(bright upbeat music)
(bright instrumental music)
(tense dramatic instrumental music)
- Ah, we're gonna hit those rocks!
- There's a passage over there, steer west!
Hard to port side, quick!
(groaning)
(dramatic instrumental music)
- (gasps) Oh, they're alright.
Oh what luck, good sailors.
But now at last the worst is over.
Around the world he would be the first sailor ever to do it.
An extraordinary accomplishment, all glory to him!
- All glory to whom?
- Oh Magellan, who else?
Now I'll tell you the whole story.
Now listen.
- Valladolid.
This is the residence of the King of Spain.
(bright majestic music)
- Sire these two men come to us
with the highest recommendation.
And they hope you will hear of a plan of benefit to Spain.
This scholar Faleiro is a distinguished astronomer
and mapmaker.
He claims to know a route to the Indies by sailing west.
And Mr Magellan, a Portuguese gentleman,
an experienced navigator,
disposed to leading any such expedition.
- A new spice route?
- Yes sire, as well as the other
untold riches of the Indies.
- I would like first to hear the opinion
of Archbishop Fonsika, head of the Indies Council.
- It is always interesting your majesty
to know more about our distant possessions.
- But look here Magellan how is that as a Portuguese
you do not address your sovereign,
my estimable cousin Manuel the First?
Who better could finance your project?
- Majesty I served my country with honor
in Africa and the Indies,
but a Moor's arrow in Africa struck.
Now everybody says that I'm good for nothing.
- Oh, ah, hum, what will be the direction
that you will take your expedition on?
- We sail around South America, there's a strait there,
right there Your Majesty.
- Are you absolutely certain?
- I would stake my life on it Majesty, oh, uhmm.
- I would like to see them.
- See them?
Oh my glasses, why of course, there they are.
- Looking through these glass pieces everything's fuzzy.
I fail to see how you'll find the passage.
- The King is giving a twentieth
of all the riches we acquire and five ships.
Do you realize he's giving us five ocean going ships?!
- Wait until we see them.
- Perhaps I was wrong to dismiss Magellan.
If he finds a passage it will not be so good for Portugal.
What is to be done?
- Just eliminate him.
- No, no, no, but you Alvarez go after Seville
and try and stop the expedition.
Don't let it leave.
- It won't leave Your Majesty.
You may be sure of that.
(dramatic instrumental music)
- Look, rotten timber in every ship.
It will be a year before we leave.
They all have to be repaired.
(sniggering)
(tools clanging)
(horses neighing)
(cow mooing)
(Alvarez sniggering)
- Put me down I'm not cargo!
(exclaims and yelps)
- We thought there was herring in the barrel,
well, something fishy (laughs).
- This is Juan de Cartagena, your second captain.
You command the San Antonio.
And here's Quesada he'll command the Concepcion.
- No doubt a Spaniard.
- Yes as it happens.
- Well it appears it won't be an easy voyage.
And what is your name?
- My name is Albo, pilot and helmsman.
I'm Greek, Captain sir.
- A Greek, welcome aboard Albo.
(men groaning and straining)
- Higher, higher than you think you can!
- Are you by chance the Captain Ferdinand Magellan sir?
- Yes I am, what do you want?
- It is my understanding that you intend
to find a western route to the Indies.
I would like to go along.
- [Magellan] And why do you want to come?
- It's going to be an extraordinary trip
and I want to note everything down.
- This voyage is dangerous.
And just where are you from?
- Me, I'm Venetian.
- I am Portuguese, commanding a Spanish expedition.
Now Portugal and Spain are rivals
in the spice trade and Venice as well.
I find it very curious that someone
from Venice wants to go on my voyage just for fun.
Naturally it wouldn't be to discover
my secret route to the East.
- I don't represent Venice.
I am Antonio Pigafetta, a Venetian gentleman,
a Knight of Rhodes.
I just want to chronicle the story of your trip!
I will pay my way if you like.
- Very well Antonio.
But remember nobody is certain of returning alive.
My servant here will show you to your quarters.
- Err Fernando!
I am unable to depart on this expedition
and neither can you, I fear.
- And why is that my friend, why not?
- (stutters) It's my horoscope.
It says that I won't survive the journey.
And as for you it's the same thing,
you won't live, we'll just have to call it off.
- We can't fight our destiny.
I'll be terribly unhappy taking the voyage without you.
The flotilla will follow me at all times gentlemen.
At night a fire will burn, you are not
to lose contact with my ship.
Two fires if I change course, three for dropping sails.
Understand?
Those are my orders.
- And what will our course be exactly Captain?
- The Canary Islands.
I'll give you additional orders as required.
That'll be all.
- Well, we shall see.
(bells ringing)
(crowd cheering)
(inspirational instrumental music)
- Captain aren't we headed for the Indies by sailing west?
West would be that direction towards the setting sun
but we're headed in a southerly direction Captain!
- Yes Antonio you're right,
the ship is on a southerly course,
but I wouldn't worry, we're on the right one.
- You're sure this way we'll reach the Indies?
- You can't be sure of anything in this life.
- We follow Magellan's signal flame,
orders of our commander until further orders.
(uplifting instrumental music)
(thunder rumbling)
- Break out the axes!
If the storm gets worse fell the masts.
- Magellan you're an incompetent captain!
Why aren't we sailing west,
you very nearly put us all underwater?!
- Why I've no need to justify my orders!
I command this flotilla in the name of the King of Spain.
- You did but now I'm commanding Magellan.
- Cartagena, you are under arrest.
Put him in irons.
(frantic music)
- No put Magellan in irons, that's the arrangement.
- Mutiny is punishable by death hanging.
- Ohh, just a little mistake Admiral I assure you.
- In the hold with the prisoner, obey my orders.
And as for you, watch your step.
I won't be so lenient next time.
Now go back to your ships and follow until further orders.
Course, southwest.
(uplifting music)
- Land ho!
- That's Brazil, we'll be able
to take on supplies at last, just in time.
- Oh my a flying fish.
Gyahh!
(laughter)
(annoyed exclamation)
(speaking native language)
(happy exclamation)
(speaking native language)
(fire crackling)
(shivering)
- The end of March.
- And we're in the Southern Hemisphere, Winter starts.
- I think that we'd better await Spring here Antonio.
The ships will be sheltered during the Winter.
We're not far from the Antarctic.
This is a good place
for us to stay and wait for warmer weather.
We have no choice.
- But it means staying for weeks.
Even months.
- Yes three or four months.
- What everybody wants to return to Spain.
Nobody believes in your impossible secret passage now.
- I don't care, that's an order and you will obey.
Quesada, you watch your step.
(sneaky laughter)
- We're going to mutiny, we take the San Antonio
so we get rid of that Portuguese nuisance.
(jazzy music)
- Captain Mesceda you're under arrest.
(yawning)
(giggling)
- Stop, stop the punishment for mutiny is death.
(stuttering)
You aren't going to mutiny, nyah.
(laughter)
- There's the Victoria,
Captain Mendoza's Spanish should be with us.
We can count on him.
Shh, leading a mutiny don't make a move.
What about it Mendoza are you with us?
- Yes, I get my sword, won't be a minute.
(snoring)
- What's happened Cartagena,
does it mean you've just been released.
- Yeah I'm taking command of our expedition finally.
- [Sleeping Man] What about Magellan?
That's enough talk.
- Watch it!
- What is it Antonio,
you run as if the devils were at your heel.
- Captain it's a mutiny.
They've liberated Cartagena,
and have commandeered three ships.
- The scoundrels, I'll hang them.
(jazzy music)
Quesada says he wants to negotiate.
Fine, he may come aboard.
- There he is, he bespooked you aboard his ship.
- I smell a rat, I will see him in a neutral rowboat, go on.
- They're on their way here, when their boat draws alongside
our ship they won't be seen on the San Antonio crew deck.
Put 24 sailors in a rowboat now.
(battle exclamations)
(jazzy music)
- The sailors back on the Victoria
or are all riding towards Magellan sir.
(yelping in pain)
(threatening exclamations)
- [Crowd] Attack!
- Now we're in possession of three ships,
we can block the entrance.
(jazzy music)
- Weigh anchor.
Fire!
- Fire at our own ships?
No offense sir but I couldn't, no.
(angry stuttering)
- [Sailor] Fire!
- We were surrendering Magellan, nothing to see, I am.
- That's one less, now we've one more to recover, that ship.
(grunting)
- I surrender Captain, I can't go on.
- The mutineers will be tried tomorrow.
- Quesada, you instigated a mutiny,
and you killed an officer of His Majesty.
Do you admit to this?
- Yes.
- [Judge] You Cartagena,
were one of the leaders in the mutiny?
- Ah, yes, but I surrendered,
and I never killed anyone at all.
- As for you others, you are weak men.
You were led into rebellion.
Quesada, you murdered,
and you must be given your punishment.
Sentenced to decapitation.
You, Cartagena, you still had mutiny.
Every navy in the world punishes mutineers
with a sentence of death!
- Oh umm.
- But fortunately, you refrained from killing.
Therefore your life will be spared.
You will remain in this land.
The rest will be hanged and may God have mercy.
- To all of you I grant a pardon.
All of you will be needed when we sail again.
And you have Magellan to thank for preserving for your lives
(crowd cheering)
(serious music)
(sword whooshing)
Serrao, take the Santiago
and carry out a reconnaissance mission to the South.
We will wait for you here.
- Ya.
- It's two weeks now they've been gone.
We can't abandon hope.
- What's all this?
- They're back.
You've returned safe.
- But the Santiago has been sunk.
A sudden storm and she floundered.
- But you are alive.
That's the most important thing because you all returned.
Alright let's go.
(uplifting music)
- I can't find bottom.
- A splendid sight, it means it's most likely a strait.
I know it's right here, I'm sure.
Take the Concepcion.
You and the San Antonio will sail on reconnaissance.
If there's a passage, we'll follow you in.
- Aye aye captain.
(dramatic music)
- A passage, set your guns west to southwest.
(heavy grunting)
- That's it, they've entered the passage.
Yes, I was absolutely sure.
(cannon fire)
- Shh, listen listen.
(cannon fire)
- Fabulous Captain, but you were sure of the passage.
Right, you knew it all the time?
- My young friend, nothing is ever certain.
But I am sure of that passage.
Forward!
(dramatic music)
- I'll take the southwest branch,
and the Victoria will follow.
You Serrao will take the southeast branch
with the San Antonio.
Where is the San Antonio?
- The pilot Gomez put Captain Serrao in irons.
I believe he sailed back to Spain but I can't!
- That's terrible because it
was transporting almost all of our provisions.
- Today is Wednesday the 28th of November, 1520.
We have sailed through the straits
and are entering another ocean.
It is very peaceful.
Magellan named it the Pacific.
- Well Antonio, I trust you've put down everything.
You should write it's the first time ships have navigated
from the Atlantic Ocean, into the Pacific Ocean.
- Yes Captain.
How much further do we have
to sail before we reach the Indies?
- The astronomer said 1,000 miles, but um.
- But?
- But I believe it's more like thousands.
- [Narrator] Magellan was right he sailed some 12,000 miles.
One of the most arduous voyages ever undertaken.
(sad music)
(hungry exclamation)
- A month and a half since
the passage and still no land in sight.
Antonio we must have covered more than 3,000 miles.
- The astronomer was mistaken.
They're all wrong, even the maps are wrong.
We're running low on drinking water and food.
We will have to begin rationing everything.
- [Antonio Voiceover] Three months with no fresh food
and almost no water.
And what we do get is yellow and brackish.
We are surviving
on old insect infested rat fouled biscuit crumbs.
Sometimes there are odd bits
of ox-hide that have protected the main yard arm.
The men are holding up as well as they can.
Nobody talks about it,
but we're all wondering if this is the end.
- God rest his immortal soul.
(splashing)
- Over a hundred days, nowhere, now when will it ever end?
- [Narrator] Magellan just missed
the Marqvises Isles and Tahiti.
Where abundant fruit would have saved him,
and all of his men from scurvy.
At last he reached the island of Guam.
In the Mariana's Archipelago.
(dramatic music)
- Look it's their welcome.
(sneaky laughter)
Lower a boat now!
Our boat, they're making off with it as well.
This is an island of thieves.
(dramatic music)
- Wow!
- My belly is finally filled up.
- That can't be the Maracas, we're too far north.
We'll stop here and rest.
And we'll take on traditions.
(upbeat music)
- Hey come and see.
Help, come and see what I found.
(happy exclamation)
(upbeat music)
(native language)
- He says the chief invites us to his village.
- Yes with pleasure.
Way to greet him.
(laughter)
- I'm glad you understand their language.
- Yes it reminds me of my native tongue.
- That's right!
Your home isn't very far away.
Then that means, that you're the first man ever
to go around the world.
(giggling)
(upbeat music)
- The king and his nephew want to be baptized
to show that they are friends.
- Go tell Padre.
- I baptize you Charles and you Ferdinand in the name of.
- Captain I've a message for you,
from Charles and Ferdinand.
- Who are they?
- You know sir, the chief and his nephew.
- Oh yes, and what exactly do they want?
- They say now that they are Christians,
that you're their brother.
And it is your duty to defeat their uh.
- [Magellan] Yes defeat who?
- Enemy Lapu-Lapu.
- I wouldn't say that we're here in peace.
- If you don't come Captain, they'll think you're scared.
- Alright I'll come.
- No Captain, you mustn't go.
It'll be much too dangerous, your life depend on.
- Could be that they're converging on to trap us.
- If my men go into battle, then I will lead them.
(dramatic music)
(battle yells)
- Don't risk your life Captain.
We need you.
- I won't, don't worry Antonio.
(battle cries)
- Hey, our captain's in danger
(battle yelps)
(dying gasp)
- On this day, the 27th of April 1521 in the Philippines,
Ferdinand Magellan, after discovering
the sea passage between the Atlantic and Pacific, died.
Our guiding light is extinguished.
- Hey wait a minute.
He was dead, he didn't go around the world did he?
- Well he had been in India long before this voyage.
So Magellan did go around the world.
But what he demonstrated was that
you can sail around South America's southern coast.
- And did Magellan's ships ever go back?
Did they return to Spain?
- Of the five ships that had left, only one returned home.
- Just one?
- Yeah that's right.
And of the 218 sailors only 18 returned.
- We now have three ships, and only a hundred men.
Undermanned the ships can't operate.
- We'll have to abandon one of them.
- You're right, we'll abandon the Concepcion.
She's in bad condition anyway.
- [Narrator] And so they burned the Concepcion.
And the Trinidad and the Victoria sailed on.
- Finally, the Malacca Islands.
They're called the spice islands.
We can just put in and see what they're like.
(footsteps)
(mischievous music)
- Look, saffron, clothes, look at all of them
- Cinnamon, red pepper!
- They're worth a fortune.
- You like?
(happy exclamations)
- Tantala?
(understanding exclamations)
(laughter)
(footsteps)
- I'd rather we sail around the tip of Africa.
It's much shorter.
- As it's a shorter route
however we could run into the Portuguese.
- He's right,
I would prefer the Pacific route with the Trinidad.
It's much safer.
- That way is too much long.
- [Narrator] Well the Victoria and the Trinidad
were never to return.
And after six months of hard sailing,
the Victoria finally returned to Seville.
But the ship and men were in a sorry state.
(melancholy music)
Just think, 18 survivors.
And when they set out,
there had been more than 200 on five ships.
(footsteps)
- Ahhhh!
I'll buy the lot!
- Here we have so all these spices.
Over approximately 10,000 tons they cost.
My congratulations, you're entitled to your full shares.
But first we must deduct the amount we paid for the spices,
your provisions, and naturally the price
of the four ships that were lost.
And you will agree the Victoria's in terrible condition.
Really a right off for us,
so we deduct each value from the profits.
(shocked exclamation)
Now we must deduct 4/5s of the total.
That which belongs to the king.
And the rest you can share between you.
(upbeat music)
- Come on my friends, this way.
I invite you to the best dinner that any
of us has had since since,
exactly how many days were we away in all Antonio?
- It was more than a thousand days.
- Well the best meal we've had in 1,000 days?
- And then what?
- Well then, I go back to sea again.
The sharks are much less dangerous
than the ones you find on shore.
And what will you do Arcurio?
- The same, I can't bare being ashore any longer.
But you Antonio, you are forbidden to go on any ship.
You stay and write the history of our voyage.
The story of Magellan, who has done what nobody else had.
They sailed around the world.
- It's our story too, don't forget to mention us.
- It was truly an adventure.
An almost unbelievable trip.
And without the heroism of one visionary,
Ferdinand Magellan, it wouldn't have been done.
It is unlikely that anyone will ever sail
such a voyage again.
(dramatic upbeat music)