By Harold Hisona
Published: August 28, 2010
Headed by Juan Carballo, the remaining Spaniards left Cebu for bohol. There the survivors burned the Conception off the coast of Bohol, because there were not enough men to navigate her. On the two remaining ships-the Victoria and the Trinidad-they cruised through the Visayas and the Sulu Sea. They reached Palawan and there found plenty of fresh foods provisions. From Palawan, they proceeded south to Borneo where they captured a native warboat. From Brunei, where they were well received by Sultan Siripada, they continued their voyage.
At last, on November 9 1951, with the help of a native pilot, the survivors reached Tidore, an island in the Moluccas in present day Indonesia. There they gathered a rich cargo of spices and resumed their voyage home. The commanders of the two ships agreed toseparate. The Victoria, piloted by Sebastian del Cano, was to sail back to Spainby way of the cape of Good Hope; the Trinidad under the command of Gomez de Espinosa, was to cross the Pacific Ocean and sail to Panama.
Sailing eastward across Pacific, the Trinidad was driven back by unfavorable winds to the Moluccas. There her crew fell into the hands of the Portuguese.
More fortunate, the Victoria crossed the Indian Ocean, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, passed the Cape Verde Islands, and finally reached San Lucar de Barrameda, in Spain, on September 6, 1522, with only eighteen Spanish survivors and four Malays. The Victoria was the first ship to go all the way around the world.
