Torres Strait Voyage

Timeline

1. c. 1606Espiritu Santo · Espiritu SantoQuirós and Torres sailed from Callao, Peru, seeking the southern continent, reaching Espiritu Santo (present-day Vanuatu) in May 1606. On departure the flagship became separated; Torres opened his sealed orders and, with the San Pedro y San Pablo and the Tres Reyes, explored south to about 21°S without finding land, then altered course to seek a route to Manila.
2. c. 1606South coast of New Guinea · New GuineaHeadwinds prevented the fleet from heading directly to the Philippines along New Guinea's north coast, so Torres hugged the southeast and south coasts westward, provisioning, landing, and sketching anchorages around Milne Bay, Orangerie Bay, and Papua Bay, trading as well as clashing with coastal islanders.
3. c. 1606Torres Strait · Torres StraitTorres sailed west about 150 kilometers through shallow, reef-studded waters, passing through the channel between present-day Australia and New Guinea, thereby proving New Guinea an island rather than the northern peninsula of the legendary southern continent. Some months earlier Janszoon had landed on the west coast of Cape York, but the two were unaware of each other's voyages.
4. 1607Manila · ManilaThe fleet reached Manila via the Moluccas, and Torres submitted his report to the authorities. Spain treated the waterway south of New Guinea as a secret and withheld it for a long time; only in the 18th century, when Dalrymple and others translated the archives, did the strait appear on European charts under Torres's name, influencing later navigational judgments by Cook and others.