Magellan Reaches the Philippines, Survives Pacific Crossing
On March 16, 1521, Ferdinand Magellan’s fleet reached the Visayan Islands — Spain’s debut in the Philippines — where they finally found a safe place to land and get food after three deadly months at sea.
The fleet chanced upon Guam a week earlier, but wound up fighting with the Chamorro there. Seven Chamorro were killed and some forty houses burned. Soon after, Magellan’s struggling three-ship armada, in beat-up condition, was chased off by more than a hundred of the Chamorro outrigger canoes — for quite a distance.
As chronicler Antonio Pigafetta wrote, “They approached the ships showing us fish, feigning that they would give them to us; but then threw stones at us and fled. And although the ships were under full sail, they passed between them and the small boats [longboats fastened astern], very adroitly in those small boats of theirs. We saw some women in their boats who were crying out and tearing their hair, for love, I believe, of those whom we had killed.”
The fleet first spotted the peaks of Samar, a large island on the eastern edge of the Visayas, where coastal reefs made an attempt at landing too dangerous. Magellan continued to the south, then west into the Leyte Gulf, where the crew sighted canoes — maybe a good sign, but possibly a bad one, considering their welcome at Guam.
Unlike the outriggers at Guam, these canoes quickly departed at the sight of the three tall black carracks, and some miles to the west, Magellan found a safe place to land on Homonhon Island, which showed no signs of inhabitants. After anchoring Magellan sent crews ashore to fetch fresh water and set up tents on the beach for crew members still suffering from scurvy.
They soon received a better welcome. Here is Pigafetta’s account:
“At dawn on Saturday, March 16, 1521, we came upon a high land at a distance of three hundred leguas from the islands of Latroni — an island named Zamal [i.e., Samar]. The following day, the captain-general desired to land on another island which was uninhabited and lay to the right of the abovementioned island, in order to be more secure, and to get water and have some rest. He had two tents set up on the shore for the sick and had a sow killed for them.
“On Monday afternoon, March 18, we saw a boat coming toward us with nine men in it. Therefore, the captain-general ordered that no one should move or say a word without his permission. When those men reached the shore, their chief went immediately to the captain-general, giving signs of joy because of our arrival.
“Five of the most ornately adorned of them remained with us, while the rest went to get some others who were fishing, and so they all came. The captain-general seeing that they were reasonable men, ordered food to be set before them, and gave them red caps, mirrors, combs, bells, ivory, bocasine, and other things. When they saw the captain’s courtesy, they presented fish, a jar of palm wine, which they call uraca [i.e., arrack], figs more than one palmo long [i.e., bananas], and others which were smaller and more delicate, and two cocoanuts. They had nothing else then, but made us signs with their hands that they would bring umay or rice, and cocoanuts and many other articles of food within four days.”
Of note, while filling casks with water from a stream on Homonhon, the crew found traces of gold. The Portuguese Magellan sailing for Flemish-born and raised Charles V had just struck pay dirt in Southeast Asia for Spain, assuring the coming colonization of the Philippines.
By John Sailors, Enrique’s Voyage
© 2023 by John Sailors. All rights reserved.
Related:
Magellan Reaches Guam: Chamorro Outriggers Take On Spanish Carracks
March 6, 1521: Ferdinand Magellan’s fleet reached Guam after a harrowing three-month crossing of the Pacific Ocean. Retelling the encounter, biographers typically highlight the sensational story of larcenous natives the fleet met and how the Spanish thereby chose the name Ladroni Islands (Thieves’ Islands) for Guam and Rota.[1] Stories like that sell books. But the two eye-witness reports of the experience tell a second story, of the Chamorro’s amazing boating skills, and it’s also worth examining the visit from the Chamorro’s perspective. Read more.
