The Longest Voyage: The Destination

Seven men died on the island of Mactan April 27, 1521. Magellan had drawn up his will in his home town of Seville on August 24, 1519. It detailed the order of succession. Unfortunately it was not possible for him to be buried at the monastery of Santa María de la Victoria in Triana, a district in Seville, as he wished.

After the Victoria returned to Seville, the Emperor ordered that Elcano, his pilot Francisco Albo and the surgeon barber Fernando de Bustamante be interrogated about some dubious aspects of the expedition, including the circumstances of Magellan's death. The declarations were made in Valladolid on 18th October 1522 and can be seen in this document.

Under oath, they answered thirteen questions about extremely controversial matters. As well as Magellan's death, the sailors were interrogated over reports denouncing Magellan, made by the deserters on board the San Antonio in May 1521, the delay at the Patagonian coast, the recovery of gold in the Philippines and shortfalls in the cargo of cloves on the Victoria.

Years later, in 1564, the sailor Andrés de Mirandaola would be part of an expedition to the Philippines whose aim was to locate the long-desired return route from these islands to the American continent. The letter gives a summary of the expedition route through some of the Philippine Islands and of the contact with native inhabitants.

It also mentions the arrival at Cebu, describing it as the island “where Magellan's men were killed.” It says that they came across 'agitated' locals who they ended up having to fight, and that after making them retreat they were able to explore the village. They found a statue of the Holy Child (Santo Niño de Cebú) and some cannons left by the Magellan expedition 43 years previously.

Elsewhere, Mirandaola tackles the thorny subject of the limits established by the Treaty of Tordesillas (Tratado de Tordesillas), which since the arrival of the Spanish in the Pacific had produced a lot of unease in the Portuguese court. This resident of Guipuzcoa in Spain would confirm that, after undertaking the corresponding measurement exercises, it was evident that these territories fell within the demarcation belonging to the Spanish Empire (the Crown of Castile).

This document details the wages of the crews of the Victoria, Concepción and Santiago, both alive and dead. It also gives the exact date the captains took charge of the fleet: Tuesday, September 17, 1521.
Juan Sebastián Elcano, who started out on the expedition led by Magellan, as grand master of the Concepción, earned a total of 75,600 maravedís, the gold and silver coins used in Spain at the time. As captain of the Victoria he would subsequently earn a total of 46,926 maravedíes for 11 months and 22 days.

Gonzalo Gómez de Espinosa received a monthly salary of 4,000 maravedís as master-at arms up until the end of April 1521, when he began to be paid as captain of the Trinidad until his capture by the Portuguese. Espinosa later claimed his salary for the time he was kept prisoner.

What went on in the Maluku Islands (Moluccas) is known because of the so-called Libro de las Paces del Maluco, a document written during the actual expedition which records the diplomatic and business activities that occurred on the Spice Islands between October and December 1521, particularly on the islands of Tidore and Ternate. It is not an agreement signed by two parties, but a testament in Castilian Spanish on the way negotiations developed.