García Jofre de Loaísa
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García Jofre de Loaísa (c. 1490–1526), was a Spanish nobleman designed by King Charles I of Spain to command an expedition, known as the Loaísa expedition, which in 1525 was sent by the Western route to colonize the Spice Islands in the East Indies, thus crossing the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. More than 450 men were aboard, inluding all kind of trades and administrative staff, intended to establish a permanent Spanish ruling in those lands
This was the first Spanish attempt to take advantage of its discovery of Strait of Magellan in 1520.
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[edit] Details
Seven ships integrated the expedition; however the vessels were of very dissimilar size, seaworthiness and speed; and this proved itself a big mistake, as it was a continuous source of fatal delays. As chief navigator of the expedition went Juan Sebastián Elcano, who had reached the Spice Islands in the previous 1519-1521 Magellan expedition and who in 1522 had completed it by returning to Europe via the Cape of Good Hope, thus achieving the first world circumnavigation.
The fleet sailed from Corunna on July, 24 1525 and reached the Patagonian shores in January 1526, and by then two of the ships had lost contact with the others. The following weeks were a real nightmare as the fleet alternatively gathered and dispersed due to tremendous winds while trying unsuccessfully to enter the Strait of Magellan, and two ships were wrecked and one tacked into the Atlantic and deserted from the expedition. Eventually the remaining four vessels, in very bad condition, reached the Pacific Ocean in middle May, just to be again dispersed, this time for ever, by another gale.
One of the ships, the caravel San Lesmes, was never heard of, but her fate has been matter of long speculation (see Francisco de Hoces). Other, the small patache Santiago, set course for the North and in an astonishing 10,000 Km sailing reached the Pacific coast of Mexico in July, 1526, achieving the first navigation from Europe to the Western coast of North America. The third one, Santa María del Parral, did cross the Pacific and reached Celebes, where she was wrecked and the survivors were either killed or enslaved by the natives; four of them were rescued in 1528 by another Spanish expedition coming from Mexico.
The flagship, Santa Maria de la Victoria, was the only to reach the Spice Islands, in September, 1526. Previously she had called at Guam, as Magellan did, where there was astonishment at finding a Spaniard, Gonzalo de Vigo, who had deserted from Magellan's fleet. He was the first European castaway in Pacific History.
[edit] Results and evaluation
Loaísa, Elcano and many other had died while crossing the Pacific Ocean. Only Andrés de Urdaneta and 24 other men survived to land in the Spice Islands, just to be caught by the Portuguese, who had gone there from their outposts in the East Indies. Eventually Urdaneta and a few of his fellows managed to return to Spain in 1528 and complete the second world circumnavigation in History.
Actually it has been estimated than more than two thirds of the men involved died along the expedition.
Measured against its stated goal, the Loaisa expedition was an utter failure. Nevertheless, from a geographical and historical point of view it was one of the most interesting and eventful, even if lesser-known, of all Age of Discovery explorations; and produced as side effects some unprecedented sailing achievements.
[edit] See also
[edit] Bibliography
- (Spanish) Landín Carrasco, Amancio. España en el mar. Padrón de descubridores. Madrid: Editorial Naval ISBN 84-7341-078-5
- (Spanish) Oyarzun, Javier. Expediciones españolas al Estrecho de Magallanes y Tierra de Fuego. Madrid: Ediciones Cultura Hispánica ISBN 84-7232-130-4.
- Snow, Philip & Waine, Stefanie. The people from the horizon. London: Mclaren Publishing ISBN 0-947889-05-1
