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The Voyage of Magellan – Chapter 5: Underway

September 20 – October 3, 1519 At nearly the same instant that Magellan’s carracks sailed from Sanlúcar, a dozen or so sleek, swift Portuguese caravels put to sea from Lisbon. Taking advantage of the same favorable wind as Magellan’s fleet but making much better time than that tubby collective, they headed for a point in the Atlantic Ocean about 150 miles (240 kilometers) southwest of the Canary Islands, where they had orders to take patrolling stations, setting up a sort of blockade.

This tribe had resisted Roman efforts to subjugate it so implacably that it had finally won a measure of respect from the centurions, who had offered the tribespeople a watery exile in lieu of annihilation — albeit not before cutting out all of their tongues so as to ensure that they couldn’t boast to any chance visitors about how they had fought the imperial legions to a standstill. Santa Cruz, the principal port near the northeastern tip of Tenerife, was wild enough to make Seville look tame, its streets, wharves, bars, and brothels teeming with sailors who were either about to attempt a perilous ocean crossing or were just returning from one, secure in the knowledge that their financial reward was waiting for them back in Spain. The spent and bedraggled revelers traditionally ended their stay on Tenerife by gathering in the Iglesia de la Concepción — the Church of the Immaculate Conception — to confess their recent sins and beg the Virgin Mary for safe passage to their next destination.

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