''Victoria'' (or Nao ''Victoria'') was a
carrack and the first ship to successfully
circumnavigate the world. ''Victoria'' was part of the
Spanish expedition to the
Moluccas commanded by the explorer
Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan ( or ; pt, Fernão de Magalhães, ; es, link=no, Fernando de Magallanes, ; 4 February 1480 – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer. He is best known for having planned and led the 1519 Spanish expedition to the Eas ...
until his death in the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
in 1521. The expedition began on 10 August 1519 with five ships. However, only two reached their goal in the Moluccas. Thereafter, ''Victoria'' was the only ship to complete the return voyage, under
Juan Sebastián de Elcano's command, crossing uncharted waters of the Indian Ocean to sail around the world. She returned to
Sanlúcar de Barrameda
Sanlúcar de Barrameda (), or simply Sanlúcar, is a city in the northwest of Cádiz province, part of the autonomous community of Andalucía in southern Spain. Sanlúcar is located on the left bank at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River oppo ...
, Spain on 6 September 1522.
The ship was built at a shipyard in
Ondarroa, with the Basques being reputed shipbuilders at the time, and along with the four other ships, she was given to Magellan by
King Charles I of
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
(The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V). ''Victoria'' was named after the church of Santa Maria de la Victoria de Triana (Sevilla), where Magellan took an oath of allegiance to Charles V.
''Victoria'' was an 85-ton ship with a crew of 42.
The four other ships were ''
Trinidad'' (110 tons, crew 55), ''
San Antonio
("Cradle of Freedom")
, image_map =
, mapsize = 220px
, map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = United States
, subdivision_type1= State
, subdivision_name1 = Texas
, subdivision_t ...
'' (120 tons, crew 60), ''
Concepcion'' (90 tons, crew 45), and ''
Santiago
Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, who ...
'' (75 tons, crew 32). ''Trinidad'', Magellan's
flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the f ...
, ''Concepcion'', and ''Santiago'' were wrecked or
scuttled; ''San Antonio'' deserted the expedition during the navigation of the
Straits of Magellan and returned to Spain on her own.
''Victoria'' was a
carrack or ''nao'', as were all the others except ''Santiago'', which was a
caravel.
Construction
While agreeing on its
Basque origin, for a long period the vessel was thought to have been constructed in
Zarautz, next to Elcano's home town
Getaria. However, research conducted by local historians has revealed that the nao Victoria was built at the shipyards of Ondarroa in
Biscay
Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao.
...
. It was originally called Santa Maria, owned by Domingo Apallua, a
ship pilot, and his son, Pedro Arismendi.
According to a notarial document dating from 1518, the ship had been used in previous years for trade between
Castile and
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
. Royal Castilian officials bought the ship at a set price of 800 gold
ducats, a figure at odds with the estimation on the ship's real value provided by the accountant of Magellan's expedition, and accepted by the owners only against their will.
The ship was renamed Victoria by Magellan after the chapel he frequented on his prayers in
Seville
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsul ...
, the Santa María de la Victoria.
Crew
The voyage started with a crew of about 265 men aboard five ships, however only 18 men returned alive on ''Victoria'', while many others had deserted. Many of the men died of malnutrition. At the beginning of the voyage,
Luis de Mendoza was her captain. On 2 April 1520, after establishing a settlement in
Puerto San Julian in
Patagonia
Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and ...
, a fierce mutiny involving three captains broke out but was ultimately quelled.
[*] Antonio Pigafetta
Antonio Pigafetta (; – c. 1531) was an Venetian scholar and explorer. He joined the expedition to the Spice Islands led by explorer Ferdinand Magellan under the flag of the emperor Charles V and after Magellan's death in the Philippine Islands, ...
's and other reports state that Luis de Mendoza and Gaspar Quesada, captain of ''Concepcion'', were executed and their remains hung on gallows on the shore.
Juan de Cartagena, captain of ''San Antonio'', was
marooned on the coast. According to Pigafetta, after Magellan's death on 27 April 1521, at the
Battle of Mactan, remnants of the fleet tried to retrieve his body without success. Thereafter,
Duarte Barbosa, a Portuguese man who had sided with Magellan in facing the mutiny, and
João Serrão were elected leaders of the expedition. On 1 May 1521, they were invited by
Rajah Humabon of
Cebu
Cebu (; ceb, Sugbo), officially the Province of Cebu ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Sugbo; tl, Lalawigan ng Cebu; hil, Kapuroan sang Sugbo), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and ...
to a banquet ashore to receive a gift for the king of Spain. At the banquet, most of the crew were killed or poisoned, including Duarte Barbosa and João Serrão, whom the natives wanted to exchange for Western weapons, but was left behind by the remaining crew. Pilot João Carvalho, who had survived the trap, then became the captain of ''Victoria''. In August, near
Borneo
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java Isl ...
he was deposed and
Juan Sebastián Elcano became captain for the remainder of the expedition.
Returning crew
Out of an initial crew of 260 people, only 18 returned to
Seville
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsul ...
with the ''Victoria''. Others had sailed back with the ''Santiago'', which deserted near the Strait of Magellan. Yet others would return in the following months and years after having been made prisoner by the Portuguese.
They were:
Three of these survivors left written records. Elcano wrote a letter to the Emperor on the very day of his return with a brief summary of the trip, and provided additional information to authors such as
Maximilianus Transylvanus. Francisco Albo kept a log book with the ship's positional data for every day of sailing.
Antonio Pigafetta
Antonio Pigafetta (; – c. 1531) was an Venetian scholar and explorer. He joined the expedition to the Spice Islands led by explorer Ferdinand Magellan under the flag of the emperor Charles V and after Magellan's death in the Philippine Islands, ...
wrote a detailed first-person account that was partially published in France around 1525.
Voyage
The long circumnavigation began in Seville in 1519 and returned to
Sanlúcar de Barrameda
Sanlúcar de Barrameda (), or simply Sanlúcar, is a city in the northwest of Cádiz province, part of the autonomous community of Andalucía in southern Spain. Sanlúcar is located on the left bank at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River oppo ...
on 6 September 1522, after sailing , of which was largely unknown to the crew. On 21 December 1521, ''Victoria'' sailed on from
Tidore in
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
alone because the other ships left the convoy due to lack of rations. The ship was in terrible shape, with her sails torn and only kept afloat by continuous pumping of water. ''Victoria'' managed to return to Spain with a shipload of spices, the value of which was greater than the cost of the entire original fleet.
''Victoria'' was later repaired, bought by a merchant shipper and sailed for almost another fifty years before being lost with all hands on a trip from the
Antilles to
Seville
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsul ...
in about 1570.
[
]
Legacy
The ''Victoria'' was depicted in many sixteenth-century maps such as the Salviati planisphere
The Salviati Planisphere is a world map showing the Spanish view of the Earth's surface at the time of its creation 1525, and includes the eastern coasts of North and South America and the Straits of Magellan. Rather than include imagined materia ...
or Abraham Orterlius's map of the Pacific Ocean.
A vignette of the ''Victoria'' forms the logo of the Hakluyt Society, a London-based text publication society founded in 1846, which publishes scholarly editions of primary records of historic voyages, travels and other geographical material. The logo appears on the cover of all the Society's published volumes.
Replicas
A replica of the ship was built in 1992 for the Universal Expostion of that year in Seville. It is now operated by the Fundación Nao Victoria. To commemorate the five hundredth anniversary of the first circumnavigation, the Fundación Nao Victoria, commissioned a second replica of the nao from the Palmas de Punta Umbría shipyards, which was launched on February 11, 2020 with the destination of becoming a permanent exhibition next to the Torre del Oro
The Torre del Oro ( ar, بُرْج الذَّهَب, burj aḏẖ-ḏẖahab, lit=Tower of Gold) is a dodecagonal military watchtower in Seville, southern Spain. It was erected by the Almohad Caliphate in order to control access to Seville via th ...
. The replica arrived in Seville on March 9, 2020.
In 2006, to celebrate the Bicentennial of Chile, an entrepreneur from Punta Arenas founded a project to build another replica of the ship. The search for the original plans of ''Nao Victoria'' took longer than expected and the project was delayed by almost three years, from 2006 to 2009. The replica was finally completed by 2011. Although it was not possible to complete the project in time for the celebration of the bicentennial in 2010, the project’s creator received a Presidential Medal from the President of Chile
The president of Chile ( es, Presidente de Chile), officially known as the President of the Republic of Chile ( es, Presidente de la República de Chile), is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Chile. The president is re ...
.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Victoria (Ship)
Exploration ships
16th-century ships
Age of Discovery ships
Maritime incidents in 1570
Magellan expedition
Spanish exploration in the Age of Discovery