Magellan has been in the news lately and I have been thinking about
that “fella.” As a historical cartographer I have wondered if Magellan
could have seen the islands north of Guam prior to his landing. An abstract
question at best, but perhaps of interest to some mapmakers and geographers
as well as others interested in triviality. Daniel Boorstin stated in his
book,The Discoverers,  that Ferdinand Magellan (1480? - 1521), “found the
extent of the Pacific Ocean an excruciating surprise and learned he had
only one-third of the necessary provisions for a trip three times longer
than expected.” However, he and his 110 ton vessel, the Trinidad, had luck
with the weather. During the three months and twenty days since his passage
from the Atlantic north of what is now Tierra Del Fuego to the Pacific
Ocean, he sailed 12,000 miles through open ocean and did not encounter a
single storm. Misled by this one experience he named the ocean the Pacific.
Nor did he sight any other island of the hundreds situated between Cape
Horn and the Marianas except for two uninhabited desert islets. Both were
atolls, Puka Puka, (Dog Island), in the Tuamotu Archipelago, (IIes du
Desappointement)  and the other in the Marquesas which he named the
Unfortunate Island. A crew must have been sent ashore at both as it is
recorded that no fruits or vegetables were found to ward off scurvy, nor
was fresh water available on the islands. Crossing the Equator, he sailed
through the seas around the Eastern Carolines not seeing a single island
until reaching the Marianas presumably on March 6, 1521. How this date was
determined I do not know since he had crossed what later became the 180th
meridian which, several centuries later, generally came to coincide with
what   is now  known as the International Date Line. He thus passed from
one day to another or from his yesterday into today. Had he turned around
he would have sailed from what was then his “today” into “yesterday” since
he was already in his “tomorrow” - or something like that.  Magellan first
christened the archipelago Las  Isles de las Velas Latinas  (The Islands of
the Latine Sails), because  the triangular shape of the sails used on
native canoes were similar to those used on Mediterranean vessels.
     Seven days after departing the Marianas, Magellan was killed at Mactan
on Samar Island in the Philippines. Of the five ships in the original
convoy and the compliment of 250 people, only a single vessel along with
Pigafetta and seventeen others completed the around the world voyage.
Magellan's chronicler, Antonoio Pigafetta, (1491 - 1534?) mentions in his
Primo Viaggio Intorno al Mondo  as having sighted three islands.  Did
Magellan also see the Northern Marianas?  Considering the limited height of
the mast of a 16th century vessel, (a lookout 40 feet above sea level would
only be able see a distance of 7.75 miles to the horizon), one would have
to be north of Guam and in the vicinity of the Northern Mariana islands
where the only three islands that could be viewed simultaneously are the
islands of Saipan, Tinian and the small island of Aguijan. Certainly if
Pigafetta stated he saw three islands he must have discerned that there
were indeed three islands by also sighting the beach areas of each since he
must have known very well that an island with a series of high peaks
visible over the horizon could well appear as a series of islands from a
distant vantage point which obviously results from the earth’s curvature.
Incidentally, it is interesting that so many believed little more than
fifty years earlier in the 15th century that the earth was flat when all
one had to do was stand at a port and look out to sea where one could
observe an inbound vessel appear over the horizon and first see the top of
billowing sails, then the full sail and finally the entire vessel. By this
observation, simple logic would lead one to realize that this could only be
a result of curvature and therefore the earth  must be round - but more on
this later.
     Granted an extremely large bay area could also deceive one as to
whether a particular land mass was contiguous or not, but there are no
large bay areas on Guam that would permit this possible miscalculation.
Could one of the islands sighted been Rota, 47 nautical miles north of
Guam’s Ritidian Point which is approximately 24 nautical miles north of
Umatac Bay, the point on Guam where it is believed by some that Magellan
went ashore? The total distance from Umatac to the southern tip of Rota is
approximately 71 nautical miles. Rota’s highest point is Mt. Sabana with an
elevation of 496 meters, (1,488 feet ). While one could see the tip of
Rota’s highest point from a distance of  55 statute miles from a height of
40 feet on a clear day with good eyesight, an observer would have to also
possess the ability to distinguish the difference between a dark cloud and
an island on the horizon. Would Pigafetta have classified Cocos, which is
little more than a sand bar, as an island? If so, this would be the fourth
island. A vessel would have to be quite near it to see it. Being in
proximity to this low island precludes viewing Rota. Approaching Guam from
the east and rounding the island’s southern tip turning north to anchor at
Umatac, Cocos Island would have been sighted but Rota could not have been
seen as it would be blocked from the line of sight  by the Orote Peninsula
and portions of northern Guam.  If Magellan passed Guam’s northern tip he
could have possibly seen Rota but not Cocos. By passing Guam to the north
and turning south to sail down Guam’s western shore seeking an anchorage,
Magellan  must have sighted what is now Apra Harbor. He could have put in
there. Considering that he and the crew had been aboard ship for almost
four months after entering the Pacific and perhaps longer, they were so low
on water and food that they were forced to eat rats, saw dust , leather and
ground up maggots. For this reason alone one would think that Magellan
would want to go ashore to change his diet when the first opportunity
presented itself at what is now known as Apra Harbor.
     Were the islets in the Marquesas and the Tuamotu Archipelago together
with Guam  the three islands Pigafetta mentioned in his chronicle or did he
sight islands in the Northern Marianas where three islands can be viewed
simultaneously? At what point during the voyage does Pigafetta refer to
three islands? Prior to arrival in the Marianas or  afterward? Certainly
not after completion of the around the world voyage for he surely saw more
than three islands as Samar Island was seen, (and incidentally the last one
he would ever see). No doubt his crew saw many more in the Philippines as
well as those that must have been sighted throughout the remaining
adventure. The reference to the three islands was obviously made well
before the island of Samar was sighted. It was at Samar where Magellan
completed his circumnavigation of the globe as he had reached this
meridian  years earlier when he sailed in the opposite direction  from
Spain.
     Pigafetta made a map on which the accompanying 1522 woodcut is based.
Note that three islands appear to be in proximity, however, since the map
has no scale nor are latitude and longitude indicated it is not known if
they could have been viewed simultaneously. The possibility for calculating
longitude could not have been possible in 1521 since a crucial discovery by
Galileo for making this determination was not made until 1583 and indeed
still had not been perfected by 1714 when the British Parliament passed an
act “For Providing a Publick Reward For The Discovery Of Longitude At
Sea.”  Note also that the islands on the map appear to have mountains
depicted. Atolls have no appreciable height indicating that the islands
shown were not those in the Tuamotu Archipelago .
      Had Magellan lived to complete the voyage he might have muttered,
“the earth is not flat and it’s not round - it’s crooked.”
Sources: Men, Ships and the Sea, 1962, National Geographic Society,
Washington;
 Seas, Maps and Men, 1962, Doubleday and Company, London;
 Landmarks of Mapmaking, 1976,  R. V. Tooley,  Dorset Press, New York;
 The Discovers, 1983, Daniel J. Boorstin,Random House, New York.
 Appreciation  and thanks to Mr. Richie Johnson, Vero Beach, Florida,  for
a  helpful critique on viewing distances at sea.

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