QUARANTINE BLOG # 663

February 4, 2022

The Pacific Ocean encompasses one-third of the earth’s surface, covering twice the area of the Atlantic Ocean. It extends over a greater area than all the dry land on the planet, more than 63 million square miles. 

The men of the Armada de Molucca might as well have been sailing across the dark side of the moon.

On December 18, 1520, Magellan sailed west, away from South America into the Pacific. If there was ever a time for a monster to appear on the horizon, this was it. Instead, the Armada encountered a miracle: steady winds at its back.

Magellan expected to reach the Spice Islands within days, but Pigafetta chronicled: “We were three months and 20 days without getting any kind of fresh food. We ate ox hides that covered the top of the mainyard. We left them in the sea for five days, and then placed them on top of the embers, and ate them. We ate sawdust from boards. We ate rats when we could catch them.”

Deliverance finally came 98 days after the fleet left the strait. On March 6, 1521, two landmasses, and then a third, slowly rose from the sea; they appeared to be about 25 miles away. 

When the Victoria’s lookout was convinced of their true nature, he announced from on high, “Tierra! Tierra! Tierra!”

The Armada landed on Guam, the largest of an archipelago of volcanic islands known as the Marianas, about 3000 miles west of the Hawaiian Islands.

Nothing about it suggested they were anywhere near the Spice Islands. Still, it was land. Since leaving the western mouth of the strait, Magellan had traveled more than 7000 miles without interruption: the longest ocean voyage recorded at that time.

Magellan’s fleet was approached by a tribe now known as the Chamorros. They boarded the flagship and stole everything they could – rigging, crockery, weapons, and anything made of iron – as the crew, in their weakened condition, were unable to stop them.

After an initial outbreak of distrust, the Chamorros distributed food to the starving sailors, and returned most of the stolen goods. The fleet was loaded fruit and vegetables. 

On March 16, a lookout spied the eastern edge of the Philippine archipelago. A boat with nine men appeared, and the two groups traded freely. Magellan invited the Filipinos aboard Trinidad. The Filipinos recognized the spices on board. It was the first indication that the Armada was approaching the Spice Islands.

Magellan’s slave, Enrique, addressed the locals in a Malay dialect, who replied in the same tongue. Magellan had acquired Enrique ten years earlier in Malacca. If Enrique had originally come from these islands, it meant that Magellan’s servant was, in fact, the first person to circle the world and return home.

On the island of Cebu, for a time, life seemed tranquil, and the men, enjoying their nights with their island lovers, were reluctant to leave.

Unexplainably, Magellan involved himself in a struggle between two local chieftains, Lapu Lapu and Sula. Magellan sided with Sula, and sent his forces into battle.

For the first time since their arrival in these lush islands, Magellan’s inner circle seriously questioned Magellan’s judgment. But Magellan refused to back down.

He reduced the number of men going ashore to a bare minimum, and he ordered his ships to keep far back. These crucial strategic decisions would be disastrous.

Magellan gave the order to prepare for attack, and his force of 60 men donned armor. He ordered his Cebuans allies not to fight, but merely to observe the “Spanish lions” hunt their prey.

The Mactanese emerging from the jungle numbered not in the dozens as expected, but 1500.

After fierce fighting for more than an hour, Magellan was shot in the leg with a poisoned arrow, and finally gave the order to retreat. With superior numbers Lapu Lapu pressed the attack until Magellan lay dead on he sand, pierced with many spears and ultimately hacked to pieces. 

The circumstances leading to Magellan’s gory death were not an aberration. Rather, it was the direct outcome of his belligerent conduct in the Philippines. Through military displays, Magellan convinced the islanders – and himself – that he was omnipotent. Throughout the voyage, Magellan had overcame storms and scurvy, and mutinies. In the end, the only peril he could not survive was himself.

After the battle ended, the fleet sent a message to Lapu Lapu, requesting the remains of Magellan and the other victims.  They offered to pay as much as the victors wanted in exchange for the fallen soldiers.

Lapu Lapu’s replied: “You cannot have him for all the riches in the world. We will keep him as a memorial.”

The most impressive sight in Mactan harbor today is a giant statue of Lapu Lapu, his bamboo spear at the ready, as he gazes over the Pacific. There is no other record of Lapu Lapu or his reign; were it not for his battle with Magellan, his name would be lost to history.

A white obelisk presents the European point of view: “Here on 27th April 1521 the great Portuguese navigator Hernando de Magallanes, in the service of the King of Spain, was slain by native Filipinos.”

Every April, Filipinos restage the battle of Mactan. Thousands turn out to witness the re-enactment between the nearly naked Filipino warrior and the armor-clad invader who eventually falls face down into the surf.

Next week the conclusion.

🛐  Today’s close “God’s Thoughts,” is by Max Lucado.

We ask for grace, only to find forgiveness already offered. (How did you know I would sin?)

We ask for food, only to find provision already made. (How did you know I would be hungry?)

We ask for guidance, only to find answers in God’s ancient story. (How did you know what I would ask?)

God dwells in a different realm. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, nor are they even like ours. We aren’t even in the same neighborhood. 

We’re thinking, Preserve the body, he’s thinking, Save the soul. We dream of a pay raise. He dreams of raising the dead. We avoid pain and seek peace. God uses pain to bring peace. “I’m going to live before I die,” we resolve. “Die, so you can live,” he instructs. 

We love what rusts. He loves what endures. We rejoice at our successes. He rejoices at our confessions. We show our children the Nike star with the million-dollar smile and say, “Be like Mike.” God points to the crucified carpenter with bloody lips and a torn side and says, “Be like Christ.”

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