route ox first voyage 51 



Contrast with Discovery of Routes Across the 

 Pacific 



To complete this in\ estigatlon it remains to con- 

 trast the passage of the Atlantic with the discovery 

 of the routes across the Pacific. The first crossing 

 of the Pacific from east to west was by Magellan in 

 1 520-1 52 1 . The attempted return trip of the Trijiidad, 

 one of Magellan's vessels, from the Spice Islands to 

 America in 1522 under Espinosa, did not succeed.-' 

 After him similarly Saavedra failed in 1528, again 

 in 1529, Gaetan in 1543, and Ortiz de Retez in 1545.-^ 

 The eastw^ard passage was not accomxplished until 

 Lrdaneta discovered the way in 1565.-^ There in- 

 tervened between the first crossing westwards and 

 the first eastward passage forty- five years of failure, 

 in\'olving also the loss of the Spice Islands to Spain. 



Contrast this with the work of Columbus. On 

 his first voyage he discovered that route which is still 

 followed by all sailing vessels as the best possible 

 from any part of Europe to North AmxCrica. He also 

 discovered the route homeward by way of the Azores 

 that later experience to the present time likewise has 

 accepted as the best. The only variation in this last 

 is the use of the Strait of Florida and the Gulf Stream 

 at the beginning of the route, a plan Columbus, of 



= ' James Burney: A Chronological History of the Discoveries in the 

 South Sea, or Pacific Ocean, 4 vols., London, 1803-16; reference in Vol. i. 

 pp. 115-118. 



^"i Ibid.: Saavedra, pp. 151-15S; Gaetan, pp. 238-239; Ortiz de Retez. 

 pp. 241-242. 



-^ Ibid., rp. 2^9-270. 



