Watching the ships set out from Lisbon on voyages of discovery, young Ferdinand Magellan longed to become an explorer himself. When his chance came to sail to India, all that he saw and heard convinced him that it would be possible to sail around the world, a feat no one had even imagined before. In 1519, after finally gaining support for such an expedition, he set sail with five ships for the coast of South America in search of a passageway to the Far East. How he overcame storms, mutiny, and starvation and, with only three ships left, found the straits later named for him, is one of the most heroic chapters in the history of exploration. Magellan was killed in the Philippines, but eighteen of his seamen returned to Spain to prove that their captain had been right.

This short biography, with its dramatic black-and-white drawings on almost every page, conveys all the excitement of this true story.

From the dust jacket