Magellan had asked the opinion of his officers on the future course 

 of the expedition, the pilot of the Santo Antonio had advised retreat. 

 Magellan had calmly replied that even if he and his men had to eat 

 the leather on the ships' yards, he would still go on and discover 

 what he had promised the emperor. The men on the Santo Antonio 

 clearly had no taste for leather. 



After more than a month of slow, cautious, and probing move- 

 ment through the Strait, Magellan sent a small boat to explore a 

 likely-looking channel. Three days later the boat returned with 

 exciting news. It had come to a very long cape, and beyond the 

 cape there must be open sea! Wrote Pigafetta: "At the joy which 

 the Captain General had at this, he began to cry and he gave the 

 name of Capo Deseado to this cape, as a thing that had been much 

 desired for a long time." 



On the evening of November 28 the three remaining ships entered 

 the waters of the Pacific Ocean. Now they turned and sailed 

 northwest along the wild, western coast of southern Chile, staying 

 fairly close to land until December 16. After their past months of 



^ ,'Cape Virjenes 



SOUTH 



heavy weather, the steady bree2es blowing them over calm seas must 

 have been welcome. 



As a northwesterly track took the fleet farther and farther away 

 from the mainland, Magellan's men relaxed, feeling that they were 

 on the threshold of the Moluccas, but gradually they began to sense 

 the vastness of the Pacific. Their spirits began to sink as they sailed 

 on and on over calm, empty seas and as day by day their water 

 and food diminished. Pigafetta described them as follows: "Such 

 a dearth of bread and water was there that we ate by ounces and 

 held our noses as we drank the water from the stench of it. . . . 

 We ate biscuit, but in truth it was biscuit no longer but a powder 

 full of worms. . . and in addition it was stinking with the urine of 

 rats. . . . [We were forced to eat] the hides covering the main yards; 

 these, exposed to the sun and rain and wind, had become so hard 

 that we were forced first to soften them by putting them overboard 



The Vaz Duardo map (1568) shows the Strait 

 of Magellan as deceptively open and free 

 of the many small islands which we now 

 know to exist (above). Patagonian Indians 

 appear on the right of the old map, and the 

 coat of arms of Spain hangs from the tree. 



33 



