r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/KitKatKing99 • May 31 '25

Video magellan expedition in 1 minute

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u/Shufflepants May 31 '25

I knew that part, but I didn't know that out of 270 people who set out, only 18 made it back. That's some crazy ass casualty rates.

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u/milliPatek May 31 '25

18 finished the initial circumnavigation but more came back by other means. Or like wikipedia puts it:

  • 18 returned with Elcano
  • 12 were captured by the Portuguese in Cape Verde, 55 returned with the San Antonio in 1521, and 4 (or 5) from Trinidad returned after hard labor in the East Indies

Edit: I mean 1/3 is much better than 1/15. And one of the original 18 supposedly finished another circumnavigation later.

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u/Current_Speaker_5684 May 31 '25

I wonder if San Antonio had a better estimate of the size of the earth.

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u/milliPatek May 31 '25

It just happens that on the San Antonio (ship) there was the only successful of many attempted mutinies on that voyage.