Storms And Mutiny

Crossing the line of demarcation

They took a passage to the west

Dead reckoning they doubled back

Into the north they anchored for bad weather

San Martin and Magellan almost lost sight of the flagship

The Santiago and Victoria led

No sign of land altered the course

Why not return for winter?

No violation of direct royal orders

The men, the officers, all cried "return"

No captains that had discipline-

rode the high seas in storms and mutiny (with the enemy)

Desperately they sought a haven in an age of discovery...

Extra precautions, setting anchor as they did

Terrified, the crews made pledges back to Spain for pilgrimage

Lighting fires at night to signal shipmates-at last deliverance

from the fury of this godforsaken place they named the "bay

of travail"-

Ride the high seas in storms and mutiny (with the enemy)

Desperately they sought a haven in an age of discovery...

Genius or madman? So elusive were the straits

Battered were the ships and men

A stop for repairs in St. Julian

The crew wanted to know the route they'd begun

despite stirring exhortations for loyalty from Magellan

Onboard Concepcion there was mutiny in demand

And they moved to take the fleet at night

with the knowledge there was blood on their hands

But the tables turned-the remaining crew blocked the exit

to the sea

A sudden advantage for the general using ruthless strategy...

Target chosen shrewdly of three vessels controlled by the

mutineers

High numbers of neutral foreigners on Victoria would not

rise up against him.

Pulling hard against an ebb

Rebellion muted the message read:

"No mistreatment, I'll do what's right"

No heavy hand will rule the night

On the mainmast high, we'll raise his flag

court martial pending on Trinidad

Condemned to death were forty more

Mendoza "quartered" upon the shore

Poetic justice coming swift and severe

But how could he lose so many men?

Commute the sentence for the sin

Confined to quarters and distasteful labor

Convicted conspirators fallen in his disfavor

Philosophers and scholars began to challenge

The true dimensions of the earth (new evidence uncovered)

Finding the straits Magellan died triumphant

but no vindication came in time

No statesman, no royalty-

Rode the high seas in storms and mutiny (with the enemy)

Desperately they sailed the globe in a voyage of treachery

Circumnavigation returning Victoria with twenty-one

Determined by storms and mutiny

he conquered the sea

Though honor followed, a witness he would not be......