On August 10th, 1519, Ferdinand Magellan set off with five ships and a crew of 250 men in search of the fabled Spice Islands of the Moluccas, located on the far side of the world. Three years later, a lone vessel returned to Seville with a skeleton crew of 18 men, along with four natives. A fictional member of the crew relates the trials and accomplishments of the voyage in his 200 page diary: provisioning in Seville, crossing the Atlantic, two failed mutinies, treacherous storms, the slaughter of indigenous tribes, the search for the strait that eluded Columbus, the near fatal crossing of the Pacific, a violent encounter with natives that led to Magellan's death, and the final desperate race to reach Spain and be the first to circumnavigate the globe before succumbing to disease, starvation and Portuguese warships. "A Higher Ordeal" is an exciting story of adventure on the high seas and a firsthand account of the clash of cultures, personal sacrifice, and the destructive power of ambition.