Marquesas. The great journey to Polynesia.

Speedy Omelettes Novelettes.

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The novel.

This short novel draws firmly on Pedro Fernandes de Queirós' "Memorials de las Indias Australes", offering the reader a narrative account of the landing of the four ships, San Gerónimo (the Capitana), the Santa Isabel (the Almirante), the smaller frigate Santa Catalina and the galiot San Felipe, on one of the islands that would later be called Marquesas. It was in July 1595, and the mission was commanded by Admiral Mendaña de Neira.

Captain Pedro Fernández de Queirós made two great voyages across the Pacific: the first one as chief pilot of Álvaro de Mendaña, in 1595, which saw the "discovery" of the Marquesas Islands (French Polynesia) and Santa Cruz (southeast of the Solomon Islands); the second one, this time as commander of the expedition, in 1605-1606, which allowed the Tuamotu archipelago (French Polynesia) and Vanuatu (ex-New Hebrides) to be included in the maps.

This great sailor was an extraordinary man who, coming from a very modest social position, had access to the most influential people of his time - Pope Clement VIII or the Spanish King Philip III - and succeeded in persuading them to adopt his projects, sometimes very romantic - which earned him the name "Don Quixote of the South Sea" before falling into disgrace and dying in anonymity.

He left us many pages, all written with the same purpose, the organization and financing of expeditions to the Pacific Islands. He considered the outposts of an immense southern continent. First, his History of the Discovery of the Southern Regions includes a summary of Mendaña's first voyage to the Solomon Islands (1567-1569) and an account of the two next ventures in which he participated personally. It is not his logbook, but a text recomposed after the fact, probably in 1607, and intended to draw the King's attention to these islands' immense interests and show him that he would be a good expedition leader.

Each time the fleet was at anchor, Queiròs noted the latitude and longitude of the island (or at least the distance that, in his opinion, separated it from Lima) and all the details that would make it possible to recognize it in the future visit, as well as the different depths found and the nature of the bottom (sand, coral, etc.) so that in the future it would be possible to know for sure where to drop one's anchor without danger.

With the aim of an eventual Spanish stay in these islands, he made an inventory of their natural resources, the first of which was, of course, freshwater, and listed what could be helpful in the fauna and flora: we owe Captain Queirós the first mention of the fruit of the breadfruit tree, observed in Tahuata. But, being also an ethnographer before the letter, he was interested in the natives - their complexion, their features, their clothes, their tattoos - and in their civilization - their weapons, the shape and the construction of the houses and dugouts, the places of worship, etc. -, and devoted an entire chapter to the study of the indigenous people. -He devoted an entire chapter to the description of each island.