THE LEGEND OF JUAN RODRÍGUEZ CABRILLO SAILS AGAIN


 


Author: Sealtiel Enciso Pérez

One of the great navigators whose career was closely linked to the Baja California peninsula was undoubtedly the Cordoban Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo. This intrepid Spanish navigator achieved one of the most important and unprecedented feats of navigation in the discovery of the possessions of the Northwest of New Spain.

Rodríguez Cabrillo was born in Villa de Palma, now the city of Palma del Río, Kingdom of Córdoba in ancient Castile (Spain) at the end of the 16th century. At the age of 20, he arrived on the island of Cuba as a soldier under the orders of Diego de Velázquez, Governor of Cuba. Shortly after Hernán Cortés disobeyed the Governor's orders and decided to undertake the discovery and colonization of the lands that would later be known as New Spain, we find Rodríguez Cabrillo as part of the force sent by Velázquez to quell the rebellion and imprison Cortés. After the confrontation between both groups, Cabrillo decides to join Cortés' group and help him in the conquest of the Great Tenochtitlán. Shortly thereafter, he decides to accompany Pedro de Alvarado in southwestern Mexico, as well as in the conquest of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras in Central America. In 1530, he settles in the city of Guatemala and marries a Spanish woman, with whom he has two children. To make a living, he dedicates himself to trade and the importation of goods.

However, the adventurous and intrepid nature of Rodríguez Cabrillo leads him to respond to the call of the Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza in 1541, who invites him to lead an expedition through the South Sea where he would dedicate himself to searching for evidence of the existence of the famous Strait of Anián as well as the mythical city of Cíbola. As we will remember, several explorers, including Hernán Cortés, Francisco de Ulloa, Fernando de Alarcón, and the pilot Domingo del Castillo, had made explorations in the same direction and had only found some lands that they were unsure whether they were a great island or a peninsula (what we know today as the Baja California Peninsula). Thus, on June 24, 1542, he began his journey along the unknown coasts of the Northwest of New Spain at the head of 3 ships, of which he traveled on the flagship, which was named "San Salvador."


As a result of this bold and unprecedented journey, Cabrillo managed to sail along the coast of the Baja California peninsula on both the Gulf of California and the Pacific Ocean, reaching a latitude of 36º 36' North where no Spanish sailor of that time had gone before. He discovered a beautiful bay, which he named Bahía de Los Pinos, later renamed by Vizcaíno as Bahía de Monterrey, a name it still bears. Unfortunately, during the exploration of these coasts, Cabrillo had a confrontation with a group of natives, and due to a fall, he broke his arm, which became gangrenous due to the lack of proper care and was the cause of his death. On January 3, 1543, this Spanish sailor breathed his last.

Before his death, Rodríguez Cabrillo handed over command of his depleted fleet to the navigator Bartolomé Ferrer or Ferrelo to continue exploring as far north as possible in an attempt to fulfill his orders to find the Strait of Anián. After a great effort, on March 1, Ferrer managed to reach a latitude of 40º 26' and named this part of the coast Cabo Mendocino (in honor of the Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza, sponsor of the expedition). With most of the crew suffering from the disease known as Loanda, he decided to return to New Spain, and on April 14, 1543, they docked in the Port of Navidad, now known as Barra de Navidad, Jalisco.

Although this expedition was a failure in that it did not find either the famous Strait of Anián or evidence of the existence of Cíbola, it established the presence of a vast and rich land to the north of Bahía and Puerto de la Santa Cruz, established seven years earlier by the Marqués del Valle.

Now, we assert that Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo sets sail again due to the fact that a grand project that had been dreamed of for more than 30 years (the first ideas for the project date back to the early 1980s) has just been completed with the construction of a replica of the ship "San Salvador," which, as we have already mentioned, was the flagship on which Rodríguez Cabrillo sailed in his discovery of the coasts of the Northwest of New Spain.

In 2005, the Maritime Museum of San Diego decided to take up the project of building this ship because the first point on what is now the West Coast of the United States of America to be touched by a European was precisely the port of San Diego (which was named San Miguel by the explorer Cabrillo when he arrived at this site on September 28, 1542). Thus, the museum committee began historical research activities for the design of the ship. Against them, they had the fact that there were no plans for the construction of this ship, so they had to assemble a multidisciplinary group that investigated ship paintings of the time as well as ship remains found in Canada that corresponded to the type of vessel that was the "San Salvador." After many vicissitudes, the design was finally completed. Now the next difficulty was to gather the 12 million dollars it would cost to build this ship. Once again, the museum's machinery is set in motion and 6 million dollars are obtained through donations from individuals and the other 6 million through contributions from various institutions, including the City Government and Civil Associations. It is worth noting that many construction companies made significant donations of materials with which the ship was built and detailed.

In the year 2011, construction began on this great project and, to recreate the atmosphere of a 16th-century shipyard, a tent was erected under which hung the flags of the Kingdoms of Spain and Portugal, and construction and assembly of the ship's parts began. According to estimates, nearly 1 million people visited this site during the 4 years it took to build the vessel. The wood used in its construction was "sapele" brought from the Central African Republic, and the ship's keel was made of solid lead and covered with wood to serve as a counterweight to offer stability in motion. 500 people worked on the construction of the ship, two-thirds of whom were volunteers. It is important to mention that only the upper and exterior part of the ship has a design that replicates the original ship, while the interior features a powerful internal combustion engine and various modern accessories that guarantee a safe and comfortable journey, without relying exclusively on the wind in its sails, as the "San Salvador" did. The total dimensions of the ship are 28 meters in length, 7.3 meters in beam, and 3.3 meters in draft, with a total weight of 150 tons. It generally requires a crew of 18 people, who are sufficient to guarantee a safe journey.


The ceremony in which the ship was launched took place on July 30, 2015, at the port of San Diego, California. To this day, the ship has visited 30 ports, including Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Sacramento, Ensenada (on September 17, 2018), and others. It has traveled nearly 3,500 miles, and more than 400,000 visitors have had the opportunity to board it and get to know it. Currently, most of the time, the ship is docked in the Bay of San Diego and is considered the main attraction of the City's Maritime Museum. Visitors can climb aboard and receive an interesting talk about the history of the ship, the explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, as well as have the opportunity to explore the kitchen, dining room, and various spaces used on 16th-century ships.

It is important not to forget that on the route followed by Rodríguez Cabrillo before reaching the coasts of what is now California, USA, he visited many sites in our state, Baja California Sur, including San José del Cabo, Bahía Magdalena (which he named as such), and Cedros Island. A very interesting proposal would be for the people and the government to come together to establish a museum that would showcase the life and work of these navigators who offered their very lives in their desire to fulfill the discovery of these beautiful lands.

Bibliography:

CLAVIJERO, Francisco Javier (2007) Historia de la Antigua o Baja California, estudios preliminares de Miguel León-Portilla, México, ed. Porrúa ISBN 970-07-7044-3

Relación del descubrimiento que hizo Juan Rodríguez, navegando por la contracosta del Mar del Sur al Norte, hecha por Juan Páez (julio de 1542)

Diario Hispanic council

Diario Ensenada net

Diario PS en línea

Diario El País

Diario El vigía

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