The First Ships to Circumnavigate the Globe

Five hundred years ago, five ships set sail on Ferdinand Magellan's expedition in search of a new route to the Maluku Islands and their highly prized spices.

The ships' names were Trinidad, Santiago, Victoria, Concepción, and San Antonio.

Only one of the five returned to port in 1522: the Nao (the Spanish word for carrack) Victoria was the only survivor. With Juan Sebastián Elcano in command, the ship traveled west on its return journey, making it the first vessel to circumnavigate the globe.

The Basque carrack Santa Catalina de Siena had been renamed Trinidad and made the expedition's flagship when it reached the Maluku Islands along with the Nao Victoria.

However, once loaded with spices, it didn't manage to retrace its outbound route across the Pacific Ocean and return to Spain.

The Trinidad moored off the island of Tidore for four months while a major defect was repaired before resuming its attempts to find a return route sailing east via the Pacífic.

Having been battered by a storm, and with supplies running out, it returned to the Maluku Islands, where it was seized by the Portuguese and dismantled to build a fort in Ternate.

Features
Fifty-seven crew members

Captain and King's Overseer: Juan de Cartagena
Pilot: Juan Rodríguez Mafra
Master: Juan de Elorriaga
Tonnage: 120 tons
Original Owner: Diego de Asua (Erandio, Biscay)

The Santa María was renamed San Antonio for the expedition. Records say it had been seized by officials from the House of Commerce (Casa de Contratación) in Seville for 880 ducats against the will of its owner Diego de Asua, who lived in Santa María de Erandio (Biscay).

Features
Forty-five crew members

Captain: Luis de Mendoza
Pilot: Vasco Gallego
Master: Antonio Salomón
Tonnage: 85 tons
Original Owner: Domingo de Apallua (Ondarroa, Biscay)

The Nao Victoria was the protagonist of the first global circumnavigation between 1519 and 1522. The ship came from Ondarroa (Biscay) and was the only one of the five involved in the expedition to complete it.

Originally known as the Santa María, it was owned by the Ondarroan shipowner and shipper Domingo de Apallua and renamed Victoria after it was acquired by the Casa de Contratación.

Incredibly, the Victoria was in such a good condition after its challenging voyage around the globe that it continued to cross the oceans afterwards.

In February 1523, it was sold to a private buyer and then used for commercial trips to America. It was lost on one of these voyages in 1525.

Features
Forty-four crew members

Captain: Gaspar de Quesada
Royal Pilot: João Lopes Carvalho
Master: Juan Sebastián Elcano
Tonnage: 90 tons
Original Owner: Juan Montero (Galicia)

Although we don't know what the ship Galician Nao was originally called, we do know that it was renamed Concepción and acquired for 600 ducats, according to the cost breakdown for the expedition.

Juan Sebastián Elcano was Master of this ship until it was burnt by expedition members in the Philippines because there weren't enough crew members to manage three boats.

Antonio Pigafetta explains:

"We left the island of Zubu and set out to drop anchor at the head of an island called Bohol,
which was 18 leagues away, and seeing how our crews were so reduced in number that they could not manage all three ships, we decided to burn the Concepción after transporting anything serviceable it contained onto the other vessels. We then took the south/south-west course, coasting an island called Panilongon, where the people were as black as in Ethiopia."

Features
Thirty-one crew members

Captain and Royal Pilot: João Serrão
Master: Baltasar Genovés
Tonnage: 75 tons
Original Owner: Unknown (from Brittany?)

As the smallest of the five ships involved in the expedition, the Santiago was tasked with exploring the coast. It could carry 31 sailors and 75 tons.

While at work on May 20, 1520, it hit the rocks in Argentina's Río de la Plata estuary and was shipwrecked.

Antonio Pigafetta reports in his diary:

"The Santiago, which had been sent to explore the coastline, was shipwrecked on the rocks, although the crew was miraculously saved. Two sailors traveled overland to the port where we were to inform ourselves of the disaster, whereupon the Commander in Chief sent out men with sacks of cake."

The vessels were built in Portugalete (Biscay). Three of the carracks were substantially bigger to make them more suitable for long ocean voyages and able to transport more cargo. Two had twice as much tonnage as the biggest carracks involved in the first expedition, and the third had three times as much.

Although this second expedition failed, it still represented progress in the 16th-century Great Exploration Era.