<P> "Nothing of Magellan's body survived, that afternoon the grieving rajah - king, hoping to recover his remains, offered Mactan's victorious chief a handsome ransom of copper and iron for them but Datu Lapulapu refused . He intended to keep the body as a war trophy . Since his wife and child died in Seville before any member of the expedition could return to Spain, it seemed that every evidence of Ferdinand Magellan's existence had vanished from the earth ." </P> <P> The casualties suffered in the Philippines left the expedition with too few men to sail all three of the remaining ships . Consequently, on 2 May they abandoned and burned Concepción . Reduced to Trinidad and Victoria, the expedition fled westward to Palawan . They left that island on 21 June and were guided to Brunei, Borneo, by Moro pilots, who could navigate the shallow seas . They anchored off the Brunei breakwater for 35 days, where Pigafetta, an Italian from Vicenza, recorded the splendour of Rajah Siripada's court (gold, two pearls the size of hens' eggs, porcelain from China, eyeglasses from Europe etc .). In addition, Brunei boasted tame elephants and an armament of 62 cannons, more than five times the armament of Magellan's ships . Brunei people were not interested in the Spanish cargo of cloves, but these proved more valuable than gold upon the return to Spain . </P> <P> When reaching the Maluku Islands (the Spice Islands) on 6 November, the total crew numbered 115 . They traded with the Sultan of Tidore, a rival of the Sultan of Ternate, who was the ally of the Portuguese . </P> <P> The two remaining ships, laden with valuable spices, tried to return to Spain by sailing westwards . However, as they left the Spice Islands, the Trinidad began to take on water . The crew tried to discover and repair the leak, but failed . They concluded that Trinidad would need to spend considerable time being overhauled, but the small Victoria was not large enough to accommodate all the surviving crew . As a result, Victoria with some of the crew sailed west for Spain . Several weeks later, Trinidad departed and tried to return to Spain via the Pacific route . This attempt failed . Trinidad was captured by the Portuguese and was eventually wrecked in a storm while at anchor under Portuguese control . </P>

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