MEXICO CITY – Disease, mutinies and uncharted waters nearly sabotaged the global circumnavigation of the expedition led by Portuguese mariner Ferdinand Magellan.
Five centuries later, the pandemic looms as a Spanish navy tall ship sails to commemorate the feat. The Juan Sebastián de Elcano, named for a Basque captain who completed the 1519-1522 circumnavigation with 17 of the roughly 240 crewmembers who began it, docked around Latin America after leaving Europe in August.
Visitors were not allowed on board and the crew disembarked in just a few places, including the Chilean island of Dawson in the Strait of Magellan and San Lorenzo island in Peru.