Concepción (carrack)

The Concepción (Spanish for "Conception") was an early-16th-century Spanish carrack during the Age of Discovery, chiefly remembered as part of the Molucca Fleet (Armada de Molucca) that made up the 1519–1522 Magellan–Elcano expedition that attempted to find a Southwestern Passage around South America to the Spice Islands (now Indonesia's Malukus) and subsequently completed the first circumnavigation of the globe. The Concepción itself did not complete the journey, needing to be scuttled in the Philippines in 1521.

"Concepción (ship)" redirects here. For the American Civil War ship sold to Chile and renamed Concepción, see CSS Robert E. Lee.

History

The Concepción held 90 tonels[lower-alpha 1] and cost 228,750 maravedís[lower-alpha 2] to construct.[3] Leaving Seville on 10 August 1519, the Concepción's crew consisted of 44 men under Captain Gaspar de Quesada. Juan Sebastián Elcano was its boatswain. João Serrão commanded the ship across the Pacific, where he became joint leader of the expedition after Ferdinand Magellan's death during a 1521 raid on Mactan Island, whose leader Lapulapu had refused to convert or pay tribute. When Elcano then joined Duarte Barbosa in refusing to free Magellan's Malay slave Enrique, Enrique convinced the Cebu raja Humabon to massacre the Spanish. With too few men and supplies to keep it repaired and manned, the expedition's new leader João Lopes Carvalho ordered the Concepción, the least seaworthy, to be abandoned and burnt.

Elcano would subsequently lead the Victoria back to Seville, becoming the first ship to circumnavigate the globe.[4]

Notes
  1. Note that many English sources such as Joyner[1] provide these numbers calqued as "tons" without converting their values from the actual unit, the Biscayan tonel ("tun"). At the time of Magellan's voyage, this tonel was reckoned as 1.2 toneladas,[2] giving the Concepción a capacity of roughly 108 toneladas,[2] 153 m³, 5400 cu. ft., or 54 English shipping tons.
  2. Spanish currency was extremely complicated during this period but the maravedí unit of account was usually reckoned as 1/375 of the Spanish ducat, making the cost of the Concepción equivalent to the value of about 2125 grams of pure gold.

References

Citations
  1. Joyner (1992), p. 93.
  2. Walls y Merino (1899), Annex 3, p. 174.
  3. Fernández de Navarrete (1837), p. 3.
  4. Fernández de Navarrete (1837), pp. 17–19.

Bibliography
  • Fernández de Navarrete, Martín (1837). Expediciones al Maluco, Viage de Magallanes y de Elcano (in Spanish). Imprenta Nacional.
  • Joyner, Tim (1992). Magellan. International Marine. OCLC 25049890.
  • Walls y Merino; et al., eds. (1899), Primer Viaje Alrededor del Mundo... (PDF) (in Spanish), Madrid{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).
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