After ten years working on ships owned by the Fundación Nao Victoria, we were finally (!!) going to have a chance to visit their home offices. We had a bit of trouble finding the office, which was tucked into a riverfront promenade almost under the main road, which couldn't be seen from above at the city level where we were walking. But seeing the masts of another of their full-size historic replica ships led us to the right spot. After the majesty and drama of sailing on these wonderful historic replicas, it was quite a jolt to see ... very prosaic cubicles, and several of our former shipmates now "promoted" to a life of business casual and computers instead of sea boots and halyards.
But there was also a fabulous museum about Magellan's expedition; we spent several hours reading every word of every display and picked up a few new facts to add to our tours.
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| Model of the Nao Victoria, the only one of Magellan's five original ships to complete the circumnavigation; at the museum of the Fundacion's offices in Sevilla. |
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| Again at the maritime museum in Barcelona; another model of the Nao Victoria. So much interest and importance for this ship! |
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| ... the routes they took ... |
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| ... the foods they ate ... |
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| ... the tools they used ... |
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| Tiny model of the Nao Trinidad, Magellan's flagship. |
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| Rather frightening statistic; of over 200 men and five ships who departed on the expedition, only one ship and 18 men returned having completed the circumnavigation! (Although as this panel explains, an additional 17 men survived, the overall expectations were daunting, to say the least.) |
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