Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Torre (who began the voyage as a mere man-at-arms) brought eight
survivors back to Spain in 1536.
That was the last attempt at a voyage of circumnavigation for
half a century. This was not so much because men were frightened
by the prospect. The human species has a remarkable resilience and
European sailors continued to brave wide oceans in ships scarcely
equal to the task. Nor was it because rulers were less inspired by
greed or national rivalry. Spain and Portugal continued to compete
for the Orient trade. The reason that no captains left Lisbon or
Seville bent on a circuit of the globe was that neither of the leading
maritime nations needed to go to such lengths. Portugal's eastward
route to India and the Spice Islands was well established. As for
Spain, once she had secured control of the central American isthmus,
she had no need to hazard men and ships in the storms and icy wa-
ters far to the south.
It was Spain who took the initiative of exploring the Pacific from
her bases on the American seaboard. The principal objective was to
find a way of getting from Mexico to the Moluccas
and back again.
Thanks to the work of the pioneers, it was now quite possible to
reach the Spice Islands across the South Sea but, in both of Elcano's
expeditions, some captains had tried to sail home eastwards from
the Orient - and failed. In tackling this problem some Spanish marin-
ers became involuntary circumnavigators. For example, in 1542 Ruy
Loópez de Villalobos set out from Mexico and reached Mindanao. It
was he who named this group of islands the Philippines, after the
heir to the Spanish throne (the future Philip II). Twice Villalobos
tried to sail home to Central America. Twice his ships were driven
back by contrary winds, by which time they were unfit for further
service. If he was to get his men safe home there was only one
course of action left open to him: he surrendered to the Portuguese
at Tidore. Villalobos and some of his colleagues died in captivity.
