rio de Plata for 2 weeks before realizing they that it was not a passage west. They wintered at the Bay of St. Julian, where one of the Spanish Captains mutinied and was imprisoned. Heading further south they came upon the Patagon (big foot) people for which Patagonia is named. These people usually were naked only using furs (with the fur facing out) to protect from the wind. One of the ships was put in the lead, but it sailed into rocks and sank, but all the sailors were saved. They eventually found the Strait of Magellan and spent almost 2 months exploring its many bays and channels to finally emerge in the Pacific. Another ship deserted and headed back to Spain, so with 3 ships they crossed the Pacific in 98 days. Arriving in the Marshall Islands. Magellan himself was killed on Sabu, trying to conquer the island and convert the natives to Christianity. They lost 2 more ships in this region. The last ship finally made it to the Spice Islands. That ship would sail back to Spain with only 18 men surviving. But they returned with 381 sacks of cloves which made the journey profitable, worth more than the
five ships that had originally sailed.

Lighthouse on Cape Horn

A little before 5 PM, we sailed around Cape Horn. The weather was moderate, so we had time to take lots of pictures of this Southern most point of the continent. Here is the Southern most Lighthouse and weather station. Last time, we were here, pictures were difficult with 6-meter swells, strong winds, and rain.

Rounding the Cape