The Islands of Saint Lazarus
Retelling Magellan
500 years ago, Magellan and the first known voyage around the world stopped in Homonhon, in Leyte Gulf, in the same waters where my Mom’s family lives. And as far as I know, where some of my ancestors have been living this whole half-millennium. Having been in that place, I like to think about what it was like in that time. I like to read history and then rethink events like short stories. So here’s my fictional retelling of Magellan meeting the Visaya people of what would become the Philippines.
The knight found himself staring at the remnants of his meal. Pork from the Thieves’ Island prepared in honor of Saint Lazarus. Antonio muttered a quick prayer of thanks for the saint’s intercession in their mournful journey across the Pacific Sea. And he chucked into the brush a leathery piece of fat he had been chewing on. He was grateful that they no longer needed to live off the barest scraps of animals like they had done over the long winter at sea.
His tired gaze drifted over to the tent housing the sickest crew members. God willing, this island’s air would set their humors right… Antonio watched the Captain-General passing among the sick, giving each of them care and attention. He would make sure each one had their dinner, however little they could swallow.
Something offshore caught the Captain-General’s attention. He stood suddenly and gazed out intently. “QUIET, EVERYONE!” he commanded, while Antonio turned his head to see what startled the captain: a single boat was approaching, carrying several men.
As the general clamor came to silence and all heads collectively turned towards the sea, the Captain-General continued in his sternest, driest voice, “No one move. No one say anything or do anything unless I say.”
He spoke without even turning his head to see who would listen; the Captain-General of the Armada de Molucca expected obedience. And he received it. He strode forward out from under the tent with his eyes still locked on the approaching boat. All the other men, dozens of them including the knight of Rhodes, Antonio Pigafetta, stood like statues. Men sitting at the cooking fire stood and let the firewood crackle and crumble. Men preparing more firewood held still with one hand on the lumber, the other gripping their hatchets. Some of the sick stood from their piled rags. Even the ones closest to death propped themselves up and opened their eyes wide. Sentries nearer to the shore (who lacked the eyes or the wits of their commander) turned and gripped either lances upright in one hand, or crossbows patiently in two hands. The whole Armada seemed to hold its breath.
Antonio wore his long knife on his left hip. The woodcutter’s tools were a few steps away, if he needed them. The knight counted nine men on the boat. Four with paddles. Five others dressed in bright colors. One among them stood in the prow, his arms stretched to the sides with his palms upraised and empty. Antonio saw a yellowish glimmer off the islander’s arms, neck, and ears. A golden glimmer. His face was smiling. The knight prayed it was a smile his Captain-General could trust…
The boat scraped the rough sand on the island’s edge and came to a stop. The islander who had been standing disembarked nimbly, though not in a rush. Four followed him with straight faces and four stayed near the boat. The smiling leader approached.
Captain-General Fernão Magalhães stood firmly in the sand, loosely flanked by his sentries with spears and crossbows.
“Maupay!”
Antonio Pigafetta, knight of Rhodes, was a real person and our most comprehensive source on the voyage. He wrote that Magellan ordered everyone to be silent and still as the boat approached. Margin notes in surviving copies of his publication also imply that it was Magellan himself who first saw the boat. But he doesn’t give many other details about the encounter. To them it was one of many new encounters. It wasn’t even their first one on the Pacific Ocean. But after the “conversation” started it was important to them because they found “signs of gold” on the island, and because the Visayans said they knew where the spices grew.
This is part 1 of Retelling Magellan’s Philippines
Next Chapter: “The Boy from Sumatra”
