ed voyage that first circumnavigated the globe

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Magellan got the credit, but this man was first to sail around the world

Juan Sebastián Elcano completed the first known circumnavigation of the globe in September 1522. The Basque navigator led the tattered remains of Magellan's fleet back to Spain after the commander's death in 1521.

Mooring at the southern Spanish port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda on September 6, 1522, the Victoria ’s hull was so rotten that it could only stay afloat by continually operating the pumps. Three years before, the ship had set out from port as part of a proud, five-ship flotilla under the command of captain-general Ferdinand Magellan. Since then, of the four other ships, three were lost and one had deserted. Of the 250 men that had formed the flotilla’s original crew, only 18 returned that September day.

The man who had captained these survivors on their long journey home, however, was not Magellan—killed in the Philippines more than a year before—but a Basque seaman named Juan Sebastián Elcano. By steering the frail Victoria across the Indian Ocean and around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope back to Spain, Elcano completed the first known circumnavigation of the world, a total journey of 45,000 miles marked by hunger, scurvy, murder, and mutiny.

Elcano did not suffer from a lack of fame in his country on his return. Europe’s most powerful man, Charles V, the king of Spain and Holy Roman emperor, duly praised and rewarded the captain who had so heroically completed the voyage. Nevertheless, outside Spain, Elcano’s name has been much less known. His feat is often popularly attributed to Magellan—and many believe eclipsed by Francis Drake’s circumnavigation of the globe nearly 60 years later.

( Magellan was first to sail around the world, right? Think again. )

Born to sail

Juan Sebastián Elcano was born in the port of Getaria, in the Basque Country on Spain’s northern Atlantic coast. Details about his early life are hazy; until recently many thought he was born in 1476 but more recent scholarship puts the date as late as 1487. Based on the limited sources on his life, historians know he was one of eight siblings in a family that was wealthy enough for him to have an elementary education.

Missing mentions

Young men in Getaria and along the Basque coast had the sea in their blood: Many fished and whaled, reaching as far as the cod-rich waters off Newfoundland. It’s likely that Elcano undertook such work, because he gained enough experience and acquired enough money to buy a 200-ton ship (twice as large as the Victoria ).

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Information on Elcano’s dealings is scant. Historians can infer that something went awry, because Elcano was forced to sell the ship. Records show that he sold it to Italians, which was against the law. Years later, when Elcano became a national hero, King Charles pardoned him for his past crime. It is thanks to that pardon that historians know anything at all about Elcano’s fleeting early days as a shipowner.

( 240 men started Magellan's voyage around the world. Only 18 finished it. )

Going around the world

It was probably as a direct result of having lost his ship that Elcano enlisted in 1519 as second-in-command on the Concepción . This ship was one of the five readying for a long and hazardous voyage under the command of the Portuguese-born Magellan. The mission’s objective was not the circumnavigation of the globe, but a daring trade coup against Magellan’s native Portugal. Spain and its neighbor were economic rivals at the time, both laying claims to the Americas and their resources. Portugal controlled the eastern trade routes to the Indian Ocean and the Moluccas, or Spice Islands (today a part of Indonesia). Magellan’s plan was to find Spain a westward route to the Spice Islands.

( Follow the troubled path of the first voyage around the world. )

The five-ship flotilla set out from Seville on August 10, 1519. Sailing west to South America, Magellan sought a waterway that would connect the Atlantic to the other great ocean sighted by Vasco Núñez de Balboa from Panama six years before.

Frustration soon beset the expedition. Failing, at first, to find a sea passage, Magellan was forced to sail very far south along the continent’s coast. Tensions between the Portuguese Magellan and the Spaniards in the crew led to a mutiny in the Patagonian port of San Julián. Two (and perhaps as many as four) of the other ships’ captains mutinied against Magellan, and so Elcano—as the Concepción ’s second officer—took part. Magellan gained the upper hand, executed two of the mutinous captains and marooned another leader of the rebellious crew. He refrained from executing Elcano, and instead stripped him of his post. Elcano was forced to maintain a low profile, but this demotion would later be responsible for saving his life.

Elcano's crossing

Heavy losses

In November 1520, having lost two ships, Magellan and his diminished crew became the first Europeans to enter the Pacific from the Atlantic after sailing around the tip of South America. Following a grueling crossing of the Pacific, they reached the Philippines, where, in April 1521, Magellan was killed in a skirmish by the people of Mactan. Days later, the king of Cebu, who was considered an ally by the Spanish, invited the surviving captains of the expedition to a meal. They were killed while they ate.

( On this day: Magellan killed in a Philippines skirmish. )

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Elcano, thanks to his lowly, post-mutiny status, was not invited to the banquet, which saved his life. After the slaughter, only about a hundred crew were left. The survivors burned the Concepción , leaving them with just two ships, the Trinidad and Victoria .

The two vessels pressed on. In September 1521 Gonzalo Gómez de Espinosa was elected as captain-general and captain of the Trinidad , and Elcano as his deputy, in charge of the Victoria . The ships finally reached the Molucca Islands in November.

In the weeks that followed, Elcano and his commander dedicated themselves to formalizing treaties with kings of the nearby islands and preparing their boats for the long journey home. Entitled to 20 percent of the cargo, the sailors had a clear incentive to fill the hold with valuable cloves, selling their capes, shoes, and even their shirts to make room.

While the two ships were being loaded and readied for the long voyage home, the Trinidad sprang a serious leak. It was agreed the two ships would separate. The Victoria would head west toward Africa, while the Trinidad , following repair, would strike east to Panama. The Trinidad struggled, turned back to the Spice Islands, and was eventually destroyed.

( A Spanish-American food connection, forged by boat and battlefield. )

Then there was one

On December 21, 1521, the Victoria ’s anchor was finally raised. Under Elcano’s command she headed southwest through the Malay Archipelago with 60 men on board, 13 of them indigenous islanders from the Moluccas. By February Elcano had entered the Indian Ocean to embark on one of the greatest nautical feats in history. It was the first time a European had crossed this enormous body of water at its widest expanse.

For months, without making landfall, the crew was forced to ride out furious gales, always under threat of Portuguese capture. There were many deaths. After rounding the Cape of Good Hope, the crew nearly starved to death, forcing Elcano to stop in the Cape Verde Islands. Several crew members were taken hostage by Portuguese forces there. Fearing the loss of his precious spice-laden cargo, Elcano rapidly put out to sea. The bedraggled and much-reduced crew finally spotted the coast of southern Spain in fall 1522.

Granted an audience with the Spanish king, Elcano was ennobled and presented with a shield on which a globe bore the Latin legend “ Primus circumdedisti me —You were the first to encircle me.” Despite this achievement, Elcano left historians very few documents of his own: the account of the voyage in a letter written to King Charles on his return, and the answers he gave to a questionnaire presented to him by an imperial official. The only substantial chronicle of the great voyage was written by Antonio Pigafetta, one of the 18 original crew members who returned with Elcano. Pigafetta’s account, however, contains no reference to Elcano at all.

The father of two illegitimate children who both died young, Elcano never married, and the born sailor would not opt to stay long ashore. In 1525 he took part in another expedition to the Moluccas; and a year later, without having reached the Spice Islands again, Elcano died of scurvy, the disease that would carry off so many in that age of longer voyages. In a simple ceremony, with his shroud weighed down by cannonballs, his body was buried at sea in the Pacific.

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Magellan’s Circumnavigation of the Earth

• Dani Anthony

On September 20, 1519, five ships carrying about 270 men left the Spanish port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda sailing west — and kept going. Led by explorer Ferdinand Magellan, the armada’s goal was to reach the Spice Islands of Maluku (in the Indonesian archipelago) and open a new trading route for Spain.

Thus began the first recorded trip around the globe. An almost unimaginably difficult and perilous journey for the crew, Magellan’s voyage was the opening chapter in the rise of global trade and globalization that defines our world today. It also generated important scientific knowledge, including more information about the earth’s circumference and new understandings of global time.

Establishing this new western sailing route was vital to Spain’s future as an international power. In 1494, after Christopher Columbus returned from the West Indies, the Spanish and Portuguese governments signed a deal known as the Treaty of Tordesillas in which the world was divided into two halves: Portugal could colonize and develop trade with Africa, Asia, and the East Indies, while Spain controlled the Americas. By 1515, then, the only way for Spain to access the luxury goods available in the Spice Islands and elsewhere in Asia was via a westward route.

A map showing the demarcation line between Spanish (green) and Portuguese (blue) claims, as resolved in the Treaty of Tordesillas.

It was at this crucial moment that Ferdinand Magellan (Fernão Magalhães) arrived in Spain. A minor Portuguese noble, Magellan possessed an extensive knowledge of mapmaking and sailing, and already had years of experience sailing the Indian Ocean.

In 1513, Spanish explorer Vasco Nuñez de Balboa had marched across the Isthmus of Panama and confirmed that Asia and the Americas were separated by an ocean. Magellan was convinced he could sail around those continents and easily reach this ocean, accessing the Spice Islands beyond.

A posthumous portrait of Ferdinand Magellan, painted c. 16th or 17th century (left) ; a 1516 map of the known world at the time of Magellan's voyage (right).

Unable to convince the Portuguese of the importance of finding a route to the west, Magellan then turned to the new king of Spain, Charles I. If Magellan’s expedition was successful, Spain would have access to the goods of the East again.

Like most Spanish-funded endeavors, the people who sailed on this voyage were a diverse group, including German, Greek, French, and Afro-descended crewmembers. Besides Magellan’s Portuguese close friends and family, Spaniards and other Europeans with sailing experiences were brought in, some of them to work off debts. Magellan’s second-in-command was the Spanish overseer and accountant, Juan de Cartagena, and the chronicler was the Venetian Antonio Pigafetta.

Magellan and João Serrão were the only Portuguese captains, with Magellan in charge of the largest ship, the Trinidad , and Serrão at the helm of the Santiago . Spaniards captained the other three ships ( San Antonio , Concepción , and Victoria ), and constant Spanish scheming against the Portuguese would have grave consequences for the voyage.

A 19th-century illustration of Magellan's armada preparing to set sail in 1519.

Magellan did nothing to promote Spanish trust, keeping the route a tight secret until the ships were at sea. His plan relied on Portuguese sailing routes, which were well known to him but unfamiliar to many of his crew.

As the armada crossed the Atlantic, morale declined precipitously. By the time the ships arrived on the coast of what is now Brazil to wait out the Southern Hemisphere winter, many aboard were suffering from scurvy, and the Spanish captains were in open rebellion against Magellan. Mutiny was in the air, with Juan de Cartagena, who resented Magellan’s secrecy, leading the effort.

Brazil, as depicted in a 1519 atlas.

In the cold of their wintering grounds and with reduced rations, the mutineers made their move. Although they managed to take over as many as three of the five ships, they were eventually captured and Magellan exiled Cartagena to an uninhabited island off the coast.

The winter of 1520 also saw the destruction of the Santiago, which ran aground while on a scouting mission to the south. Although the ship’s crew survived, the loss of the Santiago put more pressure on an already pinched crew.

An 1885 drawing of the Strait of Magellan.

By late spring, surviving on seal and penguin meat, the armada entered what is now known as the Strait of Magellan, the narrow body of water separating mainland South America from the Tierra del Fuego. The armada lost another ship during the passage through the Strait: the San Antonio , which became separated from the rest of the armada, and turned around and returned to Spain.

An engraving (c. 1580–1618) of Magellan crossing the Strait that would bear his name.

Once the three remaining ships reached the other side of the Strait of Magellan, the sea they found was calm and placid. Magellan christened it the Pacific Ocean. Crossing the Pacific, the crew of the remaining ships suffered terribly. Twenty-nine sailors died during the four-month voyage.

In April 1521, the group put into an island in the Pacific: Cebu, in what is now the Philippines . As the first Europeans to see these islands, Magellan’s crew would lay the groundwork for the long Spanish colonization of the archipelago, which lasted until 1898. Magellan befriended the local ruler, Raja Humabon, and became embroiled in local politics, which would be his downfall.

On April 27, 1521, Magellan went to war against the ruler Lapu Lapu on Mactan Island, who refused to bring tribute for Raja Humabon and the King of Spain. Fighting in the shallow waters off the shore, Magellan and 49 of his men squared off against over 1,000 Mactanese warriors. Facing such poor odds, Magellan was killed, as well as seven of his men, and his ships returned to Cebu.

A 19th-century illustration of the death of Magellan (left) ; a plaque in Cebu commemorating the site of Magellan's death, Philippines (right).

Raja Humabon, displeased at the newcomer’s loss, hosted a feast where he poisoned a group of some of the highest-ranking members of the expedition, leaving less than half of the original crew. The rest of the members set sail, fleeing to the safety of the sea. On May 2, 1521, those sailors who remained scuttled the Concepción and divided the crew among the remaining two ships, the Trinidad and the Victoria.

For the next six months the ships engaged in piracy as they made their way to the Spice Islands. Finally, in November, they arrived at the island of Tidore, part of the Malukus, and filled their holds with cloves. The Trinidad, which was taking on water, could not be repaired, and it was abandoned along with its crew.

Detail of a 1590 map showing the Victoria , the only ship from the armada to successfully circumnavigate the earth.

The Spaniard Juan Sebastián Elcano was elected captain of the remaining ship Victoria, which set sail west to the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa. This voyage took over six months, during which the crew subsisted on rice alone.

On September 6, 1522, the Victoria at last reached harbor in Spain, nearly three years after first setting out. Of the original 270-strong crew, only eighteen had survived.

Map showing the route and chronology of the circumnavigation voyage from 1519 to 1522.

Although Magellan is remembered today for circumnavigating the globe, his reputation in the expedition’s immediate aftermath took a battering from those who had survived the expedition. Both the sailors of the Victoria , as well as the crew of the San Antonio who had turned back from the Strait of Magellan in 1520, disparaged him.

Juan Elcano, on the other hand, was given a hero’s welcome, even though he had joined the voyage only to receive a royal pardon. He was elevated to the peerage and added a globe and the words “first to circumnavigate me” to his coat of arms. In Spain, the circumnavigation is known as the Magellan-Elcano expedition.

Engraving of Juan Elcano, 1791 (left) ; Juan Elcano's coat of arms, bearing the phrase, "Primus circumdedisti me" ("First to circumnavigate me") (right).

The first recorded circumnavigation had important political, economic, and scientific consequences.

Spain calculated the total circumference of the globe for the first time, and determined that the Pacific was much wider than previously guessed, meaning that they owned some of the Pacific islands as demarcated by the Treaty of Tordesillas. Spain took control of the Philippines, and began exploration of the East Pacific.

Cross erected by Magellan's crew on the island of Cebu.

Magellan’s voyage also opened the door for trade. By the 1600s, Spanish territories produced most of the world’s silver, and around a third of it ended up in China through trade. This would have lasting effects on global strategy and economies, and propel Spain to the height of European power.

Perhaps just as important for us today, however, is the establishment of the International Date Line. Upon return to Spain, the sailors of the Victoria learned that they were a day behind in their reckoning. As they sailed against the Earth’s rotation, they lost hours. Many mysteries of the globe were revealed.

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First Voyage of Circumnavigation by Fernãõ de Magalhães and Juan Sebastián Elcano (1519-1522)

The naval expedition that took place between 1519 and 1522, and which was initiated by Ferdinand Magellan and later concluded by Juan Sebastián Elcano, is a milestone in the history of humankind for various reasons. The most evident one is that the men who concluded this journey were the first to make a complete lap around the globe. This voyage had a significant impact in humankind’s general knowledge, as it made it possible to grasp the vastness of South America and how wide the Pacific Ocean is, all of which paved the way to a new and more concrete notion of the Earth’s dimension. The documents show the preparation of the journey, the complementary relationship between the Portuguese and the Spanish, as well as the very first testimonies of these discoveries. In the aftermath of this journey, the theories espousing that the planet’s surface was mostly covered by land were overcome by what was then unveiled: the planet was in fact blue, with masses of land locked by a great ocean.

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• Region: Europe and North America
• Submitted by: Portugal
• Submitted by: Spain

How Magellan circumnavigated the globe - Ewandro Magalhaes

• Subtitles info
• 0:07 - 0:10 On September 6, 1522,
• 0:10 - 0:13 the "Victoria" sailed into harbor in southern Spain.
• 0:13 - 0:17 The battered vessel and its 18 sailors were all that remained
• 0:17 - 0:21 of a fleet that had departed three years before.
• 0:21 - 0:23 Yet her voyage was considered a success
• 0:23 - 0:27 for the "Victoria" had achieved something unprecedented:
• 0:27 - 0:31 the first circumnavigation of the globe.
• 0:31 - 0:34 But this story really begins in 1494,
• 0:34 - 0:38 two years after Columbus's voyage on behalf of Spain.
• 0:38 - 0:42 Columbus's discovery had prompted the Catholic Spanish rulers
• 0:42 - 0:47 to turn to the Pope to preempt any claims by Portugal to the new lands.
• 0:47 - 0:53 The Pope resolved this dispute by drawing an imaginary line on the world map.
• 0:53 - 0:57 Spain had the right to claim territories west of the divide,
• 0:57 - 0:59 and Portugal to the east.
• 0:59 - 1:04 Spain and Portugal, the two major seafaring super powers at the time,
• 1:04 - 1:10 agreed to these terms in what came to be called the Treaty of Tordesillas.
• 1:10 - 1:13 At the time, these nations had their eyes on the same prize:
• 1:13 - 1:18 trade routes to the Spice Islands in today's Indonesia.
• 1:18 - 1:19 The spices found there,
• 1:19 - 1:21 which were used as seasonings,
• 1:21 - 1:22 food preservatives,
• 1:22 - 1:24 and aphrodisiacs,
• 1:24 - 1:26 were worth many times their weight in gold.
• 1:26 - 1:30 But because of Portugal's control over eastern sea routes,
• 1:30 - 1:34 Spain's only viable option was to sail west.
• 1:34 - 1:37 So when a Portuguese defector named Ferdinand Magellan
• 1:37 - 1:41 claimed that a westward route to the Spice Islands existed,
• 1:41 - 1:45 King Charles made him captain of a Spanish armada,
• 1:45 - 1:48 and gave him all the resources he would need.
• 1:48 - 1:51 Along with a share in the voyage's profits,
• 1:51 - 1:55 he granted Magellan five ships and about 260 men.
• 1:55 - 1:58 The crew included a young slave named Enrique,
• 1:58 - 2:01 captured by Magellan on a previous journey to Malacca,
• 2:01 - 2:03 and Antonio Pigafetta,
• 2:03 - 2:07 a Venetian nobleman seeking adventure.
• 2:07 - 2:11 On September 20, 1519, the fleet weighed anchor
• 2:11 - 2:14 and headed southwest.
• 2:14 - 2:16 After making landfall in what is now Brazil,
• 2:16 - 2:20 it proceeded along the coast, exploring any water way leading inland.
• 2:20 - 2:25 They were looking for the fabled passage linking east and west.
• 2:25 - 2:27 As the weather worsened,
• 2:27 - 2:31 the Spaniards resentment at having a Portuguese captain escalated.
• 2:31 - 2:34 A full-blown mutiny soon erupted,
• 2:34 - 2:38 which Magellan crushed with unspeakable cruelty.
• 2:38 - 2:41 But his problems were only just beginning.
• 2:41 - 2:45 During a reconnaissance mission, the "Santiago" was wrecked by a storm.
• 2:45 - 2:48 Then while exploring a narrow waterway,
• 2:48 - 2:52 the captain of the "San Antonio" took the first opportunity to slip away
• 2:52 - 2:54 and sail back home.
• 2:54 - 2:56 Magellan pressed forward,
• 2:56 - 3:01 and on October 21, he started exploring a navigable sea way.
• 3:01 - 3:03 27 freezing days later,
• 3:03 - 3:06 the three remaining ships emerged from what we now call
• 3:06 - 3:10 the Strait of Magellan into the Mar Pacifico.
• 3:10 - 3:14 The fleet never expected the new ocean to be so vast.
• 3:14 - 3:20 After 98 days at sea, dozens of sailors had succumbed to scurvy and famine.
• 3:20 - 3:22 When they finally reached land again,
• 3:22 - 3:27 Enrique, the young slave, proved able to communicate with the natives.
• 3:27 - 3:29 Their goal couldn't be far.
• 3:29 - 3:35 Sailing further west, Magellan was warmly received by Rajah Humabon of Cebu.
• 3:35 - 3:37 So when the ruler asked him to help subdue
• 3:37 - 3:40 and convert the rebellious chief of Mactan,
• 3:40 - 3:43 the captain readily agreed.
• 3:43 - 3:45 The adventure would be his last.
• 3:45 - 3:49 Overconfident and severely outnumbered, Magellan's force was overwhelmed,
• 3:49 - 3:53 and the native's bamboo spears ended the captain's life.
• 3:53 - 3:55 Yet the voyage had to continue.
• 3:55 - 3:59 Magellan's will specified that Enrique should be freed,
• 3:59 - 4:02 but the expedition still needed an interpreter.
• 4:02 - 4:03 With his freedom at stake,
• 4:03 - 4:06 Enrique is believed to have plotted with the Rajah
• 4:06 - 4:11 to have about 30 of the Spaniards killed at a feast on the beach.
• 4:11 - 4:14 Enrique was never heard from again,
• 4:14 - 4:15 but if he ever made it back to Malacca,
• 4:15 - 4:21 he may have been the first person to actually circumnavigate the globe.
• 4:21 - 4:24 Meanwhile, the survivors burned the Concepcion
• 4:24 - 4:26 and proceeded onward.
• 4:26 - 4:30 They finally reached the Spice Islands in November of 1521
• 4:30 - 4:33 and loaded up on precious cargo.
• 4:33 - 4:36 But they still had to return to Spain.
• 4:36 - 4:40 The "Trinidad" sank shortly after being captured by the Portuguese.
• 4:40 - 4:45 The "Victoria" continued west, piloted by Juan Sebastián Elcano,
• 4:45 - 4:48 one of the pardoned mutineers.
• 4:48 - 4:51 Against all odds, the small vessel made it back to Spain
• 4:51 - 4:55 with a full cargo of cloves and cinnamon,
• 4:55 - 4:59 enough to cover the expedition and turn a profit.
• 4:59 - 5:00 An obsessive chronicler,
• 5:00 - 5:04 Pigafetta described the lands and people they encountered.
• 5:04 - 5:05 With the help of a humble slave,
• 5:05 - 5:08 he also compiled the world's first phrase book
• 5:08 - 5:10 of native languages.
• 5:10 - 5:14 His journal is the reason we can tell this story.
• 5:14 - 5:16 Magellan's legacy lingers.
• 5:16 - 5:20 He had galaxies and space programs named after him.
• 5:20 - 5:23 Elcano, too, was celebrated in Spain
• 5:23 - 5:27 with a coat of arms and his face on currency and stamps.
• 5:27 - 5:29 United by fate, the survivors
• 5:29 - 5:32 and the hundreds who sacrificed their lives
• 5:32 - 5:34 challenged conventional wisdom
• 5:34 - 5:38 and completed a historic journey once thought impossible.

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-magellan-circumnavigated-the-globe-ewandro-magalhaes

On September 6, 1522, the "Victoria" sailed into harbor in southern Spain. The battered vessel and its 18 sailors were all that remained of a fleet that had departed three years before. Yet her voyage was considered a success, for the "Victoria" had achieved something unprecedented – the first circumnavigation of the globe. Ewandro Magalhaes shares the story of Magellan’s journey.

Lesson by Ewandro Magalhaes, animation by TED-Ed.

English subtitles

Revisions compare revisions.

• Revision 2 Edited Jessica Ruby
• Revision 1 Uploaded Jennifer Cody

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This Day In History : September 6

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Magellan’s expedition circumnavigates globe

One of Ferdinand Magellan ’s five ships—the Victoria— arrives at Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Spain, thus completing the first circumnavigation of the world. The  Victoria  was commanded by Basque navigator Juan Sebastian de Elcano, who took charge of the vessel after Magellan was killed in the Philippines in April 1521. During a long, hard journey home, the people on the ship suffered from starvation, scurvy, and harassment by Portuguese ships. Only Elcano and 21 other passengers survived to reach Spain in September 1522.

On September 20, 1519, Magellan set sail from Spain in an effort to find a western sea route to the rich Spice Islands of Indonesia. In command of five ships and 270 men, Magellan sailed to West Africa and then to Brazil, where he searched the South American coast for a strait that would take him to the Pacific. He searched the Rio de la Plata, a large estuary south of Brazil, for a way through; failing, he continued south along the coast of Patagonia. At the end of March 1520, the expedition set up winter quarters at Port St. Julian. On Easter day at midnight, the Spanish captains mutinied against their Portuguese captain, but Magellan crushed the revolt, executing one of the captains and leaving another ashore when his ship left St. Julian in August.

On October 21, he finally discovered the strait he had been seeking. The Strait of Magellan, as it became known, is located near the tip of South America, separating Tierra del Fuego and the continental mainland. Only three ships entered the passage; one had been wrecked and another deserted. It took 38 days to navigate the treacherous strait, and when ocean was sighted at the other end Magellan wept with joy. He was the first European explorer to reach the Pacific Ocean from the Atlantic. His fleet accomplished the westward crossing of the ocean in 99 days, crossing waters so strangely calm that the ocean was named “Pacific,” from the Latin word pacificus, meaning “tranquil.” By the end, the men were out of food and chewed the leather parts of their gear to keep themselves alive. On March 6, 1521, the expedition landed at the island of Guam.

Ten days later, they dropped anchor at the Philippine island of Cebu–they were only about 400 miles from the Spice Islands. Magellan met with the chief of Cebú, who after converting to Christianity persuaded the Europeans to assist him in conquering a rival tribe on the neighboring island of Mactan. In subsequent fighting on April 27, Magellan was hit by a  poisoned arrow and left to die by his retreating comrades.

After Magellan’s death, the survivors, in two ships, sailed on to the Moluccas and loaded the hulls with spice. One ship attempted, unsuccessfully, to return across the Pacific. The other ship, the Victoria, continued west under the command of Juan Sebastian de Elcano. The vessel sailed across the Indian Ocean, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and arrived at the Spanish port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda on September 6, 1522, becoming the first ship to circumnavigate the globe. The Victoria then sailed up the Guadalquivir River, reaching Seville a few days later.

Elcano was later appointed to lead a fleet of seven ships on another voyage to Moluccas on behalf of Emperor Charles V. He died of scurvy en route.

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How Magellan circumnavigated the globe - Ewandro Magalhaes

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On September 6, 1522, the "Victoria" sailed into harbor in southern Spain. The battered vessel and its 18 sailors were all that remained of a fleet that had departed three years before. Yet her voyage was considered a success, for the "Victoria" had achieved something unprecedented – the first circumnavigation of the globe. Ewandro Magalhaes shares the story of Magellan’s journey.

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• Educator Ewandro Magalhaes
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Planning a Circumnavigation

THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. PLEASE READ OUR DISCLOSURE FOR MORE INFO.

Last Updated on September 13, 2023 by Amy

Plotting world circumnavigation routes is a lot easier than it sounds.  There are cruising boats LITERALLY all over the world.  There are boats in the Northwest passage (up and over Canada), in the Antarctic, and everywhere in between.  There are a few key things to take into consideration, but 95%* of circumnavigation routes follow the same general course.

Table of Contents - Click to Jump

Insurance Restrictions on Circumnavigation Routes

There are two major restrictions put on us by our vessel insurance; stay out of highly pirated areas and stay out of named storm zones.  Insurance restrictions come with the option to ignore them.  You can always go to these restricted places, BUT if something happens, your insurance will not be covered.  Another option is that you can pay significantly more to be covered in these places as well.  We have made the choice for ourselves to follow the restrictions set by our insurance.

By definition, piracy is the act of attacking and robbing ships at sea.  By that main definition, the Caribbean is one of the worst places for piracy.  Petty theft of boats and their tenders is a major issue in some parts of the Caribbean, and steps should be taken to protect yourself and your assets.

However, the piracy of the biggest concern is murder and kidnapping.  There are two main hotspots where our insurance will not cover us;  the Philippines and the Red Sea/Suez Canal (hereby referred to as simply Suez).   Again, people cruise literally everywhere in the world, and there are people who cruise the Philippines (2015 reports state 200 yachts).  The other side of the coin is true too.  Just because you avoid the Suez or the Philippines does not mean you will avoid being kidnapped or murdered.

It’s up to you to decide the level of risk you are willing to take when planning out a circumnavigation route.

Tropical Storms

In North America, it’s a hurricane.  South of the equator, it’s cyclones.  In Asia-Pacific, it’s typhoons.  Either way, your insurance probably has a word or two to say about where you spend tropical storm season.

Our insurance requires us to avoid certain parts of the world during storm seasons.  This is why there is a mass exodus of boats from the Caribbean every year.  Our insurance requires us to be north of roughly the Florida-Georgia line.  Now, that doesn’t mean we are safe from hurricanes, but it does mean if something happens, we will have the  privilege of consoling ourselves of our losses by applying for an insurance claim.

For those moving quickly, your primary concern is systems in the southern hemisphere.  Just make sure you are moving from east to west quickly enough to pass through the storm zone.

World circumnavigation routes, like ours, usually have you dipping out of these storm zones for the season. It’s a great time to haul your boat out for annual maintenance, like we did in New Zealand, Australia, and Thailand.

Tradewinds for Circumnavigating

Around the equator lies the doldrums.  This is typically an area with very little wind.  However, each ocean has a wind pattern.  In the northern hemisphere, winds circulate clockwise.  In the southern hemisphere, winds circulate counterclockwise.  This means that on either side of the equator lies a band of wind flowing from east to west.  This is why 95%* of cruisers plan their circumnavigation routes to sail from east to west.

Factoring the Wind into Outfitting Your Boat

Knowing where you will sail will help you determine what kind of sail performance you are looking for in a boat.  For someone doing a typical circumnavigation route, sailing east to west, you’ll be sailing downwind a lot.  Some monohull owners have complained to us about how uncomfortable their boat is sailing dead downwind.  Catamarans, however, typically perform best downwind.  We have a very smooth ride when we are traveling with the wind and waves.

Outfitting your sail locker also factors in where you are sailing.  For a downwind circumnavigation, spinnakers are highly useful – or so we hear.  We’ve not had terrible success with our spinnaker, but find our screecher to be very useful.  That could possibly be because we deviate enough from the standard downwind route.

For more about sail configurations in a cruising catamaran, read our Sail Trim blog post.

Those Who Sail West to East Circumnavigation Routes

There are a few who do sail the “wrong way”.  It can definitely be done and done fast.  However, you need to have a boat that sails well to wind.  While most catamarans sail well downwind, we do not sail well into the wind.  However, if your catamaran has daggerboards, you’ll sail much better to wind than a catamaran without daggerboards.

Circumnavigation Routes & Bottlenecks

This is why most circumnavigations follow the same basic route.  There are major bottlenecks to passing around the continents, so again, we’ve got the 95%* of boats funneling into one narrow part of the world.

Panama Canal

We paid $1300 to transit the Panama Canal because the only other option is to sail against the wind and waves around either North America or South America.  Taking one of the high latitudes routes is pretty dang extreme, takes a significant amount of time, and a toll on ship and crew.  Ushuaia, a port of call in Argentina, reported 64 boats in 2015, versus 1,079 boats transiting the canal – 95% transiting the canal*.

Torres Strait

The Torres Strait occupies the space between Australia and New Guinea.  It’s fairly small, just 650 nm between Thursday Island and Indonesia’s first port of clearance.

There are some cruisers (like our friends on S/V Field Trip) who are going over the top of New Guinea to get to Southeast Asia.  Getting any further north than that requires dealing with the Philippines – either through or around the top of the Philippines into the South China Sea.

Cape of Good Hope

Traveling around South Africa requires tackling the Cape of Good Hope, which is not to be taken lightly due to the challenges in the winds and currents.  The alternative is the Suez.  There used to be a rally passing through the Suez.  The other alternative is to hire private security, but that’s pretty complex.  Reports show 358 boats sailing through Cape Town verses 19 through the Suez – again, 95% choose Cape Town*.   I know the Mediterranean is a great cruising ground, but we decided if we want to cruise it, we’d rather cross the Atlantic twice than go through the Suez.

How Long Should a Circumnavigation Take?

Barring racing yachts who are smashing world records, it’s not uncommon to complete a circumnavigation in a year and a half.  This is a fairly straightforward and quick route.

The World ARC is a one and a half year rally that circumnavigates the world.  They have a fantastic route and schedule on their website.

Longer circumnavigation routes still use the same general track, but add on detours.   For example, we extended our South Pacific portion into two seasons by sailing south to spend cyclone season in New Zealand.

We’ve met sailors who have taken 15 or more years to circumnavigate. That’s a lot of detours!

Our Circumnavigation Route

Our sailing circumnavigation route took us four years and three months to travel all the way around the world. You can read the summary of our world circumnavigation for more details.

Book: World Cruising Routes

This is LITERALLY the bible of sailing around the world. If you have ever asked yourself (or, god help you, asked on a forum) “I wonder when the best time to sail from X to Y is?” the answer is in this book.

Even though we know our route, I’m still pulling out this book every so often to look up possibilities. It’s a great guide to planning your circumnavigation route overall and planning each individual passage.

Buy Jimmy Cornell’s World Cruising Routes .

Book: Cornell’s Ocean Atlas

This handy reference book is full of windgrams  – “a summary of wind direction and strength derived from the individual windroses along a specific ocean route “. Basically this means you can open a chart for a particular region and month and you will be able to tell where the wind “usually” blows from.

Buy Cornell’s Ocean Atlas .

Book Review: How to Sail Around the World Part-Time

• Who: Linus Wilson and his wife, Janna
• Available: Kindle, Kindle Unlimited or Paperback
• Published: January 2016
• Editing (scale of 1-10, 10 is best): 10

Linus Wilson has been cruising part-time on his 31-foot Island Packet. This is his second book, and in it, he details how one could sail a circumnavigation part-time. I agree – it is possible and might be the solution more potential cruisers should consider.

Wilson pulls a lot of statistics about sailing. Did you know fewer people complete a sailing circumnavigation every year than climb Mount Everest? An hour spent above base camp on Mount Everest is 264 times more dangerous than an hour sailing?

One question unanswered is how long it would actually take to sail the world part-time. Of course, it depends on how much time you dedicate every year, but hypothetically:

• Year 1: the Caribbean to Panama, store in Panama
• Year 2: Panama to French Polynesia, store in FP
• Year 3: French Polynesia to Fiji, store in Fiji
• Year 4: Fiji to Australia, store in Australia
• Year 5: Australia to South Africa, store in SA
• Year 6: SA to the Caribbean

Of course, you’d see a lot less than you would on a 6-year circumnavigation like ours, but you get it done in a fraction of the cost and less risk.

Bottom line: it was a short, interesting, and informative read. If you don’t want to full-time sail, or can’t convince your partner to full-time sail, consider how fulfilling a part-time adventure could be.

*Jimmy Cornell is the foremost expert on tracking cruising boats, and the statistics for this blog post were pulled from his article Where do all the boats go?

23 Comments

Wonderful article. I am from Goa, India. I wish you had come to Goa. I would have happily looked after your boat, and you could have travelled through India and enjoyed its majestic and diverse cultures and sites. I am 67 years old grandfather. I have been coastal and competitive sailing for the past 50 years. I am now planning to go on a circumnavigation on a Leopard 39 sailboat starting from Goa. Hoping to do it in 2 to 3 years. Your article and videos have inspired me. All the best. Thank you for your well written and detailed articles.

Wow, great to hear from you! It is amazing to us when we hear from people like you all over the world! We have some friends who visited Cochin last year on their boat, I think that’s a popular stop for cruisers. I know that formalities in India are complicated.

I have never been, but I love the food and the culture that I’ve experienced so far! I hope we get to visit someday.

Do sail down to Goa anytime you want. I will sort out all you entry formalities. Wish you all the best. Keep inspiring us with your wonderful sailing and videos.

Hi, how many miles is it when circumnavigating around the earth please? Captain cook did it in 60k, but is this because you cant just sail direct around the earth due to islands and storms etc?

Hi! Our circumnavigation was about 34,000 nm. You can read more about it here: https://outchasingstars.com/world-sailing-circumnavigation-summary/

Amy, when you and David are on a long passage, what kind of watch schedule do you keep? Assuming you’re both healthy (unlike your passage to St. Helena), what do you find to be a comfortable limit for the number of days at sea before exhaustion begins to set in?…or does it ever set in for you guys?

We do a soft 7-hour watch. The only actual watch is I do 7 pm to 2 am. Then David goes on watch while I sleep. When I wake up we switch, and he naps. Then when he’s up, I nap. By then it’s time to do the whole thing all over again! The worst night is the second. You’ve been tired, but not tired enough to sleep off your normal routine yet. But after the second night it gets a lot better. Exhaustion does not set in long-term – boredom does!

I really enjoyed reading your article, it’s very informative although that I don’t have a boat, it’s too expensive where I’m from, and it would take a fortune to be registered if it’s allowed in the first place, as authorities put a lot of restrictions for civil citizen to do so after military took over in 60s, for example we can’t camp as a first without a security permit bla bla bla that it raerly issued or thread fishing without a license and permit bla bla bla….etc, there isn’t a proper Marina for docking not even mention the amount of visas that it required. I love to sail one-day but till that time I’m really enjoy reading and watching. I’m from Egypt, and it makes me sad that sailors stop passing by, as we have a great shores, great diving spots, the Suez canal, and the right wind, but to be considered as unstable area for the Somalian pirates acts, and all the Egyptian governmental claims about fighting terrorist and repel ghost they imagine, this is horrible. It’s really tearing me that after around 8000 years on Earth people couldn’t yet handle their conflicts. I’m sorry to make it very long. Glad that some people had the privilege to try and be able to chasing stars and wind. Godspeed

Sarah, thank you for your comment! It’s amazing to us that we have someone reading from Egypt!

I recently read a memoir about a yacht who sailed through the Suez, and it sounded like they had a lot of difficulties, not just with pirates and corruption, but it’s hard sailing too! Egypt is very high up on my list of places I would truly love to visit because of its amazing history and culture.

We hope that somehow you get to enjoy sailing, even if it’s just continuing to follow us along.

You are amazing, all the best in your upcoming, and hopefully everyone can enjoy sailing in Egypt one day, and be able to see you here in the future.

Hi Amy, first, what a nice simple but very informative blog. I have run a ‘sailing for disabled people’ organisation for the last 25 years and as part of our 25th anniversary are planning to build a 20m cat for a round the world adventure. Planned for start in 2025 I need to get people to understand the real dangers and risks of such travel as well as the good things, would you mind if I used your blog in this matter, I would of course say that is yours. Details of us are under the ‘new projects button’ at http://www.disabledsailing.org

Hi Mike! You are welcome to link to our blog post. If you need anything beyond that, send us an email and we can talk more!

Excellent and informative article. I’d just like to point out the following statement where it states: “Ushuaia, a port of call in Chile, reported 64 boats in 2015….”

Please note that Ushuaia is not located in Chile, but rather within the Tierra del Fuego province of Argentina.

Thank you so much for the correction! I will fix it right away. Geography lesson of the day. 😉

Now you can completely delete my comment 🙂 It’s all sorted. Happy and safe sailing to you and your family. Antonella

Nice write up. Very helpful. Keep up the good work. However sailing through the suez is not really that dangerous. My friends Ingo and Maya sailed through from turkey to India and onward to thailand and had no probs with pirates.

I do hear that the piracy situation is improving. I do think there are a lot of good reasons to go around South Africa though, and I am glad we did.

Great informative article, thanks for sharing.

Where do you store your bladder when it is full? Also, thanks for all the info and videos. It has helped us a great deal in preparation for purchasing our boat,

Thank you! I’m glad you’ve found it helpful. We store the duel bladder in the cockpit.

On the longer passages, how much extra fuel do you carry in your blatter tank. What motering range do you think is sufficient for your longer passages?. I’m thinking the Helia goes about 750 miles on 125 gallons of diesel. Thanks Jon

Our fuel tank holds 125 gallons, plus four 5-gallon jerry cans, plus the 50-gallon fuel bladder, to total 195 gallons. If we motor at 1800 rpms with one engine it’s roughly .8 gph. Theoretically, our tanks should take us about 900 nm. Of course, we go months and thousands of miles without using all of our diesel.

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