They Fell with Magellan
Our textbooks relate that Ferdinand Magellan was killed by Lapu-Lapu in the Battle of Mactan
on
From the word battle, one gets the impression
that there must have been quite a number of people fighting on either side and that a lot of Spaniards must have been
killed along with Magellan. It also seems reasonable to assume that if a
commander is slain in hand-to-hand fighting, his enemies must have killed
a lot of people before they could come within arm's length of the commander.
In fact, however, only six Europeans fell with
Magellan on Mactan. Three were supernumeraries
-- Cristovao Rebelo
(Cristobal Ravelo),
Pedro Gomez and Juan de la Torre. The other three
were able seaman Francisco de Espinosa, apprentice seaman Anton de Noya and servant Rodrigo Nieto.
De la Torre was
originally berthed in the
Tim Joyner, whose book Magellan (Camden: International
Marine, 1992) is probably the most recent book on Magellan, reconstructs the
battle as follows: ``The landing was unopposed.
On attaining the beach, Magellan and his men headed straight for the town.
Finding it evacuated, they commenced to burn some of the houses, a tactic
to which Magellan seems to have been addicted. While so engaged, they were
attacked on each flank by two batallions of enraged
natives. Magellan then divided his small force to counterattack on both flanks,
but they were assaulted so furiously by such large numbers of the enemy that
they recombined to defend themselves.”
Joyner continues: ``For
several hours, the harquebusiers and crossbowmen kept the enemy at a respectful
distance. Eventually, the Spaniards ran out of powder, lead and crossbow
bolts. Perceiving this, the natives closed in, hurling stones, fire-hardened
stakes and iron-tipped bamboo lances and shooting poisned
arrows. Seeing that the situation was desperate, Magellan ordered a gradual
retreat. Instead, most of the Spaniards, eager to reach the safety of the
boats, fled pell-mell toward the beach, leaving Magellan with no more than
eight defenders to cover the retreat.”
One of the poisoned arrows felled Cristovao Rebelo and Magellan,
Joyner relates, ``he went berserk and hurled himself at the enemy, getting
so far ahead of his defenders that they were unable to protect him.”
Magellan found himself surrounded by the enemy,
Joyner relates, and was pelted furiously with stones that knocked off his
helmet. ``A defending warrior slashed his leg with a bolo and he fell helpless
to the ground. Bamboo spears were thrust into his body wherever it was unprotected
by armor. A spear through the throat was the coup de grace.”
There is a reason for Magellan's going berserk
when Rebelo was killed. Rebelo
was a kinsman -- a relative so close that Magellan named him in his will.
Rebelo's parents
are listed as Duarte and Catalino Ravelo (Spanish spelling), but because Magellan had
named him in his will, the Chilean historian Jose Toribio
Medina and other writers believe that Rebelo was
Magellan's illegitimate son.