This is a study of leadership. Not only did Magellian have to navigate the tricky political shoals of the funding and outfitting of the expedition, but he had to lead the disparate captains of the five ship armada. At one time on the South American coast, three of the captains under his command had mutinied against his leadership. When all seemed lost, he was able to gain control of the mutiny, punish the conspirators and save his expedition. It is also a story of flawed leadership. Great leaders often have great flaws. Upon reaching the Philippians, Magellian began to lose sight of the goal of his mission- to secure Spains control over the spice trade and to return with a fortune of spices. He got involved in the political disputes of the native populations and the mass conversions of native populations to Catholicism which lead to inevitable conflict resulting in his death.

It is interesting to note that upon reaching the Philippians, the fleet was relatively intact- losing only two ships, one which was wreaked, the other had deserted the expedition and returned to Spain; yet, the remaining ships were in good shape- their crews had regain their health and they were on the verge of success. Magellians death, however, had catastrophic effects on the expedition. A series of successive captain-generals did not have the leadership to hold the fleet together. One disastrous turn of events after another almost doomed the fleet as it stood on the brink of success. In the end, only one ship returned, its decimated crew of eighteen who were near death.
Its a gripper and well worth the read.

This is an interesting account of Magellan's adventure. The downfall of this book is that it is flowery and full of flavor, almost as if the author was trying to view the world as those in 1500 viewed it. But the flowery language takes away from the feelings of accuracy. For instance one passage describes Magellan's men capturing 'giants' in southern Argentina. The author provides no context of what these 'giants' were, although he describes them as native men of south America. Where they indeed 'giants' that used to roam the earth in 1500? Were they simply large men, larger then the short Spaniards? This type of weakness and accepting of the crews descriptions is not authoritative. The author should have explored what tribes lived in the southern tip of Argentina and told us of what height these people were when anthropologists later mapped the natives of South America.

Other then these subtle failures in writing style this book is good and it provides a much needed insight into life aboard Magellan's boats. A very folksy colorful account. A color insert is included with the book.