Chapter 5: Underway – The Analog Antiquarian

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2024-04-28 02:30:03

At nearly the same instant that Magellan’s carracks sailed from Sanlúcar, a dozen or so sleek, swift Portuguese caravels put to sea from Lisbon. Taking advantage of the same favorable wind as Magellan’s fleet but making much better time than that tubby collective, they headed for a point in the Atlantic Ocean about 150 miles (240 kilometers) southwest of the Canary Islands, where they had orders to take patrolling stations, setting up a sort of blockade.

The Portuguese fleet’s instructions had come down directly from King Manuel himself. With reason and threats having failed to sway Magellan from his purpose, he had decided to use force. His fleet would be waiting for Magellan’s after it left the Canaries to undertake the long Atlantic crossing. The Portuguese ships were smaller than the Spanish ones, to be sure, but these were proper warships, fast and maneuverable and bristling with cannons. They ought to have no trouble intimidating their quarry into raising the white flag of submission. They would then arrest the captain general along with any other Portuguese onboard, seize all of the maps and charts, and “escort” the Spanish ships back where they had come from.

It was an audacious if not desperate last-ditch gamble, but Manuel believed it was one well worth taking in the name of protecting his Asian empire from Spanish incursion, even if just for a little while longer. He was counting on young King Charles not being ready go to war over the incident — not when he already had so many other problems on his plate, from the unrest being stirred up by Martin Luther in Germany to his still-precarious standing in Spain.