Loaísa Expedition (1525-1536): Spain's Second Moluccas Voyage

The Loaísa Expedition was Spain’s second voyage to the Spice Islands by the western route, sent in 1525 to follow up Magellan’s discoveries. Commanded by García Jofre de Loaísa, with Juan Sebastián Elcano as his deputy, its seven ships and about 450 men suffered shipwreck, scurvy and war. Both commanders died in the Pacific, and only a handful of men ever returned to Spain, but the voyage produced important discoveries and trained the navigator Andrés de Urdaneta.

Background

In 1522 the Victoria, under Elcano, returned to Spain after the first circumnavigation, laden with cloves from the Moluccas (see Magellan-Elcano Expedition). Spain and Portugal both claimed these valuable islands, because nobody could yet measure longitude accurately enough to show on which side of the Tordesillas line they lay on the far side of the world.

A conference at Badajoz and Elvas in 1524 failed to settle the dispute. Charles V responded by ordering a strong fleet to sail to the Moluccas and occupy them. A new House of Trade for the spice trade was set up at A Coruña in Galicia, and the fleet was fitted out there.

The voyage

The fleet of seven ships left A Coruña on 24 July 1525. Loaísa, a knight of the Order of Saint John, was captain general; Elcano was second in command and chief pilot. The young Andrés de Urdaneta sailed as Elcano’s page or assistant.

The passage to the Strait of Magellan was disastrous. Storms scattered the ships, one was wrecked, and others were damaged. During the storms the small San Lesmes, under Francisco de Hoces, was driven far to the south, possibly as far as 55 degrees south, and its crew may have seen the southern end of the continent. Spanish-speaking countries still call the Drake Passage the Mar de Hoces in his memory.

The surviving ships entered the strait in April 1526 and reached the Pacific on 26 May 1526. Almost at once they were separated in a storm. The San Lesmes and the Santa María del Parral were lost or wrecked. The small Santiago sailed north along the American coast and reached New Spain in July 1526, the first ship to sail from the strait to Mexico.

Death in the Pacific

The flagship Santa María de la Victoria crossed the Pacific alone. Scurvy spread among the crew. Loaísa died on 30 July 1526 and Elcano, who had succeeded him, on 6 August. The next commander, Toribio Alonso de Salazar, sighted an atoll in the Marshall Islands in August 1526, but he too died within weeks.

Under Martín Íñiguez de Carquizano the ship reached Guam and Mindanao and finally, late in 1526, the Moluccas, with around 100 men left.

War in the Moluccas

The Spaniards allied with the sultan of Tidore against the Portuguese, who were based on the neighbouring island of Ternate. For several years the two small European garrisons fought each other with the help of local allies. A relief ship sent from Mexico under Álvaro de Saavedra arrived in 1528 but could not find a way back east across the Pacific against the winds.

In 1529, by the Treaty of Zaragoza, Charles V sold Spain’s claim to the Moluccas to Portugal for 350,000 ducats. Unaware of this for years, the Spaniards fought on until their position collapsed, and the last of them surrendered to the Portuguese in the early 1530s. The survivors were eventually sent home on Portuguese ships. Urdaneta reached Lisbon in 1536.

Discoveries

Despite its failure, the expedition added to European knowledge of the world. The voyage of the San Lesmes suggested that open sea lay south of Tierra del Fuego, which Francis Drake later confirmed. The Santiago’s voyage linked the Strait of Magellan with New Spain, and the flagship’s crossing touched the Marshall Islands and other Pacific islands unknown to Europeans. Urdaneta’s detailed account, written after his return, became an important source on the Moluccas and the Pacific.

Key people

• García Jofre de Loaísa (died 1526): captain general of the fleet.
• Juan Sebastián Elcano (c. 1486–1526): veteran of the first circumnavigation.
• Andrés de Urdaneta (1508–1568): survivor who later discovered the eastward Pacific route.
• Francisco de Hoces: captain of the San Lesmes, driven far south by storms.

Timeline

• 1525, 24 July: The fleet of seven ships leaves A Coruña.
• 1526, April – 26 May: The ships pass through the Strait of Magellan.
• 1526, 30 July: Loaísa dies in the Pacific.
• 1526, 6 August: Elcano dies aboard the flagship.
• 1526, late: The Santa María de la Victoria reaches the Moluccas.
• 1529, 17 April: The Treaty of Zaragoza cedes Spain’s claim to Portugal.
• 1536: Urdaneta returns to Spain via Lisbon.

Why it matters

The Loaísa Expedition showed how costly the western route to Asia was and helped persuade Spain to abandon the Moluccas. Yet its survivors carried hard-won knowledge of the Pacific, and Urdaneta’s later discovery of the return route in 1565 allowed Spain to settle the Philippines and link Asia to the Americas by sea.