Magalhaes notifies the officials not to interfere with his taking the Portuguese who had shipped in the fleet; the blame will be theirs if, now, when everything is in readiness, they obstruct in any way the expedition.  The officials of the house of trade reply, asking Magalhaes to keep the commands that have come from the king.  Ruy Falero will give up all that is needed.  They believe that the two Portuguese stewards appointed by Magalhaes are honest men; but it is against the king’s orders to carry men of that nation.  Letters from the king are cited to the effect that Magalhaes and Falero take only four or five Portuguese apiece.  They urge him to live up to these orders. (No. xvi, pp. 156-162.)

September, 1519.  On setting out upon his voyage Magalhaes leaves for the king a memorandum of the latitudes and location of the Spice Islands, and the shores and principal capes in the Castilian demarcation, “because some time the Portuguese King may try to declare that the islands of Maluco are within his demarcation.”  He bids the king keep this memorandum carefully, for there may be a time when it is necessary. (No. xix, pp. 188, 189.)

On the nineteenth of April, 1520, while at port San Julian, Magalhaes ordered an investigation of a petition presented by Alvaro de la Mezquita, captain of the ship “San Antonio.”  The petition states that on the first of April Gaspar de Quesada and Juan de Cartagena appeared at Mezquita’s ship, took him prisoner, and made themselves masters of the vessel.  Quesada refused to liberate the prisoner at the request of the master, and checked the intended resistance of the remaining officers and crew of the “San Antonio” by severely wounding the master, Juan de Elorriaga and ordering the others disarmed.  The mate was taken prisoner, and carried to the “Concepcion.”  Antonio de Coca, accountant of the fleet, was a party to the conspiracy.  Juan de Sebastian del Cano, master of the “Concepcion,” was placed in command of the captured vessel, which was put in a state of defense, all guns being mounted in place.  Mezquita asks for a thorough investigation of this case, so that the fleet may be cleared of traitors.  The charges of wastefulness and cruelty preferred against him, he wishes examined; and, if he is worthy of punishment, let it be administered.  This petition was presented on the fifteenth, and acknowledged on the seventeenth.  The testimonies were given before a notary on and after April 19, and certified on the twenty-sixth.  In the investigations the depositions were taken of the chaplain of the fleet, and of the notary, the pilot, a sailor, the boatswain, the steward, and the master of the “San Antonio.”  In the main they are all alike, exonerating Mezquita from all charges and condemning Quesada and his accomplices.  On the return to Seville of the “Victoria” (in which Mezquita was carried a prisoner), these depositions were presented, through the efforts of Diego Barbosa, to the alcalde-in-ordinary (May 22, 1523). (No. xx, pp. 189-201.)