The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1901-10-19
Observation-Disclosures
HISTORICAL
DEPARTMENT.
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First Vovage Round the world.

First Voyage Round the World.
The first time that the sphericity Of
the earth was demonstrated by actually
travelling around its entire circumfer
ence was in 1922, when John Sebas-
| tian Elcano, the famous Spanish navi-
| gator, completed the voyage begun by
| Fernando Magellan the year before.
| Magellan was a youth of i years of
age at the time when Christopher Co
lumbus made his famous voyage of dis
covery, and was naturally filed with
enthusiasm over the wonderful event.
He had been noted from boyhood for
his piety. bravery and enterprise, and
as he grew up he conceived an uncon-
trollable ambition to make d voyage
around the world by sailing round the
| southern coast of America. AS Column
| bus had conflded in the good monk OF
La Rabida his long cherished scheme,
and through him sought and secured
! the necessary equipment for his voyage
of discovery. so did Magellan apply to
| Cardinal Ximenes and King Charles,
and was given every encouragement.
| A little squadron of five ships was de-
tailed and placed under his command,
and they were fitted out at the old
seaport of st. Lucar.
All was ready for departure on Sept.
90, 1919. The Holy Sacrifice of the mass
was offered up for the success of the
enterprise, and the admiral, al the head
of his crews, received holy communion.
| The religious spirit which animated
these brave men starting out on their
perilOuS enterprise was evidenced in
every step. Magellan's flagship was
named the Trinity, and then there were
the immaculate Conception, the st. An
thony and the st. James. The crews
numbered go men, and John Sebastian
Elcano was the pilot of the expedition.
After a two months voyage they
reached the shores of southern Brazil,
where they landed and offered up a SOL
emn mass of Thanksgiving for their safe
ty. They reached the La Plata river in
the following January. He cruised
southwark until the month of April in
the face of severe storms. by which
one of his ships was lost and a mutiny
of his disconnected sailors was only
suppressed by his presenting a stern
front and enforcing the strictest dis
cipline. He discovered the southern
ocean on Oct ., 1920, after having
wintered for the months which bring
us summer in the northern latitude.
Passing through the perilous straits
which still take the name of their il
lustrious discoverer, he passed into the
western ocean, which he called the Pa
cific.'i While cruising among these
islands he made converts of several OF
the duSky princes among the natives.
A bold chief on the island of Matan
treacherously raised an army of 1,5OO
followers and rose against the king OF
Sebu, who had become a convert. Ma
gellan landed on the island with about
sixty veterans to meet the rebellious
chief, and in the fight which followed
he was mortally wounded by a poisoned
arrow, and died on April II, 1921, at
the age Of Al.
Elcano succeeded to the command,
and resolved with the two ships that
now remained of the original squadron,
to continue the course laid out by Ma
gellan. After visiting some of the
smaller islands the Voyagers touched
at the great island of Borneo, where
they were we'll received. From there
they visited the celebrated Molucca, or
Spice island, where they met with Por-
tuguese traders, who had reached the
same islands by the eastern route. A
cargo of spices was taken in, but at
the moment of sailing the Trinity
sprung a leak. 1t was agreed that
the Victoria should proceed alone. Ell
cano directed the PROV of his ship
coasted the southern shores
of Java and Sumatra, and soon found
himself in the Indian ocean. He rounded
the Cape of Good Hope in a fearful
storm, and after many weeks of weary
sailing. suffering and disaster, the
tempest tossed Victoria entered the
harbor of San Lucar on Sept. 6, 1922,
having completed the circuit of the
globe in a little less than three years.
The first act of the brave Elcano on
landing was to form his diminished
weather beaten crew in line and pro-
ceeded to the nearest church, and there, |
on their knees before the altar, these |
veteran Catholic pioneers who |
first sailed around the world |
sang the "Te Deum" in thanks |
giving to heaven for their safe |
arrival home. The news of the |
Victoria's arrival made a great sensa-
ton in Spain, and soon spread over
Europe. King Charles V invited Ell
cano and his comrades to the court and |
gave them a splendid reception. The
gallant voyager recounted the thrilling
story of his journey, and each of the
survivors received a handsome reward
and a life pension of 500 ducats was
conferred upon Elcano, with many
other marks of the royal favor. The
discoverer died at sea four
years later, on Aug. IA, 1926.