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“a certain captain,” i.e., de Soto; even so, the natives who re-
mained willingly shared their food with the new invaders. During the three
months the Spanish detachment remained in the region, the Coosa asked
them to assist their forces in subjugating a nearby troublesome tribe, the
Napoochie. The Spaniards agreed to cooperate. Except for that single act of
warfare, the behavior of Luna’s men toward the aborigines of La Florida was
pacific and correct, in keeping with the spirit of the New Laws.
Meanwhile, three supply ships from México put in at Ochuse, and the
famished colonists at Nanipacana fled south to claim the provisions, leaving
behind a note to that effect for the Coosa command, which returned to Na-
proof
nipacana in October 1560. From Ochuse, a number of women, children, and
invalids returned to México on the supply ships. Besides food and clothing
those ships had brought urgent royal and viceregal orders for Luna to es-
tablish a presence at Santa Elena without further delay. Accordingly, in July
or August 1560, Luna directed sixty soldiers and three Dominicans to sail
around the peninsula to that Atlantic coastal site. On the voyage the ships
encountered foul weather, and the attempt was abandoned. At Ochuse the
remaining colonists soon exhausted their new rations and were reduced to
eating their leather, grass, and shellfish. Mutinous in mood, they engaged
in endless wrangling and insubordination, a situation that was aggravated
by Luna’s occasional mental seizures and deliriums. The inevitable rebellion
was averted by the skillful intervention of two Dominican friars and by the
arrival, in April 1561, of a new governor to relieve Luna, the alcalde mayor
of Veracruz, Ángel de Vil afañe. Luna sailed to Spain by way of Havana to
answer charges of dereliction. The commander of the fleet on which he took
passage was Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (see chapter 4).
Vil afañe bore orders identical to those last given to Luna: settle Santa
Elena at once. Leaving seventy or eighty men behind at Ochuse, he sailed
first to Havana to pick up horses and additional supplies. There, not
38 · Michael Gannon
surprisingly, about half his force deserted. With the remainder he followed
the Florida current north to what his pilots believed to be Santa Elena. The
four extant documents on the voyage are unclear, even contradictory, on
what happened at that site, wherever it was. They agree, however, in stating
that Vil afañe made no settlement there. Instead, he continued north by
ship exploring capes, inlets, and rivers as far as 35° north, or Cape Lookout,
North Carolina; he lost two smal ships and twenty-five men in a storm
and, discouraged, returned to Havana, where more of his men disappeared
into the local population. In the bitter denouement of the Luna-Vil afañe
undertaking, the detachment left at Ochuse was rescued and brought home
to México.
At the viceregal capital, a “pained and saddened” Velasco pondered a
communication from Felipe II reporting the opinion of Menéndez de Avilés
that La Florida’s shoreline was too low and sandy, her countryside too poor
in resources, and her harbors too barred and shallow to permit practicable
settlement. For that reason, the report concluded, there was no cause to
fear that the French would establish themselves there or attempt to take
possession.12
Notes
proof
1. Antonio de Herrera y Tordesil as, Historia general de los hechos de los Castel anos en las Islas y tierra firme del mar Océano, 4 vols. in quarto (Madrid, 1601–15), 1:249. [ Note: The diminutive form Juan Ponce was used by the first Spanish chroniclers of the period
of exploration.—M. G.]
2. Douglas T. Peck, “Reconstruction and Analysis of the 1513 Discovery Voyage of Juan
Ponce de León,” Florida Historical Quarterly 71, no. 2 (October 1992):133–54; Peck, Ponce
de León and the Discovery of Florida: The Man, the Myth, and the Truth (St.
mained willingly shared their food with the new invaders. During the three
months the Spanish detachment remained in the region, the Coosa asked
them to assist their forces in subjugating a nearby troublesome tribe, the
Napoochie. The Spaniards agreed to cooperate. Except for that single act of
warfare, the behavior of Luna’s men toward the aborigines of La Florida was
pacific and correct, in keeping with the spirit of the New Laws.
Meanwhile, three supply ships from México put in at Ochuse, and the
famished colonists at Nanipacana fled south to claim the provisions, leaving
behind a note to that effect for the Coosa command, which returned to Na-
proof
nipacana in October 1560. From Ochuse, a number of women, children, and
invalids returned to México on the supply ships. Besides food and clothing
those ships had brought urgent royal and viceregal orders for Luna to es-
tablish a presence at Santa Elena without further delay. Accordingly, in July
or August 1560, Luna directed sixty soldiers and three Dominicans to sail
around the peninsula to that Atlantic coastal site. On the voyage the ships
encountered foul weather, and the attempt was abandoned. At Ochuse the
remaining colonists soon exhausted their new rations and were reduced to
eating their leather, grass, and shellfish. Mutinous in mood, they engaged
in endless wrangling and insubordination, a situation that was aggravated
by Luna’s occasional mental seizures and deliriums. The inevitable rebellion
was averted by the skillful intervention of two Dominican friars and by the
arrival, in April 1561, of a new governor to relieve Luna, the alcalde mayor
of Veracruz, Ángel de Vil afañe. Luna sailed to Spain by way of Havana to
answer charges of dereliction. The commander of the fleet on which he took
passage was Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (see chapter 4).
Vil afañe bore orders identical to those last given to Luna: settle Santa
Elena at once. Leaving seventy or eighty men behind at Ochuse, he sailed
first to Havana to pick up horses and additional supplies. There, not
38 · Michael Gannon
surprisingly, about half his force deserted. With the remainder he followed
the Florida current north to what his pilots believed to be Santa Elena. The
four extant documents on the voyage are unclear, even contradictory, on
what happened at that site, wherever it was. They agree, however, in stating
that Vil afañe made no settlement there. Instead, he continued north by
ship exploring capes, inlets, and rivers as far as 35° north, or Cape Lookout,
North Carolina; he lost two smal ships and twenty-five men in a storm
and, discouraged, returned to Havana, where more of his men disappeared
into the local population. In the bitter denouement of the Luna-Vil afañe
undertaking, the detachment left at Ochuse was rescued and brought home
to México.
At the viceregal capital, a “pained and saddened” Velasco pondered a
communication from Felipe II reporting the opinion of Menéndez de Avilés
that La Florida’s shoreline was too low and sandy, her countryside too poor
in resources, and her harbors too barred and shallow to permit practicable
settlement. For that reason, the report concluded, there was no cause to
fear that the French would establish themselves there or attempt to take
possession.12
Notes
proof
1. Antonio de Herrera y Tordesil as, Historia general de los hechos de los Castel anos en las Islas y tierra firme del mar Océano, 4 vols. in quarto (Madrid, 1601–15), 1:249. [ Note: The diminutive form Juan Ponce was used by the first Spanish chroniclers of the period
of exploration.—M. G.]
2. Douglas T. Peck, “Reconstruction and Analysis of the 1513 Discovery Voyage of Juan
Ponce de León,” Florida Historical Quarterly 71, no. 2 (October 1992):133–54; Peck, Ponce
de León and the Discovery of Florida: The Man, the Myth, and the Truth (St.
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