In Search of The Spice Islands
September 20, 1519 7:30 PM
Departure
Today, my crew and I finally began the voyage of setting sail to find the Spice Islands. The Spice Islands are said to be part of the Philippines. For this voyage, we plan to do something a little bit differently than other sailors have done in the past. This journey will be circumnavigation; we will be traveling in a complete circle, from Seville Spain, to South America, then the Philippines and back to Spain. We will not travel the same path twice.
It’s been a long two-year span in trying to get this voyage approved by King Charles V. My partners, Juan de Aranda, Rui Faleiro, and I were all very fortunate to have the King approve this voyage in such a timely manner. He also has granted us each five percent of the profits from the travels, more than we ever could have hoped for!
Many people worked hard for months trying to get this all put together. Cartographers and helpers under the King put forth much effort to make this voyage as relaxing as possible. My other captains were assigned crews with carracks, large ships, and I have been assigned to more crew members with a caravel, a smaller ship, that we have decided to name, Trinidad. Together we have four ships, two hundred and thirty-two crewmembers, all from different regions around the world.
We all had quite a scare this morning. Before we left the port out of Seville, Spain, we got word that King Manuel I of Portugal ordered the Navy to stop and make sure that we didn’t continue on with our voyage. Luckily, we made it out of the port in time, and the naval ships were unable to keep up with us. Now we are stopped in Cape Verde for the night and we will plan our voyage of crossing the Atlantic Ocean to South America.
April 2, 1520 1:00 PM
Mutiny
My crew and I awoke to find a mutiny had broken out between the captains of Concepcion and San Antonio who wanted to overthrow the other partner captains, including myself, so that they could take complete charge of the voyage. Unfortunately, these two captains will be unable of continuing on the journey with the rest of the fleet. The crew of every ship has remained loyal to their original captains, and consensus says that these two men, Gaspar Quesada and Juan de Cartagena, are to be dealt with at once. Gaspar will be executed after the evening meal tonight, and Juan will be marooned on the coast before we leave in the morning.
November 1, 1520 9:00 AM
All Saint’s Channel
Today begins the first real struggle as part of this travel to the Spice Islands. The fleet has now come to a point at the end of South America where we need to sail through a thin channel in the Tierra del Fuego. This will certainly not be an easy task, for there may be storms or large rock formations ahead. At dawn, I sent Concepcion and San Antonio through the channel first to explore it and send any word back of whether or not it was safe to travel through. Now, my ship and Gomez’s are waiting to receive word from the other ships. If all goes well, we will be able to leave by noon and make it through the channel by nightfall, and I will have been the first European to successfully sail through the Tierra del Fuego. Keep your fingers crossed for smooth sailing towards the Philippines.
