Concepción (carrack)

Departing Spain on September 20, 1519, the expedition attempted to find a route around South America to the Malukus, or Spice Islands, in present-day Indonesia. The expedition accomplished this goal, and also completed the first circumnavigation of Earth in history. However, the Concepción itself did not finish the voyage, and was scuttled in the Philippines on May 2, 1521, shortly after Ferdinand Magellan himself died in the Battle of Mactan.

History

The Concepción held 90 tonels and cost 228,750 maravedís to construct. Leaving Seville on August 10, 1519, the Concepción's crew consisted of 44 men under Captain Gaspar de Quesada. Juan Sebastián Elcano was its boatswain. Along with the rest of the fleet, Concepción sailed through the Straits of Magellan in October and November 1520. João Serrão commanded the ship across the Pacific, and became joint leader of the expedition after Ferdinand Magellan's death during a 1521 raid on Mactan Island, whose leader Lapulapu had refused to convert or pay tribute. When Elcano then joined Duarte Barbosa in refusing to free Magellan's Malay slave Enrique, Enrique convinced the Cebu raja Humabon to massacre the Spanish. However, other sources say that the Cebu raja Humabon decided to poison the Spanish because they did attempt to rape the native women. With too few men and supplies to keep it repaired and manned, and its hull infested by worms, the expedition's new leader João Lopes Carvalho ordered the Concepción, the least seaworthy, to be abandoned and burnt. The burning took place on May 2, 1521.

Elcano would subsequently lead the Victoria back to Seville, becoming the first ship to circumnavigate the globe.