"The mire of intrigues, feuds, enmities and suspicions"
By sally tarbox on 18 September 2016
Format: Kindle Edition
This review is from: Isles of Unwisdom (Arena Books) (Paperback)
In 1595, a Spanish fleet of four ships left Peru with the aim of settling in the - they believed - fabulously wealthy Solomon Islands. The whole enterprise was fatally flawed by a total lack of team spirit.
The soldiers disdained the sailors and refused to help with their lowly tasks; the ineffective General was constantly struggling to cope with the drunken and rebellious Colonel; the General's haughty wife quietly despised her husband, while her bloodthirsty brothers took pleasure in hunting down the natives who for the most part received them with kindness...
Narrated by the General's secretary, we see how this apparently noble adventure - claiming new lands for King Philip and converting the heathens - disintegrated into starvation and murder.
Robert Graves has researched his subject well, using contemporary records of the voyage.
Probably *3.5 - it took me the first third to 'get into it', then I quite enjoyed the next third before feeling that the hideous incidents and the factions was all going on too much. There's a list of the 'cast' at the beginning, which is pretty essential with all the Spanish names. Well written and highly informative, but glad to reach the end. ( )

Graves se centra en esta ocasión en la expedición encabezada por Álvaro de Mendaña (cuyo propósito era descubrir Australia y colonizar las islas de los Mares del Sur) y en el hallazgo de las islas Marquesas y las Salomón; además relata un episodio único en la historia naval moderna, pues a la muerte de Mendaña, su joven viuda Isabel Barreto asumió el mando de la expedición, en un contexto de dura lucha entre la flota españolas y la inglesa por el dominio de los mares. ( )

An interesting look at exploration of the South Pacific by the Spanish. He contrasts the world of the native Solomon Islanders with the rigid European Catholic Spanish. The Europeans are not shown in their best light, but the detail work on their society is excellent. ( )