Elcano and the First Circumnavigation of the World Book 2
Copyright© 2026 by Mark West
Chapter 14
As we had been ordered to begin work by repairing the Santiago, this was the first nao that was made ready to continue exploring the coastline to the south in search of that elusive passage to the South Sea. And while we worked on the hull of the Trinidad, thankfully free from the leg irons that we were forced to wear while working on the Santiago, Serrano supervised the loading of the equipment that we had so recently removed from the nao under his command. The Santiago carried enough hard tack to support the crew for a few weeks along with some barrels of water. When all was made ready, on 1st May, Magellan instructed Serrano to sail south with a crew of 33 men, having promised him a bonus of 100 ducats if he found anything useful. By early June, the Santiago had not returned, and it was feared lost. This would have been a serious blow to Magellan because Serrano was the most experienced captain of the fleet and he had shown himself to be completely loyal to Magellan.
While we waited for the Santiago to return, work on careening the remaining four naos continued. Although our team of hunters were not often able to kill one of the strange sheep, they were fortunate to be approached by a fierce-looking giant one day. This man approached and then stopped at a distance when he began to sing and dance energetically. Most of the members of the hunting party were fearful as they were aware of the fate of Solís and his men so many years before, but one brave fellow ventured to approach this capering giant. The giant spoke, and our shipmate also spoke, but they could not understand each other. Then our man had a sudden idea and he began to imitate the movements of the giant such as leaping in the air, grasping handfuls of earth and throwing them behind him or waving his arms wildly. This seems to have satisfied the giant because he stopped singing and dancing and gestured to our party to follow him. However, instead of following this giant man, the party invited him to accompany them back to our camp. There, he was presented to Magellan. This giant towered over all of us, with the tallest man of our crew only reaching to his shoulders. His face was dyed a bright red, with yellow circles around the eyes and two yellow hearts on the cheeks. His hair was dyed white, and he was clad in the skin and fur of a sheep; even his feet were shod in great swaddles of fur, which made them look rather like bear paws. He carried a bow and had a bundle of arrows slung over his broad shoulders.
Magellan held a mirror up before the giant, who was so shocked at the sight of his own visage that he jumped to get out of the polished glass’s view, knocking several sailors down as he did so. The Captain-General gave his guest the usual baubles — bells and beads and a comb in addition to the unnerving mirror — and convinced him to lead a party of sailors to the place nearby where the rest of his nomadic tribe had set up camp. A friendship soon developed between these savages and our group. It was not quite as friendly as the one with the last group of savages we encountered, but they were a blessing nonetheless for us cold and hungry Europeans stranded so far from home. Their existence revolved around the strange sheep which they named guanaco. They gave us guanaco meat to eat, gave us warm clothing made from guanaco fur, and loaned us domesticated guanacos to serve as beasts of burden. These people even taught our sailors how to hunt guanacos for ourselves. The trick was to capture and use a young animal as a lure. First, it was tied up in the open, while the men hid out of sight, and then the adult animals were shot when they came in response to its frantic bleating. It was a very effective method of killing these guanaco, and I reflected on how we could have tried to do the same when we were shipwrecked on the coast of the Grand Banks so many years before. In addition, they taught our sailors how to hunt hidden foxes, small birds, and rabbits, as well as how to find the mussels and oysters that clung to concealed hollows in the rocky shore all year round. A few lucky sailors discovered pearls inside the shells when they cracked them open which was considered a sign of good fortune for our voyage.
By the middle of June we had given up hope for the crew of the Santiago until one day the men working on careening the San Antonio saw two figures approach from a distance. At first they assumed that these men were members of another tribe who inhabited that dreary and almost barren land. However, as the men came closer to the shore, it became obvious that they were not natives of that land, but Europeans. Ragged, weary, almost unable to speak, they were from the crew of the Santiago. The two emaciated men were swiftly brought to the cabin where they were given warm guanaco milk to drink, guanaco meat to eat, and guanaco furs to warm them. But first, Magellan summoned the two priests to attend to hear their confession as he feared that they might die, so wretched was their appearance. But with the sustenance of the milk and flesh of the guanaco, the men recovered sufficiently to relate their sad tale.
After the Santiago had departed from San Julián harbour, the wind blowing from the south beat against the efforts of Serrano to make his way south. In 5 days sailing they only managed to make 110 kilometres headway. But that was when they spotted a break in the shoreline and Serrano cautiously steered the nao towards the land. Although there were many rocky shoals guarding the bay, Serrano was able to navigate between them until the Santiago entered a wide sheltered bay. Here the water was calm and there was a river of fresh water entering the bay. This river was about 300 metres wide but only 5 metres deep at its deepest point, so it was futile to attempt to explore it for fear of the Santiago becoming stuck on some sand bar. Yet again, the discovery of a source of fresh water signalled that this was not the hoped for crossing between the two oceans. The land was almost barren apart from many thorny bushes, and there was no sign of fish in the sea, so Serrano ordered the Santiago to return to the open sea after replenishing the ship’s drinking water. However, as the nao headed towards the opening to the ocean, the sailors were cheered by the sight of two islands in the bay where they could see numerous giant seals at rest.
Immediately, the order was given to drop anchors and to lower the longboat to approach the nearest island. Leaping ashore, the sailors in the longboat set to work, clubbing, stabbing and in any way slaughtering the seals who did not move as they had never been attacked in this manner before. The carcases were loaded onto the longboat and hauled to shore where fires were lit from the scant branches of the thorn bushes. The meat was quickly roasted and devoured by the whole crew who had scarcely managed to sustain themselves on the small supply of hard tack that Magellan had provided them with. After they had all satisfied their hunger and drunk from the sweet water of the river, Serrano made a plan to return to San Julián with sufficient meat for their remaining companions. So, every day for three weeks, seals were slaughtered, they were skinned and their flesh was smoked and stored in the hold of the Santiago along with the semi-cured skins of these trusting creatures.
However, during those three weeks, the winter weather became more severe, with daylight only existing for about six hours. Winds were stronger, snow and ice were common and the feeble sunshine that sometimes broke through the clouds did little to warm bodies. At night, the whole crew slept together in the hold of the Santiago attempting to warm themselves from the mass of the bodies of their companions. Even Serrano abandoned his cabin and slept with the rest of the crew. Finally, the hold of the nao was full with smoked meat and the order was given to hoist sails and begin the return journey to San Julián. With the prevailing wind from the south, Serrano expected to rejoin the fleet in under three days. But it was not to be.
On May 21st, the Santiago left the bay that Serrano had named Santa Cruz to return to San Julián and claim the 100 ducats promised by Magellan. At first, the sailing was smooth although the wind from the south had dropped. However, on May 23rd a storm force wind from the north hit the heavily-laden ship. The weight of the seal meat made it almost impossible to tack against the wind, so Serrano ordered the nao to turn around so the stern bore the force of the wind. Then with sails lowered, the nao was battered and blown by the wind in the direction from which it had just come. In eight hours, the crew saw that they had arrived once more at the entrance to Santa Cruz bay – a journey that had taken them two days to complete.