“Two ships of Bastian de Sousa and Francisco de Sá convoyed this fleet, and at night they both struck on the shoals of Padua, which are opposite the Maldive Islands, and remained aground, upright, and without breaking up. Upon this they prepared the boats as well as they could, and raised their sides, and put inside water and biscuit, and victuals which did not require cooking. The captains and pilots, and as many men as could, got into these boats and returned to Cochym. The people who remained in the ships set shores[4] on each side of the ships, with the yards, which they cut. All this was arranged and commanded by an honourable gentleman, who remained as overseer, named Fernan de Magalhaēs, who had been much wounded in Calecut. He took much care that the chests should not be broken, and that there should be no robbery, because the captains were going to request ships of the governor, with which to return to the ships to save what goods had not been wetted. These captains reached Cananor in eight days, from whence they sent a message to the governor, who at once sent Gonzalo de Crasto in a caravel, with two pilots; and they went to the ships and put the best things on board the caravel, until they could not load it any more, and having recovered all the men, they set fire to the ships, as they were already full of water. So they returned to Cochim. In this Fernan de Magalhāes worked hard, and did much service, and attended well to everything.”
“This Fernan de Magalhāes was of the king’s household, and came to India with the Viceroy Dom Francisco [d’Almeida], and he was in the action with the Turks; and he was always much wounded in the fleets and in Calecut; and in these ships he lost his small portion of property,[5] and he went away poor to Portugal, and went about with claims for his services, and begged of the king a hundred reis increase of his palace stipend,[6] which the king did not choose to grant, at which he was aggrieved, and went to Castile to live at Seville, where he married. As he had much knowledge of the art of navigation, and enterprise, and devoted himself to that, he came to an understanding with the directors of the House of Trade of Seville, so that the emperor gave him a fleet of five ships, with which he navigated, discovering a new way to Maluco, which was in the year 1519, as I will relate further on in its place; with which he caused great difficulties to Portugal.”
Correa again refers to the incident of Magellan remaining with the wreck, in his tome ii, p. 625, where he says:
“Fernan de Magalhāes, an honourable gentleman, who served in these parts in the time of the Viceroy Afonso d’Alboquerque, of whom I made mention in the first book, with respect to two ships which were going to the kingdom, which were lost on the shoals of Padua, and their captains went back to Cochym in their boats, and this Fernan de Magalhāes remained in the ships with the men taking care of the ships until caravels came from Cochim in which much property, belonging to the king and to private individuals, was saved. This Fernan de Magalhāes, on going to the kingdom and bringing before the king his services, asked in satisfaction for them that he should have an increase in his palace stipend of a hundred reis a month, which the king refused him, because he did not find favour with him, or because it was so permitted to be. Fernan de Magalhāes, offended at this, because he much entreated the king to do it, and he would not, asked his leave to go and live with whoever would show him favour, where he might obtain more good fortune than with him. The king told him to do as he pleased; for which he wished to kiss his hand, which the king did not choose to give him.”
Castanheda, in relating the wreck on the Padua banks, says (lib. iii, cap. v):
“There were disputes as to who should go away with the captains from the grounded vessels, and Magellan said that it was clear that all could not go away, and that to avoid strife, which was commencing, let the gentlemen and chief men go away with the captains, and he would remain with the sailors and other common people, provided they would promise to return for him, or get the governor to send for him. This they swore to, and Fernan de Magalhāes stayed behind, the common people consented to remain, for otherwise there must have been strife. As Magalhāes was in the boat, when it was nearly ready to go away, a sailor, thinking that he repented himself of remaining, said to him: ‘Sir, did you not promise to remain with us?’ He replied: ‘Yes; and see, I am coming;’ and went to them and remained with them. In this he shewed great courage, and confidence in the men.”
Barros relates the incident of the two vessels wrecked on the banks of Padua, and says that Antonio Pacheco was sent with a caravel to their assistance; and that:
“As much honour as Antonio Pacheco gained in the method with which he recovered these crews, with the differences which he had with them on account of some goods which the men took with them, so much honour also did Magellan gain by the good management of these men, which he shewed whilst waiting with them till they came to fetch them. And if he had had as much loyalty to his king and country, as he observed with a friend of his, on whose account he would not go away in company with Bastian de Sousa [the captain]; for they did not take away the other man, as he was not a man of much importance, perchance he would not have lost himself with a name of infamy, as will be seen further on.”—Decad. II, lib. iv, chap. i.
Thus Castanheda and Barros, who are both of them very hostile to Magellan, have preserved one of the finest traits of his life. Whether the motive of Magellan in remaining by the wreck was fidelity to the interests of his friend, or devotion to the common seamen, or the repugnance of an officer and a gentleman to abandon a ship which had not broken up, this trait is alone sufficient to show that he was incapable of disloyalty, or of being influenced by pique, as the Portuguese historians have represented.
The next mention we find of Magellan is in the following document, preserved in the archives of Lisbon, which contains an account of a Council of War held by Albuquerque respecting his attack on Goa. This document confirms what Correa says of Albuquerque’s departure from Cochym for Goa.