A History of the Philippines

by David P. Barrows

On his return to Portugal, the injustice of the court drove him from his native country, and he entered the service of Spain. Charles the Fifth commissioned him to attempt a voyage of discovery down the coast of South America, with the hope of finding a passage to the East. This was Magellan’s great hope and faith,—that south of the new continent of America must lie a passage westward, by which ships could sail to China. As long as Portugal was able to keep closed the African route to all other ships than her own, the discovery of some other way was imperative.

On the 20th of September, 1519, Magellan’s fleet of five ships set sail from Seville, which was the great Spanish shipping-port for the dispatch of the colonial fleets. On December 13 they reached the coast of Brazil and then coasted southward. They traded with the natives, and at the mouth of the Rio de la Plata stayed some days to fish.

The weather grew rapidly colder and more stormy as they went farther south, and Magellan decided to stop and winter in the Bay of San Julian. Here the cold of the winter, the storms, and the lack of food caused a conspiracy among his captains to mutiny and return to Spain. Magellan acted with swift and terrible energy. He went himself on board one of the mutinous vessels, killed the chief conspirator with his own hand, executed another, and then “marooned,” or left to their fate on the shore, a friar and one other, who were leaders in the plot.

The Straits of Magellan.—The fleet sailed southward again in August but it was not until November 1, 1520, that Magellan entered the long and stormy straits that bear his name and which connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. South of them were great bleak islands, cold and desolate. They were inhabited by Indians, who are probably the lowest and most wretched savages on the earth. They live on fish and mussels. As they go at all times naked, they carry with them in their boats brands and coals of fire. Seeing the numerous lights on the shore, Magellan named these islands Tierra del Fuego (the Land of Fire). For twenty days the ships struggled with the contrary and shifting winds that prevail in this channel, during which time one ship deserted and returned to Spain. Then the remaining four ships passed out onto the boundless waters of the Pacific.

Westward on the Pacific Ocean.—But we must not make the mistake of supposing that Magellan and his followers imagined that a great ocean confronted them. They expected that simply sailing northward to the latitude of the Spice Islands would bring them to these desired places. This they did, and then turned westward, expecting each day to find the Indies; but no land appeared. The days lengthened into weeks, the weeks into months, and still they went forward, carried by the trade winds over a sea so smooth and free from tempests that Magellan named it the “Pacific.”

But they suffered horribly from lack of food, even eating in their starvation the leather slings on the masts. It was a terrible trial of their courage. Twenty of their number died. The South Pacific is studded with islands, but curiously their route lay just too far north to behold them. From November 28, when they emerged from the Straits of Magellan, until March 7, when they reached the Ladrones, they encountered only two islands, and these were small uninhabited rocks, without water or food, which in their bitter disappointment they named las Desventuradas (the Unfortunate Islands).

Early Spanish Discoveries in the Philippines

The Ladrone Islands.—Their relief must have been inexpressible when, on coming up to land on March the 7th, they found inhabitants and food, yams, cocoanuts, and rice. At these islands the Spaniards first saw the prao, with its light outrigger, and pointed sail. So numerous were these craft that they named the group las Islas de las Velas (the Islands of Sails); but the loss of a ship’s boat and other annoying thefts led the sailors to designate the islands Los Ladrones (the Thieves), a name which they still retain.

The Philippine Islands.—Samar.—Leaving the Ladrones Magellan sailed on westward looking for the Moluccas, and the first land that he sighted was the eastern coast of Samar. Pigafetta says: “Saturday, the 16th of March, we sighted an island which has very lofty mountains. Soon after we learned that it was Zamal, distant three hundred leagues from the islands of the Ladrones.”[3]