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New Zealand Tablet, 28 March 1918, Page 10

The first circumnavigator of the globe, Fernando Magellan, was a fervent Catholic. He was a true lover of discovery. From boyhood his life was spent upon the sea, in the fleets of Portugal (says a writer in Extension Magazine). In his first great voyage he sailed from San Lucar with a fleet of five small vessels and a crew of 236 sailors. He set sail under the flag of Spain at the instance of Cardinal Ximenes, on September 20, 1519. Magellan spent the winter at Patagonia, and discovered Tierra del Fuego on October 21, 1520. He was the first European navigator to sail the grand Pacific. After sailing the great ocean for three months and eighteen days he discovered the Philippine Islands. Of the five ships and 237 persons leaving Spain, only one ship and 18 sailors again touched its shores. In recognition of,, his discoveries in the southern hemisphere, the great double nebula near Canopus is called after him the Magellanic clouds.