Gatighan
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The isle of Gatighan was a way station of the Armada de Molucca under Captain-General Ferdinand Magellan on their way to Cebu in Central Philippines. The location of Gatighan has not been conclusively determined.
The word Gatighan comes from the Visayan katigan meaning a boat with outrigger or, as verb, to outfit a boat with outrigger.[citation needed]
Documentation in Armada de Molucca's logbook
The logbook states[citation needed] that the fleet left the west port of Mazaua early morning of Thursday, April 4, 1521. According to Pigafetta, they took a northwest track, however Albo claims they took at northern track. The ships sailed 80 nautical miles (150 km) to reach Gatighan at 10° N in 11–13 hours.
During the brief stop on the island, Pigafetta documented the island's fauna: "In this island of Gatighan are a kind of birds called Barbastigly (flying fox), who are as large as eagles. Of which we killed a single one, because it was late, which we ate, and it had the taste of a fowl. There are also in that island pigeons, doves, turtledoves, parrots, and certain black birds as large as a fowl, with a long tail. They lay eggs as large as those of a goose, which they bury a good cubit deep under the sand in the sun, and so they are hatched by the great heat made by the warm sand. And when those birds are hatched they emerge. And those eggs are good to eat."[1]: 73
On Pigafetta's map,[citation needed] Gatighan is the only island mass that straddles between two huge islands, Bohol and Ceylon/Seilani (Panaon Island, the south most end of Leyte). It is almost exactly at the 10° N latitude, reference point of Albo for Gatighan.
Attempts to locate the island
Despite many attempts to determine which island was referred to as Gatighan, opinions still vary on the issue. Theories include:
- F.H.H. Guillemard stated in 1890 that it is perhaps Jimuquitan or Apit Island"[citation needed].: 235 R.A. Skelton, Andrea da Mosto,: 74 Jean Denuce,: 312 Leonce Peillard: 314 and Theodore J. Cachey Jr.: 155 (who spelled the name "Himuguetan" support this theory.[citation needed]
- Samuel Eliot Morison states that Gatighan is one of the Camotes Islands[citation needed].: 423 However, these islands are too small to sustain the varied fauna described in the logbook.[citation needed]
