Most Versed In Nautical Charts He

Antonio Pigafetta, the Venetian nobleman who sailed with Ferdinand Magellan and chronicled the expedition, wrote this assessment in his Relazione del primo viaggio intorno al mondo (Account of the First Voyage Around the World), the only surviving detailed narrative of the voyage. Pigafetta was Magellan's devoted admirer and recorded his navigational methods, leadership decisions, and the hardships of the crossing. Magellan had spent years studying charts and documents about the Spice Islands and the routes east and west before proposing his plan to Charles I of Spain, and his mastery of the available cartographic knowledge was central to convincing the crown to fund the expedition.