0:00:12 > 0:00:18500 years ago, an unrecognisable ship arrived in the port of Seville.
0:00:23 > 0:00:28Its crew was reduced to just 18 emaciated and starving men.
0:00:36 > 0:00:37MOANING, CHOKING
0:00:38 > 0:00:43But this ship had just completed a voyage of huge importance.
0:00:45 > 0:00:47It changed the course of history
0:00:47 > 0:00:51and shaped the way we live, even today.
0:00:53 > 0:01:00It was 1522, and the Victoria had just become the first ship to circumnavigate the globe.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09This voyage opened up the last great ocean,
0:01:09 > 0:01:14created new trade routes and revealed the true scale of our planet.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23It was a triumph of the human spirit - an epic tale of courage
0:01:23 > 0:01:27and endurance, starvation and mutiny, heroism and death.
0:01:32 > 0:01:37And it turned one man, Ferdinand Magellan, into one
0:01:37 > 0:01:41of the most celebrated explorers in the history of the world.
0:01:43 > 0:01:48But behind the legend of this great voyage of discovery lies another story.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04Uno, dos, tres!
0:02:04 > 0:02:08Uno, dos, tres!
0:02:08 > 0:02:10This is the Nao Victoria,
0:02:10 > 0:02:14a perfect replica of one of Magellan's ships.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17Lost me timing then! Concentrate!
0:02:17 > 0:02:20Paul, it is one, two, three!
0:02:20 > 0:02:23OK! Thank you, Jose!
0:02:23 > 0:02:28That's Jose, the ship's captain. He's figured out already I can't count.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32Uno, dos, tres!
0:02:32 > 0:02:34Uno, dos, tres!
0:02:34 > 0:02:39Nearly 500 years on, this modern replica is circling the globe itself,
0:02:39 > 0:02:43to celebrate one of the most challenging voyages of maritime history
0:02:43 > 0:02:45and the men who made that journey.
0:02:49 > 0:02:53As an adventurer meself - you know, I've climbed on Everest,
0:02:53 > 0:02:57spent 20 years in the most remote polar regions -
0:02:57 > 0:03:00yet the hardships I've known... are nothing,
0:03:00 > 0:03:05just absolutely nothing, compared to what those men experienced.
0:03:11 > 0:03:13Magellan's epic voyage is legendary.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16Yet the real story is rarely told.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19He never intended to circumnavigate the world,
0:03:19 > 0:03:26but a series of extraordinary events turned what was an ambitious voyage into a truly historic one.
0:03:34 > 0:03:39Magellan's great voyage started on the 21st of September 1519,
0:03:39 > 0:03:42when they set sail from Spain into the unknown.
0:03:47 > 0:03:51And the ship's chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta,
0:03:51 > 0:03:53recorded the moment.
0:03:58 > 0:03:59Find the right page...
0:04:02 > 0:04:04And he wrote this -
0:04:05 > 0:04:08"The fleet, having been furnished...
0:04:08 > 0:04:12..with all that was necessary for it, and having in the five ships
0:04:12 > 0:04:19people of diverse nations to the number of 241 in all, was ready to depart.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23And firing all the artillery, we set sail.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27Uno, dos, tres!
0:04:27 > 0:04:28Uno, dos, tres!
0:04:37 > 0:04:42For Magellan, the Captain General, this voyage was the realisation
0:04:42 > 0:04:45of a dream that had been five years in the making.
0:04:48 > 0:04:53This tough and determined Portuguese was taking the biggest gamble of his life.
0:04:55 > 0:05:00Fame, fortune and survival itself depended on the outcome of the expedition.
0:05:09 > 0:05:16Among the officers of the fleet was an ambitious ship's master called Juan Sebastian Elcano.
0:05:16 > 0:05:22This young Spaniard was to play a crucial role in the epic voyage.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31Magellan's goal was purely commercial - to find a Spanish trade route
0:05:31 > 0:05:34to the world's most precious commodity -
0:05:36 > 0:05:38spices.
0:05:38 > 0:05:42In the 16th century, they were worth more than gold,
0:05:42 > 0:05:45but, for Spain, they were unreachable.
0:05:47 > 0:05:54In 1494, the Pope had divided the world between the two greatest sea powers on Earth.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00Spain had the trading rights over the Western half of the world,
0:06:00 > 0:06:03while Portugal controlled the East,
0:06:03 > 0:06:09and with it, the only known route to the unimaginable riches of the spice islands -
0:06:09 > 0:06:11the modern-day Moluccas.
0:06:17 > 0:06:23Magellan's bold idea was to find a westward route to the Spice Islands, through Spanish waters.
0:06:24 > 0:06:29It was an incredible plan. Such a sea route had never been sailed before,
0:06:29 > 0:06:32and no-one even knew if it existed.
0:06:33 > 0:06:35If he COULD find the elusive route,
0:06:35 > 0:06:38Spain would become the richest nation in the world,
0:06:38 > 0:06:40and Magellan would share that wealth.
0:06:42 > 0:06:47He commissioned a fleet of five robust trading ships - carracks -
0:06:47 > 0:06:52specially designed to navigate the treacherous waters of the open seas.
0:06:57 > 0:07:04- Paul, are you sure you're taking the correct...?- I think I'm doing all right! It says 260, nearly!
0:07:04 > 0:07:07It's close in a global context!
0:07:07 > 0:07:09In an earth context?
0:07:09 > 0:07:11Yeah, what do you think?
0:07:11 > 0:07:13Doing fine.
0:07:15 > 0:07:17The steering mechanism was simple -
0:07:19 > 0:07:23the rudder connected to a wheel that was attached to a long wooden shaft.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31Holding the course was all about brute strength.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35I'm actually on course at the minute, but it's not very easy.
0:07:35 > 0:07:40You know, on a modern boat there's a lot of feedback between the rudder and the tiller, or the wheel.
0:07:40 > 0:07:44This is called a whip-staff arrangement, and it's not easy to stay on course,
0:07:44 > 0:07:47even in calm conditions like this.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51I'm on course at the minute.
0:07:52 > 0:07:58The course Magellan was planning would take him beyond charted waters into the unknown.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01It was a journey that many believed was impossible.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06Hey, I'm just talking about Magellan.
0:08:06 > 0:08:11They're off on the fleet on this great journey to get all these incredibly valuable spices.
0:08:11 > 0:08:16I just wanna talk to you about how easy or hard it must have been to get them.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19Well, very, very difficult,
0:08:19 > 0:08:22because obviously there were no charts of any description.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26And I understand it wasn't even on the maps those days?
0:08:26 > 0:08:29No, there was no maps, proper maps, really. It was...
0:08:29 > 0:08:32- We got a map here which is from about same period.- OK.
0:08:32 > 0:08:36As you can see, it's a bit of the Brazilian coast,
0:08:36 > 0:08:38few of the islands in the Caribbean
0:08:38 > 0:08:42already plotted by Columbus and his followers.
0:08:42 > 0:08:47And then this block of land, which finishes here.
0:08:47 > 0:08:48Oh, crikey, so the...
0:08:48 > 0:08:52South of the Cape of Good Hope, but not much,
0:08:52 > 0:08:54so this was an unknown area,
0:08:54 > 0:08:58in those days, for the map makers, you know.
0:08:58 > 0:09:00It's incredible. Completely unknown.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04What a great act of faith that there might even be a way through it.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14It really was an incredible leap of faith.
0:09:14 > 0:09:18Because as far as anybody knew, Magellan's proposed route
0:09:18 > 0:09:21was completely blocked by the vast South American continent.
0:09:26 > 0:09:31According to accounts from the time, Magellan claimed he knew of a passage
0:09:31 > 0:09:36below the landmass of South America, and that would take the fleet through to the Spice Islands.
0:09:38 > 0:09:44Maybe he did know, or maybe the whole thing was nothing but a supreme gamble.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48Whatever the truth, he kept it close to his chest.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01Magellan never revealed the source of his belief in the existence of a passage.
0:10:01 > 0:10:08But it probably came from rumours that abounded in the secretive world of 16th-century navigators.
0:10:11 > 0:10:16The Captain General did not wholly declare the voyage which he wished to make,
0:10:16 > 0:10:20lest the people, from astonishment and fear, refuse to accompany him
0:10:20 > 0:10:24on so long a voyage as he had in mind to undertake,
0:10:24 > 0:10:30in view of the great and violent storms of the ocean sea whither he would go.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36The decision to keep the crew in the dark was extremely dangerous
0:10:36 > 0:10:40and it would come close to destroying the entire mission.
0:10:41 > 0:10:45So what was it about this obsessive and determined man
0:10:45 > 0:10:48that drove him to take such an incredible risk?
0:10:51 > 0:10:54Manuel Villas Boas is a direct descendent of Magellan
0:10:54 > 0:10:58and a bit of an expert on his famous ancestor.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00In trying to understand the man himself,
0:11:01 > 0:11:04um, how would you describe him?
0:11:04 > 0:11:06A man of contrasts, I would say.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09He was physically short,
0:11:09 > 0:11:13very sure of himself, not an assuming man.
0:11:13 > 0:11:19He's not a man that one sees bragging about his aristocracy or anything like that.
0:11:19 > 0:11:23A man of little words, few words, a man who obviously
0:11:23 > 0:11:27paid attention to his family and cared about his family.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30Very little more is known.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33The man disappears behind the project.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39One thing that is known is that he spent eight years
0:11:39 > 0:11:42as a soldier with the Portuguese fleet in the Indian Ocean.
0:11:44 > 0:11:50Here, he earned a reputation as a fighter, a risk taker and a glory seeker,
0:11:50 > 0:11:53but returned home to less than a hero's welcome.
0:11:56 > 0:12:02He arrives back in Portugal and he's slighted, slighted by the Court.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04And he says, "OK, I've been slighted,
0:12:04 > 0:12:09"I'm going to do something which will prove these people completely wrong."
0:12:09 > 0:12:16"I'm going to finish the task that Columbus started and didn't finish
0:12:16 > 0:12:17"and in the process emulate,
0:12:17 > 0:12:24"what Vasco Da Gama had done around Africa, I will do around South America."
0:12:24 > 0:12:28In Magellan's youth, these two great navigators risked everything
0:12:28 > 0:12:32in the search for spices and earned a place in history.
0:12:33 > 0:12:41And they inspired Magellan to claim for himself the last great untried sea voyage - around South America.
0:12:47 > 0:12:52Achieving this extraordinary ambition became his obsession.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58But he must have had some self doubts?
0:12:58 > 0:13:00He must have.
0:13:02 > 0:13:07Leaders of such nature and of such expeditions are lonely by definition. These are lonely jobs.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10I don't think he ever let anybody understand
0:13:10 > 0:13:14that he was not quite sure exactly of the existence of the passage.
0:13:16 > 0:13:21When finally he led the fleet south, it was the first time he had ever captained a ship.
0:13:24 > 0:13:29His first challenge was the notorious Atlantic, an ocean that had claimed many lives.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41On October 3, 1519 the weather worsened.
0:13:43 > 0:13:49"Many furious squalls, the wind and currents of water struck us head on
0:13:49 > 0:13:56"and as we could not advance, and in order that the ships might not be wrecked, all the sails were struck
0:13:56 > 0:14:00"and in this manner did we wander hither and yon on the sea,
0:14:00 > 0:14:05"waiting for the tempest to cease, for it was very furious."
0:14:16 > 0:14:22I've been at sea in some really foul weather, but it's always been on a modern boat.
0:14:22 > 0:14:27And with that modern safety net that we have, satellite phones,
0:14:27 > 0:14:33satellite communication, satellite GPS, even emergency beacons -
0:14:33 > 0:14:36you press the button and you can get some help.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40Old boats like this, Magellan's boats, they had none of that.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44The sense of risk must have been absolutely enormous.
0:14:50 > 0:14:55On a ship like this, in big seas, there's a lot of rolling going on.
0:14:55 > 0:14:59They're quite rounded these hulls, like an upturned shell
0:14:59 > 0:15:02and they just roll a lot.
0:15:02 > 0:15:08I mean, it's not bad weather at the moment, heaven knows what it'd be like in a really big storm.
0:15:10 > 0:15:15Magellan was sailing through some of the most dangerous seas in the world.
0:15:15 > 0:15:20It's a great day's sailing for me, it's exciting, but for Magellan's men crossing the Atlantic,
0:15:20 > 0:15:24conditions would have been much worse than this - truly frightening.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27It must have felt as if the storms were never gonna end.
0:15:30 > 0:15:34The ships were already showing signs of wear and tear, they were getting battered.
0:15:34 > 0:15:40In one particular storm, the wind was so strong that, even with the sails rolled up,
0:15:40 > 0:15:44the wind got in there and ripped the sails to shreds.
0:15:46 > 0:15:51Of course, Magellan was passionate about this voyage, he's a driven man,
0:15:51 > 0:15:57but the men were at their wits end, exhausted and the sense of fear of the unknown.
0:15:57 > 0:16:04It's no surprise to me that they began praying for some kind of divine intervention.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06And, you know,
0:16:06 > 0:16:08that's exactly what they did get.
0:16:14 > 0:16:19"During these storms, the body of St Anselm approached us several times
0:16:19 > 0:16:22"on a night which was very dark in the time of bad weather.
0:16:22 > 0:16:28"The said Saint appeared in the form of a lighted torch at the height of the main top
0:16:28 > 0:16:33"and remained there more than two hours and a half, for the comfort of us all.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37"For we were in tears, expecting only the hour of death
0:16:37 > 0:16:42"and when the holy light was about to leave us, it was so bright in the eyes of all
0:16:42 > 0:16:48"that we were for more than a quarter of an hour as blind men calling for mercy."
0:16:50 > 0:16:56This strange and dramatic phenomenon is called St Anselm's or St Elmo's fire.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02I have seen this phenomena. Bringing boats back across the Atlantic,
0:17:02 > 0:17:05I've seen this bright light at the mast.
0:17:05 > 0:17:09Really surprising, thought it might be a little flash, but it hangs around for over a minute.
0:17:09 > 0:17:15What actually happens is in a big thunderstorm, the clouds become highly negatively charged
0:17:15 > 0:17:22and, in the end, the whole voltage tension adds up to about 30,000 volts per square centimetre.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26And then it all discharges in a spectacular fashion
0:17:26 > 0:17:31from the ends of masts and ends of pointy bits on a boat.
0:17:31 > 0:17:35Now when these men saw this, they noticed that it always came near the end of a storm
0:17:35 > 0:17:39and it does, it always occurs towards the end of a storm.
0:17:39 > 0:17:45So, naturally, they would think, this is a great sign, this is divine intervention.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47SAILORS SHOUT
0:17:52 > 0:17:58Divine intervention or not, these men were at the end of their physical limits
0:17:58 > 0:18:00and as any modern-day explorer will tell you,
0:18:00 > 0:18:05it's not the exhausted body that gets you in the end, it's the mind.
0:18:05 > 0:18:10This perceived visitation from a saint would have a profound effect
0:18:10 > 0:18:13and it would have pushed them on through their ordeal.
0:18:18 > 0:18:25Almost four months after leaving Spain, the battered fleet approached the coast of South America.
0:18:36 > 0:18:42They made landfall at a wild bay near a place that would one day become Rio de Janeiro.
0:18:47 > 0:18:51From here, they followed the sweeping coast south
0:18:51 > 0:18:56and along the way, Pigafetta recorded many strange and wonderful things.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01"There are an infinite number of parrots.
0:19:05 > 0:19:10"Also, some little capped monkeys, having almost the appearance of a lion.
0:19:13 > 0:19:19"Also flying fish, so many of them that it seemed it was an island in the sea.
0:19:21 > 0:19:27"And men and women who paint themselves with fire all over their bodies and faces
0:19:27 > 0:19:30"and eat the flesh of their enemies."
0:19:33 > 0:19:37Eventually, they reached the very edge of the known world.
0:19:37 > 0:19:4435 degrees south, as far down the coast of South America as any westerner had ever been.
0:19:46 > 0:19:51Evidence suggests this was where Magellan expected to find the passage.
0:19:51 > 0:19:56The coastline turned sharp west and there seemed to be no land to the south.
0:19:59 > 0:20:03"Which place was formally named Cape St Mary
0:20:03 > 0:20:09"and it was thought from thence there was a passage to the Sea of Sur,
0:20:09 > 0:20:12"the South Sea."
0:20:15 > 0:20:20After 15 days of exploration, the dreadful truth dawned.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23This was not the fabled passage, but a gigantic inlet
0:20:23 > 0:20:30that stretched around 300 kilometres inland and was almost 200 wide.
0:20:30 > 0:20:32It was the mouth of the River Plate.
0:20:38 > 0:20:40It was a disaster.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43Magellan had sailed into a dead end.
0:20:43 > 0:20:47Now his certainty about the passage was shot to pieces.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54But turning back was unthinkable.
0:20:57 > 0:21:02He made an extraordinary decision - to step over the edge of the known world.
0:21:02 > 0:21:06To sail on where no other European had gone before.
0:21:07 > 0:21:12Blindly, he headed south along the desolate coast that he named Patagonia,
0:21:12 > 0:21:17into some of the wildest seas in the world and into winter.
0:21:22 > 0:21:28On the Nao Victoria, I asked Enrique Barrigan what it must have been like for Magellan's men.
0:21:28 > 0:21:30- Enrique.- How are you?- Well.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33What were conditions like here on deck?
0:21:33 > 0:21:38Well, now we are 20 people, but at that time, there were 40 or 45.
0:21:38 > 0:21:44- Right.- So there were plenty of people and, as you may know, we have beds for all of us,
0:21:44 > 0:21:46but they didn't have them.
0:21:46 > 0:21:50They just had to find a place on the deck to sleep.
0:21:50 > 0:21:53Right out here on deck? 45 of 'em?
0:21:53 > 0:21:58- Sure.- And we've been rolling, we've had a fair bit of water across the deck here...
0:21:58 > 0:22:03So imagine when there were storms and bad weather,
0:22:03 > 0:22:07the water comes in the whole time, on the deck, always wet.
0:22:07 > 0:22:12So imagine how it was, it was really, really hard for them.
0:22:12 > 0:22:14Wow.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19And it was about to get even harder.
0:22:22 > 0:22:26There are hundreds, if not thousands of possible routes through.
0:22:26 > 0:22:31I mean many of them would be small inlets, some great rivers,
0:22:31 > 0:22:35some huge blind bays and they would all have to be checked out.
0:22:35 > 0:22:40I can't imagine how hard it would be in poor weather to get part way up
0:22:40 > 0:22:46and turn these boats, which aren't very manoeuvrable, turn 'em around and head them out to sea.
0:22:48 > 0:22:53They continued south for three months, with no sign of a way through.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01Supplies were running low and the days were growing shorter.
0:23:02 > 0:23:08On March 31, 1520 just a few days sailing from Antarctica,
0:23:08 > 0:23:12they sought shelter in a bay they called St Julian.
0:23:12 > 0:23:16The men were cold, hungry and exhausted
0:23:16 > 0:23:19and morale had hit rock bottom.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25When Magellan reduced rations, it was the final blow.
0:23:29 > 0:23:34His captains presented him with a petition demanding to return to Spain.
0:23:34 > 0:23:40This was not an option for a man who had gambled everything on finding the passage through South America.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43HE LAUGHS
0:23:47 > 0:23:49Capitan?
0:23:52 > 0:23:55The expedition was now in the gravest jeopardy.
0:23:55 > 0:24:01Magellan had lost the hearts and minds of some of his captains and, therefore, his men.
0:24:02 > 0:24:08The cold, the hunger, the lack of faith in their cagey Captain General,
0:24:08 > 0:24:12all added up to just one thing - mutiny.
0:24:17 > 0:24:19SAILORS SHOUT
0:24:22 > 0:24:27One of the ringleaders was Gaspar Casada, Captain of the Conception,
0:24:27 > 0:24:33who promised the men they would return to Spain once Magellan was out of the way.
0:24:36 > 0:24:37Magellan was isolated.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43- He had to act quickly.- Caballeros.
0:24:47 > 0:24:52He dispatched his loyal master at arms to one of the mutinous captains.
0:24:52 > 0:24:57Capitan Mendoza, tengo un mensaje para usted del capitan general.
0:24:57 > 0:24:58With a special message.
0:24:58 > 0:25:00Es un pequeno mensaje.
0:25:02 > 0:25:04Muy especial.
0:25:05 > 0:25:07Ah!
0:25:24 > 0:25:28The captain dispatched, the leaderless crew quickly caved in.
0:25:28 > 0:25:32Magellan took control of the ship and then blocked the other ships from escaping
0:25:32 > 0:25:35and from this position, he was able to quell the mutiny.
0:25:45 > 0:25:50But he had to reassert his authority quickly and convincingly.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54Perros portugueses, soltarme!
0:25:54 > 0:25:59He made a brutal example of the treacherous Captain Casada.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01Portugueses...
0:26:01 > 0:26:06Vuestras familias y vuestras casas se pudren en el fondo del mar!
0:26:06 > 0:26:09En el fondo del mar!
0:26:21 > 0:26:25There could be no doubt, the Captain General was back in charge.
0:26:30 > 0:26:35With the mutineers put in their place, it was time to try and settle in for the winter.
0:26:35 > 0:26:37An incredibly dismal experience.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41Food would have been extremely scarce.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48I know what it's like - I've been short on food on expeditions a few times.
0:26:48 > 0:26:53One occasion of note, I remember being high on a mountain in Alaska,
0:26:53 > 0:26:55and food being so short after many days,
0:26:55 > 0:26:59we spent four days in an ice cave living on soup made out of toothpaste.
0:27:04 > 0:27:06Conditions became even worse.
0:27:06 > 0:27:11One of the fleet, the Santiago was smashed to pieces on the rocks,
0:27:11 > 0:27:15but nothing seemed to sway Magellan from his obsession.
0:27:24 > 0:27:31After seven months waiting out the winter, it was finally time to move on and look for the elusive passage.
0:27:34 > 0:27:40The four surviving ships pushed further south along the uncharted Patagonian coastline,
0:27:40 > 0:27:43trying every possible inlet without success.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48Finally, Magellan's men spotted a clue.
0:27:49 > 0:27:51Whalebones. This was a great sign
0:27:51 > 0:27:56as it indicated a possible migration route through to the open sea that everybody hoped lay ahead.
0:28:00 > 0:28:07"On the 21st of October, 1520 we found by a miracle, a strait,
0:28:07 > 0:28:11which we called The Cape Of The 11,000 Virgins.
0:28:15 > 0:28:21After nearly a year, they'd found an inlet and it reached deep into the interior.
0:28:21 > 0:28:23And something even more exciting...
0:28:26 > 0:28:33..the water tasted salty, so it must mean that somehow the inlet must connect with another salt sea.
0:28:36 > 0:28:42Hoping that this might, at last, be the way through to the East, the whole fleet set off.
0:28:44 > 0:28:48At the western end was a long narrow passage leading to a bay
0:28:48 > 0:28:51and another passage beyond that.
0:28:54 > 0:28:56They headed on into the straits.
0:28:56 > 0:29:01What they found was an extraordinary maze of islands and potential dead ends.
0:29:11 > 0:29:16"This strait was a circular place, surrounded by mountains
0:29:16 > 0:29:20"and to most of those in the ships, it seemed that
0:29:20 > 0:29:23"there was no way out of it.
0:29:31 > 0:29:33Uno, dos, tres.
0:29:35 > 0:29:38Uno dos, tres.
0:29:38 > 0:29:46As the endless search continued, Magellan's men became convinced that this was yet another hopeless quest.
0:29:46 > 0:29:48Uno, dos, tres.
0:29:48 > 0:29:50Uno dos, tres.
0:29:57 > 0:30:04It was in these straits that Magellan lost his second ship, but this time it wasn't due to weather.
0:30:04 > 0:30:09The San Antonio headed back to Spain in an act of rebellion.
0:30:11 > 0:30:15It was a devastating blow. The San Antonio was carrying
0:30:15 > 0:30:19most of the provisions that Magellan was relying on for the journey ahead.
0:30:22 > 0:30:26He ordered the remaining three ships to proceed northwest by west.
0:30:29 > 0:30:36It was a terrifying journey through a strait we now know to be 530 kilometres long.
0:30:43 > 0:30:50It took 38 frustrating days of searching before Magellan finally got the news he'd been waiting for.
0:30:57 > 0:30:59Capitan, Capitan!
0:30:59 > 0:31:01Capitan!
0:31:03 > 0:31:04Capitan!
0:31:43 > 0:31:45Ahead was the open sea.
0:31:51 > 0:31:54He had found the fabled passage.
0:31:54 > 0:32:00"The Captain General wept for joy and called it Cape Deseado,
0:32:00 > 0:32:04"for we had been desiring it for a very long time."
0:32:13 > 0:32:18In that proud moment, Magellan must have realised, without doubt,
0:32:18 > 0:32:25he now stood shoulder to shoulder with his great boyhood heroes, Columbus and Vasco da Gama.
0:32:25 > 0:32:28His dreams had come true.
0:32:39 > 0:32:43Even in this moment of personal triumph, Magellan could hardly have
0:32:43 > 0:32:48guessed at the historic significance of finding the passage.
0:32:48 > 0:32:50For 400 years, his route, the Magellan Strait,
0:32:50 > 0:32:54would be the major shipping route through to the Pacific.
0:32:54 > 0:33:00It was only bettered when the Panama Canal was blasted out of the land in 1914.
0:33:04 > 0:33:11It was an astonishing discovery, but Magellan and his men hoped it was the prelude to something even greater -
0:33:12 > 0:33:16the western route to the riches of the Spice Islands.
0:33:20 > 0:33:26On November 28th 1520, Magellan led the fleet north.
0:33:28 > 0:33:35The weather was good and the sea so calm, he named it the Pacific, the peaceful sea.
0:33:37 > 0:33:41The sky was huge and the horizon stretched endlessly.
0:34:20 > 0:34:23Even the sky at night was different.
0:34:23 > 0:34:30These God-fearing sailors wondered at the Southern Cross and noticed something strange in the heavens.
0:34:31 > 0:34:38"There are several small stars, clustered together in the manner of two clouds
0:34:38 > 0:34:46"and in the middle of them are two stars not very bright and they move slightly."
0:34:46 > 0:34:53Nearly 400 years later, these stellar clusters were identified as two of the closest galaxies to the earth.
0:34:55 > 0:34:58The Magellanic clouds have helped astronomers work out
0:34:58 > 0:35:02the scale of the universe and witness the death of stars.
0:35:10 > 0:35:17On December 18 1520, the fleet turned northwest into the heart of the Pacific.
0:35:19 > 0:35:23Unknowingly, Magellan had just made a serious error.
0:35:24 > 0:35:29He thought it was within three days' sailing of the Spice Islands,
0:35:29 > 0:35:34but that belief was based on maps of the then known world.
0:35:34 > 0:35:39These were based on the work of the second century scholar Ptolemy,
0:35:39 > 0:35:45who estimated the circumference of the earth to be 29,000 kilometres.
0:35:47 > 0:35:54The Captain General was about to discover the hard way that Ptolemy was out by over 11,000 kilometres.
0:35:56 > 0:36:01This missing area, 28% of the world's circumference, is the Pacific.
0:36:05 > 0:36:10Magellan was leading his men into a vast, empty ocean.
0:36:16 > 0:36:23On the modern Nao Victoria our captain, Jose, has some idea of what that journey must have been like.
0:36:23 > 0:36:26You've crossed the Pacific many times - you've crossed it on here.
0:36:28 > 0:36:34You, of anybody, would understand what Magellan's men would have gone through, to have entered
0:36:34 > 0:36:38the biggest ocean in the world and not known how big it was,
0:36:38 > 0:36:42and just day after day after day of uncertainty.
0:36:42 > 0:36:45I can imagine how much they suffered
0:36:45 > 0:36:47and what went through their minds.
0:36:47 > 0:36:50Not knowing when they were going to reach any land.
0:36:50 > 0:36:54If they were going to reach any land.
0:36:54 > 0:36:57So it must have been very, very tough on them and
0:36:57 > 0:37:04probably the weaker men must have felt that their head was going off and the lack of food...
0:37:04 > 0:37:08The food diminishing, scurvy setting in.
0:37:08 > 0:37:13The water now seemed foul because the wood contaminates the water.
0:37:13 > 0:37:15It must have been very, very hard for them,
0:37:15 > 0:37:18but, obviously,
0:37:18 > 0:37:22the command of Magellan is a very strong man and very tough with the crews.
0:37:22 > 0:37:25He probably kept the whole thing going on.
0:37:25 > 0:37:27Uno, dos, tres. Uno, dos, tres.
0:37:34 > 0:37:39The weeks passed, the emaciated crews began to starve again.
0:37:39 > 0:37:42Their accounts make disturbing reading.
0:37:45 > 0:37:49"We ate the ox hides which were under the mainyard
0:37:49 > 0:37:52"so that the yard should not break the rigging.
0:37:54 > 0:37:58"And we ate old biscuits turned to powder,
0:37:58 > 0:38:03"all full of worms and stinking of urine which the rats had made on it.
0:38:03 > 0:38:11"And of the rats, which were sold for half an ecu apiece, some of us could not get enough.
0:38:11 > 0:38:14HE SINGS
0:38:14 > 0:38:21"I believe that never more will any man undertake to make such a voyage."
0:38:25 > 0:38:31By late January 1521, Magellan had led the fleet northwest
0:38:31 > 0:38:35across thousands of kilometres of open ocean, without relief.
0:38:37 > 0:38:42"We saw no land, except two small uninhabited islands
0:38:42 > 0:38:45"where we found only birds and trees
0:38:45 > 0:38:50"and there is no place for anchoring because no bottom can be found."
0:38:52 > 0:38:59Months later, with no land in sight, even Magellan must have had doubts.
0:39:19 > 0:39:24But almost five months and 20,000 kilometres after they exited the straits,
0:39:24 > 0:39:28they finally made landfall, at about ten degrees north of the equator,
0:39:28 > 0:39:32in a place we now call the Philippines.
0:39:32 > 0:39:38In an astonishing feat of navigation, Magellan had led the fleet to safety.
0:39:38 > 0:39:42The Spice Islands were now no more than a few days sail to the south.
0:39:42 > 0:39:45It seemed his great gamble would pay off.
0:39:50 > 0:39:53The islands of the Philippines must have looked like paradise.
0:39:55 > 0:40:00There was fresh water, lush rainforests filled with fruit
0:40:00 > 0:40:03and the local people seemed to welcome them.
0:40:07 > 0:40:13Magellan set about securing the route to the Spice Islands by claiming the Philippines for Spain.
0:40:13 > 0:40:16His most effective tool was Christianity.
0:40:16 > 0:40:22He knew that to convince these people to adopt this religion,
0:40:22 > 0:40:25he had to persuade them it was worth their while.
0:40:25 > 0:40:30One of the arguments he used was of the invincibility which would derive from it,
0:40:30 > 0:40:35and this invincibility was demonstrated by the strength of his armament.
0:40:35 > 0:40:39The blast of the cannons terrified the natives and gave a measure of his power.
0:40:41 > 0:40:48When attempting and succeeding in baptising, Christianising, the local inhabitants,
0:40:48 > 0:40:54Magellan is at the same time ensuring that through this religious conversion
0:40:54 > 0:41:01they implicitly accept their status as subordinate to the Spanish crown,
0:41:01 > 0:41:04seen here as the ultimate symbol
0:41:04 > 0:41:07of worldly authority and religious reach.
0:41:07 > 0:41:11- Tight, structured framework with which to live by. - Oh, yes.- Live by these rules.
0:41:11 > 0:41:17Live by these rules, submit yourself to these people and you will be invincible.
0:41:17 > 0:41:21So would it have been perhaps like a colonisation?
0:41:21 > 0:41:25The very beginnings, the foundations of colonisation.
0:41:25 > 0:41:31It would have taken many decades for the following Spanish fleets to effectively transform
0:41:31 > 0:41:37the Philippines into a Spanish colony, but that was the foundation upon which they built.
0:41:39 > 0:41:47Confident of his faith and his invincible weaponry, the Captain General made a fateful decision.
0:41:47 > 0:41:49To show his support for a local chief,
0:41:49 > 0:41:53he decided to attack the rival chief of Mactan Island,
0:41:53 > 0:41:58Lapu-Lapu, who had refused to be baptised into the Christian faith.
0:42:05 > 0:42:11Aboard the Victoria, on the evening before the attack, his men were relaxed and confident.
0:42:26 > 0:42:31But, on Mactan Island, Lapu-Lapu was taking Magellan's threats seriously.
0:42:33 > 0:42:37He summoned his most ferocious warriors and invoked the gods of war.
0:42:56 > 0:42:59The events that followed are replayed every year
0:42:59 > 0:43:03in the place where Magellan and Lapu-Lapu confronted each other.
0:43:11 > 0:43:14It was a clash of cultures and religion.
0:43:14 > 0:43:18For Filipinos, it symbolises the struggle for independence.
0:43:28 > 0:43:33Before the battle, Magellan sent emissaries across these peaceful waters
0:43:33 > 0:43:39to try to get Lapu-Lapu to submit to Christianity and to Spanish rule.
0:43:39 > 0:43:41Once more he refused.
0:43:43 > 0:43:49And so at dawn on the 27th April 1521, Magellan and 50 of his men
0:43:49 > 0:43:56arrived on the beach at Mactan to do battle against Lapu-Lapu and 1,000 of his men.
0:43:56 > 0:44:00Although he was heavily outnumbered, Magellan felt certain of victory
0:44:00 > 0:44:05because of his superior Spanish weapons and his armour.
0:44:05 > 0:44:08In fact, he was so confident of victory that he'd given
0:44:08 > 0:44:13a direct order to his other captains to not get involved in the fighting.
0:44:13 > 0:44:15But he'd made a fatal mistake.
0:44:15 > 0:44:20He'd arrived at low tide, which meant his ships were right out there in the deep water
0:44:20 > 0:44:27and Magellan and his men had had an exhausting half-mile wade through the shallows.
0:44:27 > 0:44:28His cannon were out of range.
0:44:42 > 0:44:44As the battle ensued,
0:44:44 > 0:44:47Magellan's men soon started running out of ammunition
0:44:47 > 0:44:50and Lapu-Lapu's men surged forward.
0:44:52 > 0:44:54They spotted Magellan.
0:44:54 > 0:45:01"One of them with a large javelin thrust it into his left leg, whereby he fell downward.
0:45:01 > 0:45:06"On this, they all at once rushed on him with lances of iron and of bamboo."
0:45:06 > 0:45:10Magellan fought a brave fight, he hung on for a long time.
0:45:13 > 0:45:17Eventually, completely outnumbered, he was just slaughtered.
0:45:21 > 0:45:28"They slew our mirror, our light, our comfort and our great guide."
0:45:31 > 0:45:36Magellan never circumnavigated the globe, he didn't even reach the Spice Islands.
0:45:36 > 0:45:39His dreams ended here in the Philippines.
0:45:43 > 0:45:47This was a complete tragedy
0:45:47 > 0:45:53which terminates everything, his entire dream, his planning, his voyage,
0:45:53 > 0:46:00all the dramas of the navigation through the various oceans, end here, and end here totally.
0:46:00 > 0:46:03So what do you think? If Magellan had won this battle,
0:46:03 > 0:46:07how would the expedition have turned out in the end?
0:46:07 > 0:46:13Had he not died and had he found the Spice Islands, which were very near,
0:46:13 > 0:46:16my guess is that he would have come back the same way he went,
0:46:16 > 0:46:21through the Pacific, which had been, never been done before,
0:46:21 > 0:46:24and it is most likely, knowing the ocean,
0:46:24 > 0:46:26that he might have lost the entire fleet and himself,
0:46:26 > 0:46:31and, with that, nothing would have remained of this epic voyage.
0:46:42 > 0:46:47Magellan's dreams may have died in the Philippines, but his legacy lives on.
0:46:47 > 0:46:51In this dusty little shrine, you can still see the cross he raised,
0:46:51 > 0:46:55so hopefully when he first arrived on these islands.
0:46:55 > 0:47:01It's one of the holiest relics in one of the most Catholic countries in the world.
0:47:01 > 0:47:04It might have been the only relic of Magellan's voyage
0:47:04 > 0:47:09if another man hadn't seized the chance of fame and fortune.
0:47:12 > 0:47:18Magellan's death could have spelled the end for the expedition, but the remaining men
0:47:18 > 0:47:22knew the Spice Islands were so close, they could almost smell the spices.
0:47:24 > 0:47:28Reduced to two ships, the survivors set off to find the islands.
0:47:28 > 0:47:35Taking command of the Victoria was a popular new leader, Juan Sebastian Elcano.
0:47:35 > 0:47:39Senores, a las Mollucas!
0:47:45 > 0:47:51History was to deny him his rightful role in this epic story.
0:47:51 > 0:47:58Elcano brought good fortune, for, at last, they sighted the Spice Islands.
0:48:00 > 0:48:08The 28,000-kilometre journey had cost the lives of over 100 men, including the Captain General,
0:48:08 > 0:48:14but the surviving crew finally reached the Spice Islands and realised Magellan's dream.
0:48:49 > 0:48:52This is what it's all about, spices.
0:48:52 > 0:48:57- These are cloves?- They are the flowers of the clove plant. - They don't look very familiar.
0:48:57 > 0:49:01They are, we see them more like this, the dried ones.
0:49:03 > 0:49:05Smells just like my mum's apple pie.
0:49:05 > 0:49:08- Yes, they're aromatic.- But, do you know, I can't help but think,
0:49:08 > 0:49:12Augusto, is that holding these in my hand, seems hard to believe
0:49:12 > 0:49:15that the men went to such risk and pain and suffering
0:49:15 > 0:49:19for something that seems, to be honest, completely ordinary.
0:49:19 > 0:49:23And how much would they have been worth. I mean, pound for pound?
0:49:23 > 0:49:26Well, a pound for a pound, it could command a high price.
0:49:26 > 0:49:33Imagine a clove tree could produce only seven pounds per tree and that they still have to dry them
0:49:33 > 0:49:36and therefore the dried ones would be very expensive.
0:49:36 > 0:49:38And in relation to gold?
0:49:38 > 0:49:42- How about that?- Well, they'll be worth weight more than gold itself.
0:49:42 > 0:49:46- So pound for pound...- Pound for pound, yes.- Worth more than gold.
0:49:46 > 0:49:50And a bag like that, excuse me, that'd set a man up for life, right?
0:49:50 > 0:49:51Yes.
0:49:51 > 0:49:56Well, put like that, I guess they don't seem quite so ordinary.
0:50:01 > 0:50:07Elcano and his men understood the value of the tonne of spices loaded onto each ship
0:50:07 > 0:50:13and they knew that to make their fortunes, they had to get them back to Spain.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16The remaining two ships had to make a choice,
0:50:16 > 0:50:22between returning the way they'd come, or continuing west, taking their chances in enemy waters.
0:50:28 > 0:50:30One chose to go east and the other west.
0:50:33 > 0:50:37The Trinidad headed eastwards across the Pacific,
0:50:39 > 0:50:43but it didn't get far before it fell into Portuguese hands.
0:50:43 > 0:50:49The precious cargo was seized, the ship burned and the crew thrown into jail.
0:50:57 > 0:51:01Elcano sailed west on the Victoria.
0:51:01 > 0:51:09Spain was about 20,000 kilometres away and the entire route lay in the Portuguese sphere of influence.
0:51:14 > 0:51:19To avoid capture, he navigated vast tracts of uncharted waters.
0:51:27 > 0:51:33Two months, and almost 5,000 kilometres later, they encountered terrible storms.
0:51:40 > 0:51:43The storms those men went through
0:51:43 > 0:51:47were so powerful that it actually broke this mast
0:51:47 > 0:51:50and, like everything that broke on the ship,
0:51:51 > 0:51:55it had to be repaired with what they had at sea.
0:51:55 > 0:51:57But not only that,
0:51:57 > 0:52:03Elcano and his men began to run dangerously low on rations again.
0:52:03 > 0:52:06I can't imagine what it would be like
0:52:06 > 0:52:12to work a ship like this, which needs a lot of manual labour, and be that low on energy.
0:52:20 > 0:52:24The starving men began to develop scurvy.
0:52:27 > 0:52:30"Above all our other misfortunes,
0:52:30 > 0:52:34"the worst was that the gums of the upper and lower teeth of our men
0:52:34 > 0:52:38"swelled so much that they could not eat.
0:52:38 > 0:52:44"25 or 30 men fell sick, of whom 19 died."
0:52:50 > 0:52:54Scurvy is caused by a lack of vitamin C and here was the terrible irony.
0:52:54 > 0:52:59The crew were sitting on a cargo of cloves and what they didn't know
0:52:59 > 0:53:03was that it contained vitamin C and this would have saved them.
0:53:05 > 0:53:11As the ship headed back to Spain, more than half of them would die of scurvy or starvation.
0:53:19 > 0:53:23Elcano escaped the scurvy because he ate spoonfuls of quince jelly.
0:53:23 > 0:53:29Unknown to him, this contained enough vitamin C to protect him from the disease.
0:53:35 > 0:53:40It's probably what enabled Pigafetta to keep writing his diary.
0:53:42 > 0:53:49Without this, we would never have known of Elcano's great feat of navigation.
0:53:49 > 0:53:52He led the Victoria across vast oceans,
0:53:52 > 0:53:58past the Cape of Good Hope and the Cape Verde Islands back to Spain.
0:53:58 > 0:54:04Of the 241 men who began the journey, only a handful returned with him.
0:54:06 > 0:54:10They lived to tell the remarkable tale of the Spanish sailor
0:54:10 > 0:54:14who finished the journey Magellan had started three years before.
0:54:16 > 0:54:18Pigafetta. >
0:54:23 > 0:54:25Sevilla.
0:54:31 > 0:54:39"On Monday 8 September 1522, we cast anchor near the Mole of Seville
0:54:39 > 0:54:46"and we were only 18 men, for the most part sick, of the 60 who had left Molluca."
0:54:51 > 0:54:55The Victoria became the first ship to circumnavigate the globe.
0:54:55 > 0:54:58It had turned what until then was just pure theory -
0:54:58 > 0:55:02that the earth was round - into an indisputable fact.
0:55:05 > 0:55:12Elcano was honoured with a special coat of arms, declaring him to be the first man to sail round the world.
0:55:19 > 0:55:23Five centuries later, sailing round the globe is still a remarkable achievement.
0:55:34 > 0:55:40As the modern Victoria returns to Seville at the end of its 40,000-kilometre journey,
0:55:40 > 0:55:47its crew are greeted as heroes after more than 500 days at sea on a journey they will never forget.
0:55:51 > 0:55:56I still can't believe that we circumnavigate the whole world.
0:55:56 > 0:56:01I cannot imagine right now, but I'm sure it has changed completely my life.
0:56:09 > 0:56:13A realisation of my dreams to the utmost.
0:56:29 > 0:56:36The voyage of the original Victoria may have made history, but it didn't fulfil the hopes of the crew.
0:56:36 > 0:56:39They never made their fortunes.
0:56:39 > 0:56:43The cargo of spices was sold and the proceeds seized
0:56:43 > 0:56:47by the King of Spain to cover the loss of the rest of the fleet.
0:56:50 > 0:56:57The chronicler, Pigafetta, was snubbed by the Spanish court and returned to his native Italy.
0:56:57 > 0:57:00His diaries remain the definitive record of the great voyage.
0:57:03 > 0:57:07Elcano attempted a second circumnavigation
0:57:07 > 0:57:12to claim the Spice Islands for Spain four years later, but he didn't make it.
0:57:12 > 0:57:15Crossing the Pacific, he died of scurvy.
0:57:25 > 0:57:29As for Ferdinand Magellan himself, although he never completed
0:57:29 > 0:57:36the voyage, the popular perception is that he was the first person to circumnavigate the world.
0:57:36 > 0:57:39Unless, that is, you go to Spain and they'll tell you the first person
0:57:39 > 0:57:43who sailed round the world was Juan Sebastian Elcano.
0:57:43 > 0:57:45But does it really matter?
0:57:45 > 0:57:47After all, they're both great men.
0:57:47 > 0:57:51Magellan had what it took to dream up such a daring voyage and make it happen.
0:57:51 > 0:57:56And Elcano had the strength and tenacity to finish it.
0:57:58 > 0:58:03They and the men who sailed with them shared one of the greatest voyages of discovery.
0:58:03 > 0:58:06The voyage that would define the shape and size of our earth,
0:58:06 > 0:58:14and its oceans and change the geographical, spiritual and political landscape forever.
0:58:40 > 0:58:43Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd, 2006
0:58:43 > 0:58:45E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk