How to Establish a Maritime Route: the Case of the Strait of Magellan (3/3)

Previously on the Trilogy of the Strait of Magellan… Richard Hawkins had crossed the Strait with considerable difficulty in 1594, after which England put on the back burner its interest in the Fuegian channel. Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, the idea of using the Strait as a stable communication path with the East Indies was gaining momentum. To make such a project come true, two “Magellanic companies” were created, one in Rotterdam and another one in Amsterdam, which gathered the money and resources needed to send two expeditions to the Strait in 1599. The Rotterdam one, which departed first, was commanded by Jacob Mahu first, and after his death, by Simon de Cordes; he managed to cross the channel between April and September of the said year. As a result of this expedition, one of the most important technical documents on the navigation of the Strait was produced, which continued to be used for two centuries: the rutter compiled by the pilot Jan Outghersz.

Fig.1. Jan Outghersz’s rutter

The fleet defrayed by the Company of Amsterdam was led by Olivier van Noort, who struggled to cross the Strait on a long journey between November 1599 and February 1600. It was the most violent expedition to the Strait so far, with several episodes of aggression against the natives. The difficulties suffered by both fleets in crossing the channel deterred other companies from sending expeditions down the same route until 1615, when Joris van Spielbergen succeeded in running through the Strait in less than two months, between March and May of that year. The Dutch incursions in the Fuegian passage ended up arousing the concern of Philip III of Spain and II of Portugal, who in 1618 sent a small squadron of two vessels to explore the Strait. In command of the fleet were the brothers Bartolomé García de Nodal y Gonzalo García de Nodal, accompanied by the cosmographer Diego Ramírez de Arellano. The expedition was a resounding success, returning to Lisbon in July 1619 after circumnavigating for the first time the Tierra del Fuego and carrying new and important technical information on the navigation of those waters. Besides, it became the first expedition to the Strait that did not record any casualties.

Fig.2. Map made by Diego Ramírez de Arellano after the expedition

This voyage marked the end of the first century of navigation in the Strait of Magellan, completing a fascinating story of accumulation and circulation of technical nautical knowledge that made the feared Fuegian channel a much more accessible passage for the navigators of the time.

And if you still want to know more about this story, don’t miss the book Atravessando a Porta do Pacifico. Roteiros e Relatos da Travessia do Estreito de Magalhães, 1520-1620 (José María Moreno Madrid & Henrique Leitão, ByTheBook, 2020)! [José María Moreno Madrid]