Sebastian Vizcaino discovers the Bay of Monterrey
Sebastián Vizcaíno was the first European to arrive at the Bay of Monterrey (Mexico), in which he founded the port of the same name. Vizcaíno sailed in 1602 from Acapulco to Cape Mendocino to the north and during the trip — recorded by the Carmelite friar Antonio de la Ascensión as a chronicler — maps of the coast were drawn up that would be used for navigation in the area until the 19th century.
Reverse Scans of California
It was after the first “return trip” of 1565, when the trade route with the Philippines forced Spain to look towards California. The Manila galleon’s voyage lasted from fifty to sixty days one way, while the return took five to six months. Many travelers fell ill with scurvy as they approached the northern coast of California, the first point at which the galleons could make landfall after their long journey across the Pacific. The viceroyalty considered the advisability of establishing bases that would serve as a place of rest, relief, and even infirmary for sailors, as well as places of a military nature to combat the pirates who began to frequent the area, attracted by oriental riches.
The route of the “return voyage” that the Manila galleons followed crossed the Pacific on latitude 40º until they sighted land in the northern part of the current state of California and from there they sailed south taking advantage of the favorable winds and currents along the coast of Alta and Baja California. until heading to the port of Acapulco. Passing boaters made reconnaissances of the California coast and eventually stopped and explored it. The most famous of these so-called “inverse” explorations because they were done on return, were those of Francisco de Gali in 1584, Pedro de Unamuno in 1587 and Rodrigo de Cermeño in 1595.
Sebastián Vizcaíno’s expedition to Alta California in 1602
On May 5, 1602, the Vizcaíno expedition departed from Acapulco with three ships under his command, the San Francisco, the Santo Joseph and the Tres Reyes. The viceroy orders him not to explore the inland coasts of the Gulf of California, establishing the northern coast of California in the Pacific Ocean as his only objective. This will be Sebastián Vizcaíno’s second expedition to reconnoitre the Alta California coast and the continuation of Cabrillo’s.
After two months of navigation, he reached Cabo de San Lucas in Baja California. From this point, Vizcaíno suffers strong contrary winds but sails north following the coast of the California peninsula. They observe that there are many whales and give the name of Bahía Ballenas to the one located in front of the island of Cedros.
On November 5 they arrive at Todos los Santos Bay and on the 11th at the port of San Diego, which seemed very safe for the galleons. The chronicler Fray Antonio de la Ascensión says that “this Port of San Diego is very good and capable.”
They continued navigating describing in detail everything they found; They passed through the Bay of San Pedro and the Santa Bárbara channel and on December 13 they reached a bay that seemed to them a suitable site for a good port, which they called Monterrey in honor of Viceroy Gaspar Zúñiga y Acevedo, Count of Monterrey. . There they hold a meeting debating whether they are in a position to continue. Several crew members have died, there are forty sick and they are short of food. They decide that the admiralty ship returns to Mexico with the sick and to inform the Viceroy. On January 3 they continue their reconnaissance trip, stopping at various points and on January 12 they arrive at Cape Mendocino, 350 kilometers north of the current city of San Francisco. Vizcaíno passed the mouth of San Francisco Bay without realizing its existence, which remained unknown for another one hundred and sixty-seven years. It would have to be a land soldier, Gaspar de Portolá, who, looking for lost men in Monterrey, discovered it in November 1769.
Vizcaíno sighted Cape Mendocino after eight months of navigation. He arrived when the winter storms were raging and with the crew in pitiful physical condition. The chronicler Fray Antonio says that sometimes only six of its members walked on their feet and with the strength to climb up to anchor the sails. They celebrate together and decide that they can return since they have fulfilled the objective of the trip. However, for a few days they continued and in accordance with the authorization contained in the Instructions, they advanced as far as Cabo Blanco and a hundred more leagues.
On January 20, Vizcaíno undertook the return in his main ship, leaving behind the frigate he was accompanying. On the 28th they hold a new Board on the island of Santa Catalina to decide whether to continue or wait. The chronicler describes the painful situation: “… the sick cried out without a doctor or medicines (…) it looked like the said hospital ship and not a Navy ship.”
Vizcaíno continued south without stopping and on February 11 he arrived at Cabo San Lucas and finally on March 18 in Mexico, where he met his companions from the frigate Tres Reyes, who, after losing the pilot at Cabo Blanco, had already most of the crew had arrived at the port of Navidad at the end of February and from there overland to Mexico.
Vizcaíno’s voyage had lasted a year and more than forty men died during it, but the expedition had been a success. From then on, there would be a collection of 36 maps made by Henrico Martínez that would be very useful for subsequent navigations. Vizcaíno is recognized as the great navigator who explored the coasts of California and together with Cabrillo and Fray Junípero Serra are the most valued figures in the history of California that is taught in American schools.
Author: Ignacio del Pozo Gutiérrez for revistadehistoria.es
Bibliography:
Relation of trips of Sebastián Vizcaíno published by Martín Fernández de Navarrete ( Collection of the navigations and discoveries of the Spaniards of the end of the 16th century )
Navigation course from the port of Acapulco to Cape Mendocino and mouth of the Californias). By Jerónimo Martín de Palacios
Vizcaíno and Spanish Expansion in the Pacific Ocean, 1580–1630 (San Francisco: California Historical Society, 1968).
Letter of Sebastian Vizcaino to the King of Spain, announcing his return from the expedition to the Californias — dated 27th February, 1597, Publications of the Historical Society of Southern California, 1891 (Vol. 2, №1).Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the Historical Society of Southern California
