> There is a deeper question of why a man would go on a theoretically suicidal voyage, and on top of that, be funded by royalty to do so. For the Spanish crown

> There is a deeper question of why a man would go on a theoretically suicidal voyage, and on top of that, be funded by royalty to do so. For the Spanish crown, it could have been just a matter of hedging its bets. It was a huge amount of money to one man or enterprise, but not so much to one of the great powers of Europe.