One Indian chief who said the natives of Apalache were his enemies did serve as a guide for part of the trip, but again, this could easily have been merely a tactic for the chief to get the strangers out of his territory as quickly as possible. With no tools and not much knowledge about ship-building - these were noblemen and soldiers, not craftsmen, engineers, or sailors - they fashioned five boats out of whatever plants and materials they could find. Cabeza de Vaca wrote that they treated the sick natives by praying and making the sign of the Cross over them. At least, this is what Cabeza de Vaca and the Spaniards understood from this non-verbal discussion. Narváez's crew initially numbered about 600, including men from Spain, Portugal, Greece,Only four of the original party—Appointed by the Spanish Crown as treasurer and sheriff, On June 17, 1527, the expedition departed Spain from the port of The first stop on the voyage was the Narváez put Cabeza de Vaca and a captain named Pantoja in charge of two ships sent to Trinidad, while he took the other four ships to the Recognizing the need to regroup, Narváez sent the four remaining ships to Among those hired by Narváez was a master pilot named After battling more storms, the expedition rounded the western tip of Cuba and made its way toward Havana. Thirty-five years after Christopher Columbus discovered the New World, the Gulf coast of the present-day United States was still mostly unexplored. Cabeza de Vaca writes that they thanked God for bringing them there, after so much difficult marching with nothing to eat. Two days later, the ships cast anchor on the western coast of the Florida peninsula. Once they got closer, however, they saw that Apalache was a sham. Narváez and his party continued their previous method of skimming the coast westward, landing wherever they thought they could find food or water. Esquivel subsequently fled to a different group of natives, who killed him.The predicament of Cabeza de Vaca's group on Follet's Island was equally dire. Pánfilo de Narváez (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpaɱfilo ðe naɾˈβaeθ]; 147?
If the receiving village had advance notice of the entourage, the people there would attempt to hide their belongings, because they knew the custom. This was most likely the San Bernard River in Brazoria County. This was the first killing committed by a European in Texas. The men killed their horses for food and material while they were building the boats – one horse every three days. The Spanish settlement of Pánuco, about 100 miles south of there and near present-day Tampico, was the northernmost European settlement on the North American continent. Instead, they went onto the mainland and found some woods, where they decided to spend the winter.
They had to wait another year until they were all brought together at the same spot. The Iguaces and Mariames were related to each other and generally traveled together, so Dorantes still had opportunities to visit Castillo and Estevanico. Eventually, all four Europeans were healers, and Cabeza de Vaca writes that not only did everyone they prayed for become well, but the natives believed that as long as they were with them, none of them would die.The four men stayed with the Avavares for eight months. At the same time, however, Cabeza de Vaca writes with a factual, professional tone that gives his work a great deal of credibility.