Conquering the Pacific - an unknown mariner and the final great voyage of the age of discovery
by Resendez, Andres
pub. by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, NY, 2021     isbn - 978-1328515971 (hardcover) - - LCCN 2021-00413 - - - maps and illustrations in text - - Contents p.vii-viii - - list of illustrations p.ix-xi - - list of maps p.xiii-xiii - - Preface p.1-16 - - Note about Dates and Measurements p.201 - - Acknowledgments p.203-204 - - Notes p.205-272 - - Analytical Index p.273-283 - Total 273 pages.
This book is about the discovery of how to sail across the Pacific Ocean from the Americas west to the Orient and most importantly how then to sail back from the Orient to the Americas.
It is mostly the story of Lope Martin a mulato-Portugese master navigator. The first person who navigated the round trip from Mexico to the Philipines and back to Mexico - or for that matter from the Americas to the orient and back, especially in the same ship.
  Chapters
      - Preface - geological and pre European contact geography and history of the Pacific Ocean
      1. A Global Race - Spain - Portugal treaty - development of the practice of navigation
      2. Dream Team - The experienced navigators chosen - Lope Martin among them
      3. Navidad - The construction of the fleet in a small place on Pacific Ocean coast of Mexico
      4. A Disappearance - The fleet 4 vessels under Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, sails 20 Nov. 1564 - plans change - the San Lucas with navigator Lope Martin goes ahead
      5. Mar Abierto - working the oceanic gyres to cross oceans -
      6. The Tiny Islands - major fleet which changed course to a slightly more northerly one encounterd the Marshall Islands.
      7. The Island of the Thieves - main fleet navigators disagree on longitude - Some use declination (difference between true N by Polaris vs magnetic N to try to determine longitude)
            detail on the historic compass points described -   The fleet anchored in Guam traded with the Chamoros and got water. There was some friction before they continued to the west.
      8. The Far Side of the World - the San Lucas arrived at Mindanao and realized they were in the Philipines.
            Some time later the major fleet, Legazapi squadron, arrived at a place several hundred miles N of where the San Lucas arrived.
            The squadron and the San Lucas never saw one another.
      9. Vuelta - The San Lucas exits the Philippines through the San Bernardino Strait between the southernost tip of Luzon Island and Samar Island and is driven N by wind and current.
            Although not able to reprovision they attempt to return to the Americas (Mexico)
            After much difficulty they arrive at Navidad, Mexico 9 August 1565. The first to make the round trip - the Vuelta. Their arrival is celebrated.
      10. Fall from Glory - The San Pedro arrived in Acapulco from the Philippines on 8 Octover 1565, about 2 months after the San Lucas arrived.
            Sixteen outof 200 aboard died, including the pilot major Esteban Rodriguez. Senior navigator Gracia de Urdaneta was aboard.
            On 7 November 1565 a representative for Legazpi accused the Don Alonso Alonso de Arellanio of the San Lucas of absconding from the fleet and triggered an investigation.
            After an examination the Audencia threw out all the charges.
      11. Survival and Revenge - A voyage back to the Philippines was sent out from Acapulco in May 1566. The ship was the San Jeronimo under Captain Pero Diego Sanchez Pericon
            with Lope Martin as navigator. Lope Martin knew that he arrived in the Philippines that Legazpi, who had stayed there, would hang him on sight.
            During the voyage mutany killed Pericon, they stopped in the Marshall Islands and after a power struggle the ship sailed leaving Lope Martin and friends. The ship made it to the Philipines.
      12. At the Spanish Court - friar and navigator Gracia de Urdaneta went to Spain and reported to King Philip II concerning navigation and if Spain vs Portugal
              were allowed to exploit the spice islands / Philippines. Eventually he returned to Mexico and retired to the simple life as a friar in a monastery there until he died in 1568.
      13. Epilogue - Lope Martin and 26 of his associates seem to have escaped from Ujelang Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
            They were never seen again. - Spanish trade developed with China and the orient across the Pacific. The secret of the route had been discovered.

  This was a well thought out and very readable account of how navigation was developed in the middle 1600s.
  It is also a terrifying tale of what happens when weak leaders are appointed to high leadershop positions.
  Highly recommended if you have any interest in the late period of discovery.

~ 2022-07-04 ~

to Books index page.

-