Category Archives: Patagonia

The first ship overhauled in San Julian harbor was the small caravel Santiago. Despite it being late fall and stormy, on May 1, 1520 Magellan sent it south under its able captain Serrano to explore. Serrano was the sole remaining captain of the original five, other than Magellan. Unlike the troublesome Spanish captains, he was a professional sailor, probably of Portuguese descent, and possibly a distant relative of Magellan. Serrano was to find a better harbor in which to spend the worst of winter as the armada’s hardtack and salt cod stores became more depleted each day, the game around San Julian was elusive, and even the water was brackish.

Each day Magellan expected the Santiago and its thirty-eight men to return. As each day passed, hopes fell and fear grew about what might had befallen them. In mid-June a hunting party spied two strange man-like creatures. It wasn’t until these apparitions were with speaking distance that the hunters realized these were two of their shipmates from the Santiago. They had a woeful tale.

The Santiago had found a good harbor, with cold, sweet water, and bountiful fish after five days of tacking against headwinds. They named it Santa Cruz. (It is about seventy miles south of San Julian.) Serrano stayed there for three weeks, catching fish and seals, smoking the meat. Upon departing to explore further, a storm immediately caught them, and drove them upon the shore. Thirty-seven of the crewmembers escaped, but one was swept away to his death. This was Juan, Serrano’s black slave. Juan, so far as I can tell, was one of two slaves on the armada, the other being Enrico, who Magellan had purchased in Malaysia, and who would play a major role in the armada’s fate.

Serrano and his men salvaged what they could and returned overland to Santa Cruz. Arriving there, they had water, wood for fire and shelter, and fish for food, but little else. Two of the strongest young men were then sent overland to return to San Julian. The shore was too rocky to follow, so they were forced to go inland over a frozen, bitterly cold pampas. Nearly two weeks later the hunters sighted them.

His ships not being ready, Magellan immediately sent an overland rescue party laden with hardtack, which reached the survivors some ten days later. All the Santiago’s crew were back at San Julian in late July. So, Magellan had now lost the smallest of his five ships. At this time, his losses in men were minimal for an expedition of this era. There was the execution Master Salomon for sodomy in Rio, William the Irishman drowned in the Plate, and in San Julian the suicide of Antonio Baresa, the young man sodomized by Salomon. Also, killed or executed in San Julian were the two Spanish captains. And, as related above, Juan drowned in the Santiago’s wreck.

Magellan now knew food and water was a short sail south, but he needed his ships repaired and good weather before attempting that move. The elusive passage around this continent was yet to be found, that would have to wait until spring.

Unfortunately, more deaths would come before finding the passage, and there were tragic encounters with the indigenous Patagonians, which is the topic of my next post.