In a Spanish plot to break Portugal’s monopoly trade with the fabled Orient, four ships set sail from a hidden Mexican port. The secret mission was to cross the Pacific—and then, critically, to attempt the never-before-accomplished return, the vuelta. The smallest ship, guided by seaman Lope Martin, a mulatto who had risen through the ranks to become one of the most qualified pilots of the era, soon pulled far ahead, beginning of a voyage of epic scope, featuring mutiny, murderous encounters with Pacific islanders, astonishing physical hardships—and at last a triumphant return to the New World. But the pilot of the fleet’s flagship, the Augustine friar mariner Andres de Urdaneta, later caught up with Martin to achieve the vuelta as well. It was he who now basked in glory, while the Black sailor Lope Martin was sentenced to be hanged by the Spanish crown as repayment for his services. Acclaimed historian Andres Resendez, through brilliant scholarship and riveting storytelling-including an astonishing outcome for the resilient Lope Martin--sets the record straight.