In September of 1519, five ships waited at Sanlúcar de Barrameda, their masts swaying above the tide. On board were nearly three hundred men. Some hoped for riches, others for redemption, and many had no choice at all. At their head was a man already carrying a limp and a grudge. Ferdinand Magellan had turned his back on Portugal, pledged himself to Spain, and promised King Charles he would find a strait to the Indies.

On the morning of September 20, the bells rang, the drums beat, and sails filled with wind. Villagers crowded the shore, some weeping, some crossing themselves, as the Armada de la Especiería slipped past the bar and into the Atlantic. They could not know what was coming. Storms, mutinies, starvation, and death lay ahead. Yet so did triumph. For this fleet, leaving Spain on that morning, would begin the first circumnavigation of the Earth.