On September 20th, 1519, five ships departed from Spain’s coastal town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, under Ferdinand Magellan’s command. While the scene looked routine in the busy harbour, the mission’s objectives were nothing short of amazing: find a yet unknown passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, sail across the vast expanse of the latter, find the miniscule but spice-rich Moluccas, establish local alliances, prove they were located in Spain’s hemisphere of influence, and then retrace the entire trip back with a full haul of cloves. The risks were immense, yet so were the potential political and economic rewards. In any case, they were off to a good start. Nothing out of the ordinary happened on the first leg of the trip and the fleet arrived at Tenerife after the customary six days, following the same southwestern route well known to Spanish vessels.