There ship Victoria it was one of the five ships that made up the fleet with which Magellan, in 1519, left Spain for reach the Moluccas Islandsin Indonesia, passing from the west on the orders of Charles V. Il 6 September 1522 the Victoria, commanded by Juan Sebastián Elcano after the death of Magellan, it was the only one to land on the Spanish coasts againhaving circumnavigated the globe. The other four ships were unable to return because during the voyage they were destroyed or seriously damaged.
Having traveled west, when the Victoria landed again in Spain after three years, the men on board were convinced it was September 7th, not the 6th: they had counted the days on board correctly but obviously, sailing westward, they first went “back” gradually by an hour, according to the movement of the sun, then they returned sailing eastward, therefore “losing” a day on the calendar.
Magellan’s expedition and the role of the ship Victoria
The 20 September 1519from the Spanish coasts of Seville, the expedition left – commissioned by the King of Spain Charles V – commanded by the Portuguese Ferdinand Magellanwith the aim of opening a western route to the Maluku Islandscalled the Spice Islands, in Indonesia, without having to pass through Africa.
The eastward route, which therefore passed through the Cape of Good Hope, was in fact under Portuguese control, as established by the Treaty of Tordesillas which, in 1494, had clearly divided the routes between the two maritime powers. Magellan was Portuguese, but he sailed in the service of Spain: his, and his men’s, task was to open a new trade route passing through the Pacific Ocean.
The expedition departed from Sanlúcar with five ships – Trinidad, San Antonio, Concepción, Santiago and, precisely, the Victoria, commanded by Luis de Mendoza – and about 237 men. The scholar and traveler from Vicenza was also sailing on board Antonio Pigafetta who, during the journey, kept a diary of the expedition which has come down to us.
On April 27, 1521, after two years of navigation, Magellan died during a clash on the island of Mactan, in the Philippines: the command of the expedition, after a few steps, was entrusted to the Basque Juan Sebastian Elcanoofficer of the Concepción. They then reached the Moluccas only the Victoria and the Trinidadbut the latter was too damaged, and he could not leave for home.
The ship Victoria, however, sailed west on 21 December 1521 and, after passing the Cape of Good Hope, on 6 September 1522 the Victoria landed in Sanlúcar – and then on 8 September in Seville – with only 18 men on board, including Elcano and Pigafetta. There Victoria, led by the commander Elcano had actually, for the first time in history, circumnavigated the globe.
King Charles V gave him a coat of arms with the Latin phrase “primus circumdedisti me“literally “you first went around me”.
The first ship to complete the round-the-world trip that “missed” a day
When the ship Victoria landed in Sanlúcar, for the men on board it was the 7th of Septemberbut he was on the ground “again” on the 6tha date officially remembered as the anniversary of the ship’s arrival. This is due to the fact that, sailing west they “climbed” backwards with respect to the movement of the sun, which is why today, if you go from Europe to the West, you have to set the clock back.
Antonio Pigafetta noted the dates in his diary, and obviously had not posed this problem: when they went back, completing the tour, in July 1522 they landed in Cape Verde, where they were convinced it was the July 9thWhile there it was “already” the 10th. Simply the men on board the ships, without taking into account the fact that in different parts of the earth the sun rises at different times, they had counted one less sunrise.
A replica of it once again circumnavigated the globe
Today there are three replicas of the Victoria ship: the first, built in Spain in 1991 after years of careful historical research, it traveled around the world between 2004 and 2006.
Today, this impressive reconstruction is managed by Fundacion Nao Victoria and does not have a fixed location, but travels to various ports as a historical testimony.
However, you can visit it at Sevilleat the Guadalquivir pier in the Exploraterra space, another fixed replica, the Nao Victoria 500built in 2019.
TO Punta Arenasin Chile, on the Strait of Magellan, opened the Nao Victoria Museum to the public in 2011, where you can visit another replica of the famous ship.
