Summary
Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese sailor working for the Spanish, believed he could find a shorter route to India by heading west instead of east. Like Columbus before him, he was destined to reach the Americas. Magellan, however, continued past the New World and sailed into the Pacific Ocean. The expedition took a horrible turn when Magellan became involved in a tribal war between the local chiefs in the Philippines. He was brutally killed, and only one vessel returned to Spain with a skeleton crew of 18.
Complete with historical background, accounts of exciting battles and dangerous voyages, and details of Magellan's childhood, Ferdinand Magellan recounts how a young captain battled mutiny, starvation, illness, and conflicts with his own countrymen to be remembered in history as the first to circumnavigate the globe.