Ferdinand Magellan, Circumnavigator, His Life and Explorations

When this work first appeared in 1953 under the title So Noble a Captain: the Life and Times of Ferdinand Magellan, it represented the first full-length biography of the explorer in over sixty years. At that time Charles E. Nowell called many of Parr’s conclusions unorthodox and regretted that he had not backed them up with footnotes but admitted that he agreed with them himself most of the time. During the intervening years virtually the only scholarly study in English dealing with Magellan’s voyages has been Nowell’s own seventy-three-page introduction to his edition of Antonio Pigafetta, Maximilian of Transylvania, and Gaspar Corrêa, Magellan’s Voyage around the World, Three Contemporary Accounts (Evanston, Illinois, 1962). Although this fact may suggest some justification for republishing Parr’s book, it is regrettable that he did not change more than the title or add more than a brief, chatty introduction by Captain Beach and a few bibliographical entries. (Originally reviewed in February 1954.)