The crew of the Geloof hunts penguïns in the Strait of Magellan

After losing sight of the Trouw, the Geloof continued to sail further into the Strait of Magellan in December 1599 and January 1600. Hope was not immediately given up to see the Fidelity again, but the idea had to be abandoned eventually. While in the Strait, the Geloof encountered the fleet of admiral Oliver van Noort, who was sailing in the opposite direction. The Geloof received some assistance, but was unable to stay with the much better equipped fleet of Van Noort. Then, the captain Sebald de Weert, finally decided to sail further towards the eastern entrance of the Strait and accepted his crew’s demands to sail back home to Dutch Republic. They sailed first to islands where many birds could be found and hunted extensively for them. They then sailed on to a large island, likely St. Magdalena’s Island, where they found an abundance of penguins, as well as diving-petrels and sealions. However, a storm prevented them from hunting there and the ship was forced to leave the Strait of Magellan and enter the Atlantic Ocean. From there it would still take another six months until the Fidelity would reach back to the Dutch Republic in June 1600.

This image shows one very large penguin in the foreground that appears to be taller than the men hunting penguins in the background. No species of penguin is known to be this tall, so this was an exaggeration on part of the author. Behind, we see men using spears to kill smaller penguins. The landscape has many holes in them, which were made by the penguins. Further to the back, men are loading the penguins into a small boat.