ELCANO, JUAN SEBASTIN DE

born c. 1476, , Guetaria, Vizcaya, Castile died Aug. 4, 1526, at sea Basque navigator who completed the first circumnavigation of the Earth. In 1519 he sailed as master of the Concepcin, one of five vessels in Ferdinand Magellan's fleet. On Magellan's death, which occurred in the Philippines in April 1521, Elcano took command of the expedition and brought it safely home to Spain despite scurvy, starvation, and harassment by the Portuguese. Only one ship of the five, the Vittoria, with 17 other Europeans and 4 Indians aboard, reached Spain in September 1522. In 1525 Elcano, together with Garca Jofre de Loaisa, was appointed to the command of a fleet of seven ships and sent to claim the Moluccas for Charles V of Spain. Elcano died while crossing the Pacific.