Explorers of the 16th century had no idea what they would find when they set out to sea. Though this engraving has many features that are clearly fantastical, it does show Magellan using a pair of dividers to measure off an armillary sphere. Beside the ship, the Sun God Apollo shines brightly; it was the Sun's position in the sky that helped a navigator find his latitude. Ferdinand Magellan (1480 - April 27, 1521) was a Portuguese nobleman who had served his country as a soldier in the Indies. Like Columbus, he believed that a western voyage would be much quicker than the Portuguese route. He was sure there was a strait, or sea passage, through the American continent, and that Asia was close beyond. Charles I, new king os Spain, agreed to sponsor the plan. He gave Magellan 5 small ships and about 265 men. In September 1519, the ships set sail. Magellan's expedition of 1519-22 became the first expedition to sail from the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific Ocean, and the first to cross the Pacific. It also completed the first circumnavigation of the Earth, although Magellan himself did not complete the entire voyage, being killed during the Battle of Mactan in the Philippines at the age of 40 or 41.