Synonyms:
Magellan, Ferdinand_Magellan, Fernao_Magalhaes
Meaning: Portuguese navigator in the service of Spain; he commanded an expedition that was the first to circumnavigate the world (1480-1521)
Usage examples
Being a very clever navigator, he made the transit through the Strait of Magellan with great rapidity.
In fact he compares himself to Columbus or Magellan, voyaging into unknown lands, and recording his wandering route.
The route which was the least frequented by the enemy's ships was that by the Strait of Magellan, and this was the one which De Noort was ordered to follow.
To him pertains the honour of having been the second to pass through the Strait of Magellan, and to have visited Tierra del Fuego as far as the parts about Cape Horn.
On the following day he reached the harbour of St. Julian, where he found a gibbet erected of yore by Magellan for the punishment of some rebellious members of his crew.
For this object, De Noort was to show his countrymen the route inaugurated by Magellan, and on the way to inflict as much injury as he could upon the Spaniards and Portuguese.
On the 20th of August, the fleet, now reduced to three vessels--two of the ships having been so much damaged that they were at once destroyed by the admiral--entered the strait, which had not been traversed since the time of Magellan.
For this, there were three different routes open to him: he might again pass the Strait of Magellan, or he might cross the Southern Sea, and doubling the Cape of Good Hope might so return to the Atlantic Ocean, or he could sail up the coast of China and return by the Frozen Sea and the North Cape.
Assailed by fearful hurricanes in the Strait of Magellan, Cavendish was obliged to go back, after having seen himself deserted by three of his ships. The want of fresh provisions, the cold, and the privations of all kinds which he underwent, and which had decimated his crew, forced him to return northwards along the coast of Brazil, where the Portuguese opposed every attempt at landing.
0. Word pronunciation is derived from article recording NASA, License CC BY-SA 4.0