Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 2).djvu/68

 *

Magalhaens], a Portuguese by birth but in the service of the King of Spain, discovered the straits which bear his name that the Spaniards were enabled to derive any advantages from this great addition to their knowledge. Furnished by the King of Spain with five small vessels, the largest of which was only one hundred and thirty tons, their crews in all amounting to only two hundred and thirty-four men, this daring adventurer and most intrepid mariner set sail in September 1519 from S. Lucar for the Brazils, anchored at Rio, and thence pursued his way over these unknown seas to the south, until he reached the straits, where he encountered very severe weather. After many difficulties and great hardships he reached that beautiful and fertile group of islands in the Pacific which he named the Ladrones. Thence proceeding to the Philippines, Magellan, a navigator second only to Columbus, and superior in many respects to Vasco de Gama, unfortunately lost his life in an engagement with the natives. But in November, 1521, the expedition reached the Moluccas, the object of their search. Thence, but greatly reduced in strength and number, they steered for the Cape of Good Hope, which they doubled on the 6th of May, 1522, and anchored at St. Lucar on the 6th of September of that year, having been the first to accomplish a voyage round the world.