A Portuguese Man, Spanish Ships

Ferdinand Magellan was Portuguese, but Portugal rejected his proposal for a westward route to the Spice Islands. So he walked into the Spanish court and pitched King Charles I instead. In 1519, Spain gave him five ships and 270 men to find a western passage to the Pacific.

Magellan was killed in 1521 in the Philippines in a skirmish with local forces led by chief Lapu-Lapu. Only one ship — the Victoria — and 18 men returned to Spain in 1522, three years after departure.

It was the first circumnavigation of the globe, completed without its captain.