Observations placeholder
Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa - 7 February 1580, Straits of Magellan - Red, fiery flying shield
Identifier
028938
Type of Spiritual Experience
None
Background
A description of the experience
As quoted in Wonders In The Sky - Unexplained Aerial Objects From Antiquity To Modern Times - and Their Impact on Human Culture, History, and Beliefs - Jacques Vallee and Chris Aubeck
In Viajes al Estrecho de Magallanes by Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa (ca. 1530-1592) we read of this navigator's travels to the Strait of Magellan in 1579 and 1581. On Thursday, February 7th 1580 at 1:00 A.M., he wrote that towards the south-southeast:
"We saw a round thing appear, red like fire, like a shield, that rose up on the air or dft the wind. It became longer as it went over a mountain and, in the form of a lance high above the mount, its shape became like a half-moon between red and white in color."
The three simple shapes accompanying the text are a circle, an oval and a half-moon. Sarmiento de Gamboa compares the object to an "adarga." This was a round, oval or heart-shaped shield used in the time of Don Quijote.