Magellan's Recovery of a Lost Cause Essay

Magellan the now world famous leader of the voyage that circumnavigated the globe has died, yet there are eighteen men left continuing on a trip for home. Antonio Pigafetta is recording the voyage’s experiences post Magellan’s leadership and must salvage the remaining crew and ship in the most serviceable way to the King of Spain. It is 1521 and the Victoria is the only remaining ship of the expedition sailing in what is now the Philippines searching for islands to commence trade with, the primary reason they are on a voyage to circumnavigate the globe in search of a faster trade route than the commonly used route under Africa. Pigafetta primarily writes about the availability of food, the willingness to trade by the natives, and some of the crew’s interactions with the native people to show both the difficulty and the ability to repeat many of their actions on future trips.
In the account given in pages 138 through 145 of Travel Narratives from the Age of Discovery Edited by Peter C. Mancall we can see the desire of Pigafetta to prove their voyage was worthwhile amidst the loss of four of five ships and only eighteen remaining men. One of the main narrative points by Pigafetta is ability of the crew to acquire food on the islands that they come upon. It is particularly important for him to show this crew having food because they want this new route that circumnavigates the globe to be feasible for future trading voyages.
“We could well call that land the Land of Promise,