The battle of Mactan

CEBU, Philippines - When Lapulapu said no to Magellan’s order to be baptized and to bow to the authority of the king of Spain, he boasted of his readiness to do battle with the invaders. So now the protagonists were face to face with each other. Before the clash, however, the Mactan chieftain sent words to Magellan to postpone the attack until morning that he (Magellan) would recruit more men.

Magellan suspected that Lapulapu’s request was a ploy. But at the same time he thought that postponing the attack could be to his advantage. He must have consulted his companions about it and the group must have deliberated about it, not realizing that low tide would happen towards morning.

And low tide was to Magellan’s disadvantage because their boats would have to stay far from the beach, and his men could have a long way to wade towards the shore, thus exposing them to the poison arrows of the natives.

The sky had begun to glow when Magellan ordered his men to charge. Pigafetta wrote: “Forty-nine of us leaped into the water up to our thigh, and walked through the water for more than two crossbow flights before we could reach the shore.” The distance was about half a mile and as the warriors made their way to the shore, they were exposed to the arrows of Lapulapu’s men.

In the meantime, King Humabon and his men stayed in their “balanghai” and just watched what was going on. They had been repeatedly warned by Magellan to stay away from the battle and just witness the might of the Spanish warriors.

Here’s an account of the actual skirmish: “When they saw us, they charged down upon us with exceeding loud cries, two divisions on our flanks and another on our front. When the Captain General saw that, he formed us into two divisions and thus did we begin to fight. The musketeers and crossbows shot from a distance for about half an hour, but uselessly for the shots only passed through the shields which were made of thin wood and the (bearers) arms.”

The artillery failed to have any effect on the enemy: the Europeans’ predicament grew worse, and the battle intensified.

“The Captain General cried to them, “Cease firing! Cease firing! But this order was not heeded. When the natives saw that we were shooting our muskets to no purpose, they redoubled their shouts. When our muskets were discharged, the natives would never stand still, but leaped hither and thither, covering themselves with their shields. They shot so many arrows at us and hurled so many bamboo spears (some of them tipped with iron) at the Captain General, besides pointed stakes hardened with fire, stones and mud that we could scarcely defend ourselves.”

Despite the attack, the Europeans managed to make their way to the shore and came upon a big village in a coconut grove. “Burn their houses!”Magellan ordered. As one house was burning, fifty warriors leaped into the open to confront the invaders, “They charged upon our men”, de Mafra wrote, “striking them with their swords. In the midst of this skirmish one of the heathens slashed a Galician (crew member) with his sword, cutting his thigh and he later died as a result. Our men wanting to avenge this charged against the heathens, who beat a retreat, and as our men were chasing them, they came out of a path at the back of our men, as if had all been planned as an ambush, and with earsplitting shout pounced on our men and began to kill them.”

In the course of the fighting, Magellan was shot in the right leg with a poisoned arrow. Despite this, he continued fighting with his sword and killed some natives, then realizing the gravity of the situation, gave the order to retreat. Thereupon the Europeans rushed back to their boats while trying to evade the pursuing natives. However, some six of them, including Pigafetta stuck by the wounded Captain General for some time. But with “so many spears and stone that they hurled at us” the defenders could not do anything but flee, leaving Magellan behind.

And here’s a description of Magellan’s final moments: “An Indian hurled a bamboo spear into the Captain General’s face, but the latter immediately killed him with his lance which he left in the Indian’s body. Then trying to lay his hands on his sword, he could draw it out but halfway because he had been wounded in the arm with a bamboo spear. When the natives saw that, they all hurled themselves upon him. One of them wounded him on the left leg with a large cutlass, which resembles a scimitar, only larger… The scimitars’ repeated blows took their mortal toll. This caused the Captain General to fall downward, when immediately they rushed upon him with irons and bamboo spears and with their cutlasses until they killed our mirror, our light, our comfort and our time guide…”

Strangely, Pigafetta who fought side by side with Magellan, never mentioned the presence of Lapulapu in the fighting. Was he the native who struck Magellan with “a large cutlass resembling a scimitar” which ended the life of the latter? Perhaps he was… or was not.