Magellan's chance came in 1517. Because of his reputation as a skilled and fearless sailo, he was invited to Seville in ne- ighbouring Spain. There he met Duarte Barbosa, a successful P- ortuguese captain who lived in Spain. Plans were made for an expedition, to be commanded by Magellan, to find John of Lisb- on's South American passage to the Far East - ' El Paso'. The King of Spain, Charles I, gave the expedition his blessing and financiers put up the money. At this time, Magellan married B- arbosa's daughter Beatrice, who bore him a son. Magellan took charge of all the preparations for the voyage - recruiting the crews, ordering and checking supplies of food, spare canvas, masts and rigging, guns and other arms. King Ma- nuel sent spies to report on the preparations and to make mis- chief, and the merchants and bankers financing the enterprise also interfered. But by the late summer of 1519, the expedition was ready to sail. There were five ships in the expedition. We have no detailed records of them, but they were probably early types of galleon. The largest, the San Antonio, Was about 48 metres (150 feet) in length. The others, in order of size, were the Trinidad, Victo- ria, Concepcion and Santiago. Such ships look very attractive in pictures, but they were no fun to sail in. They were cramped and crowed, with little room for rest and shelter, and they were infested with lice and rats. Food and drink was another big problem on board. Salted meat, chesse, biscuits, water and wine were the main provisions. This was a poor dict at the best of times. Often, the food went rotten and the wine and water nothing fit to eat or drink. Diseases like typhoid and dysentry, and a terrible sickness called scurvy, killed many sailors in those days.