''Victoria'' or Nao ''Victoria'' (
Spanish for "Victory") was a
carrack famed as the first ship to successfully
circumnavigate the world. ''Victoria'' was part of the
Spanish expedition to the
Moluccas (now Indonesia's
Maluku Islands
The Maluku Islands ( ; , ) or the Moluccas ( ; ) are an archipelago in the eastern part of Indonesia. Tectonics, Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located in West ...
) commanded by the explorer
Ferdinand Magellan.
The
carrack () was built at a
Spanish shipyard in
Ondarroa. Along with the four other ships, she was given to Magellan by
King Charles I of
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
(later
Emperor
The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...
CharlesV of the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...
). ''Victoria'' was an 85-tonel ship with an initial crew of about 42. The expedition's
flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...
and Magellan's own command was the carrack ''
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...
.'' The other ships were the carrack ', the carrack ''
Concepción'', and the
caravel ''.''
The expedition began from
Seville
Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...
on 10 August 1519 with five ships and entered the ocean at
Sanlúcar de Barrameda in
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
on September 20. However, only two of the ships reached their goal in the Moluccas. Thereafter, ''Victoria'' was the only ship to complete the return voyage, crossing uncharted waters of the Indian Ocean under
Juan Sebastián de Elcano's command to sail around the world. She returned to Sanlúcar on 6 September 1522.
''Victoria'' was later repaired, bought by a merchant shipper and sailed for almost another fifty years before being lost with all hands on a trip from the
Antilles to
Seville
Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...
in about 1570.
Etymology
The was named after the
Minim convent of
Our Lady of Victory of
Triana ( []) in
Seville
Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...
, where Magellan took his oath of allegiance to CharlesI.
The convent was subsequently
deconsecrated during the
French occupation of Spain during the
Napoleonic Wars
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Napoleonic Wars
, partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
, image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg
, caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...
and later demolished.
Construction
While agreeing on its
Basque origin, for a long period the vessel was thought to have been constructed in
Zarautz
Zarautz (, ) is a coastal town located in central Gipuzkoa, Basque Country, in Spain. It is bordered by Aia to the east and the south and Getaria, Gipuzkoa, Getaria to the west, located about west of San Sebastián, Donostia/San Sebastián. It ha ...
, next to Elcano's home town
Getaria. However, research conducted by local historians has revealed that the nao ''Victoria'' was built at the shipyards of Ondarroa in
Biscay. It was originally called ''Santa Maria'', owned by Domingo Apallua, a
ship pilot, and his son, Pedro Arismendi.
According to a notarial document dating from 1518, the ship had been used in previous years for trade between
Castile and
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. Royal Castilian officials bought the ship at a set price of 800 gold
ducats, a figure at odds with the estimation on the ship's real value provided by the accountant of Magellan's expedition, and accepted by the owners only against their will.
The ship was renamed ''Victoria'' by Magellan after the chapel he frequented on his prayers in
Seville
Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...
, the Santa María de la Victoria.
Crew
The voyage started with a crew of about 265 men aboard five ships, however only 18 men returned alive on ''Victoria'', while many others had deserted. Many of the men died of malnutrition. At the beginning of the voyage,
Luis de Mendoza was her captain. On 2 April 1520, after establishing a settlement in
Puerto San Julian in
Patagonia, a fierce mutiny involving three captains broke out but was ultimately quelled.
Antonio Pigafetta's and other reports state that Luis de Mendoza and Gaspar Quesada, captain of ''Concepcion'', were executed and their remains hung on gallows on the shore.
Juan de Cartagena, captain of ''San Antonio'', was
marooned on the coast. According to Pigafetta, after Magellan's death on 27 April 1521, at the
Battle of Mactan
The Battle of Mactan (; ) was fought on a beach in Mactan Island (now part of Cebu, Philippines) between Spanish forces led by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan along with local allies, and Lapulapu, the chieftain of the island, on th ...
, remnants of the fleet tried to retrieve his body without success. Thereafter,
Duarte Barbosa, a Portuguese man who had sided with Magellan in facing the mutiny, and
João Serrão were elected leaders of the expedition. On 1 May 1521, they were invited by
Rajah Humabon of
Cebu to a banquet ashore to receive a gift for the king of Spain. At the banquet, most of the crew were killed or poisoned, including Duarte Barbosa and João Serrão, whom the natives wanted to exchange for Western weapons, but was left behind by the remaining crew. Pilot João Carvalho, who had survived the trap, then became the captain of ''Victoria''. In August, near
Borneo
Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...
he was deposed and
Juan Sebastián Elcano became captain for the remainder of the expedition.
Returning crew
Out of an initial crew of 260 people, only 18 returned to
Seville
Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...
with the ''Victoria''. This was due to a scarcity in food, and a deadly outbreak of
scurvy
Scurvy is a deficiency disease (state of malnutrition) resulting from a lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Early symptoms of deficiency include weakness, fatigue, and sore arms and legs. Without treatment, anemia, decreased red blood cells, gum d ...
. Others had sailed back with the ''Santiago'', which deserted near the Strait of Magellan. Yet others would return in the following months and years after having been made prisoner by the Portuguese.
They were:
Three of these survivors left written records.
Elcano wrote a letter to the Emperor on the very day of his return with a brief summary of the trip, and provided additional information to authors such as
Maximilianus Transylvanus. Francisco Albo kept a log book with the ship's positional data for every day of sailing.
Antonio Pigafetta wrote a detailed first-person account of the voyage. His work, which he began compiling in 1522, was partially published in France around 1525 under the title "Le voyage et nauigation".
Voyage
The long circumnavigation began in Seville in 1519 and returned to
Sanlúcar de Barrameda on 6 September 1522, after sailing , of which was largely unknown to the crew. On 21 December 1521, ''Victoria'' sailed on from
Tidore in
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
alone because the other ships left the convoy due to lack of rations. The ship was in terrible shape, with her sails torn and only kept afloat by continuous pumping of water. ''Victoria'' managed to return to Spain with a shipload of spices, the value of which was greater than the cost of the entire original fleet.
''Victoria'' was later repaired, bought by a merchant shipper and sailed for almost another fifty years before being lost with all hands on a trip from the
Antilles to
Seville
Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...
about 1570.
[
]
Legacy
The ''Victoria'' was depicted in many sixteenth-century maps such as the Salviati planisphere or Abraham Orterlius's map of the Pacific Ocean.
A vignette of the ''Victoria'' forms the logo of the Hakluyt Society, a London-based text publication society founded in 1846, which publishes scholarly editions of primary records of historic voyages, travels and other geographical material. The logo appears on the cover of all the Society's published volumes.
Replicas
A replica of the ship was built in 1992 for the Universal Expostion of that year in Seville. It is now operated by the Fundación Nao Victoria. Between 2004 and 2006, this replica repeated the journey of the original Nao Victoria, "though taking a slightly different route". It has continued to be maintained in seaworthy condition.
To commemorate the five hundredth anniversary of the first circumnavigation, the Fundación Nao Victoria, commissioned another replica of the nao from the Palmas de Punta Umbría shipyards. It was launched on February 11, 2020, with the destination of becoming a permanent exhibition next to the Torre del Oro. The replica arrived in Seville on March 9, 2020.
In 2006, to celebrate the bicentennial of Chile, an entrepreneur from Punta Arenas founded a project to build a replica of the ship.[ www.atlasvivodechile.com Retrieved August 19, 2013] The search for the original plans of ''Nao Victoria'' took longer than expected and the project was delayed from 2006 to 2009. The replica was completed by 2011.
Bibliography
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Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Victoria (Ship)
Exploration ships
16th-century ships
Age of Discovery ships
Maritime incidents in 1570
Magellan expedition
Spanish exploration in the Age of Discovery