Having recently been aboard the Sevilla-based replica of Magellan’s flagship, the Nao Trinidad, I thought I’d reread Laurence Bergreen’s excellent history of the 1519-1522 circumnavigation of the globe. It was not a fun cruise. The Trinidad was one of five ships that left Spain for the Spice Islands 500 years ago. Only the Victoria, and its skeleton crew, made it back.

The replica ship is headed back to Florida for the winter.