Description of the Arduous Voyage Made Around the Universe or Terrestrial Globe

In July 1598, Olivier van Noort, a Rotterdam innkeeper turned general, put to sea with four ships and 248 men. His backers, merchants of Rotterdam and Amsterdam, had set him a bold course: force the Strait of Magellan, strike at Spain along the Pacific coast, and return by way of the Spice Islands.

At Prince's Island, off Africa, officers sent ashore fell to Portuguese blows. At Rio de Janeiro, the bay closed in on treacherous talks. Dysentery cut down the crews, the southern winter barred the way, and it was at Port Desire, among thousands of penguins, that a captain was buried. It took four assaults to enter the Strait of Magellan, then more than three months to get out, long enough to meet starving countrymen and to abandon on a beach the vice-admiral condemned by the council of war.

Then came Chile, Valparaiso and its burned ships, Spanish gold thrown overboard, the long crossing of the Pacific, the swimmers of the Ladrones Islands, the trick of the false monk in the Philippines. Then, off Manila, on 14 December 1600, two Spanish warships came alongside to board.

Kept day by day and translated into French as early as 1602, this logbook tells the story of the first Dutch voyage around the world. How many men would see the Meuse again?