Aboard Cabrillo's Galleon

Authors: Christine Echeverria Bender

BOOK: Aboard Cabrillo's Galleon

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Â© 2013 by Christine Echeverria Bender. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews and articles. All inquiries should be addressed to: Caxton Press, 312 Main Street, Caldwell, Idaho 83605.

ISBN 978-087004-526-4

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bender, Christine Echeverria.

Aboard Cabrillo's Galleon / Christine Echeverria Bender.

pages cm

Summary: An historical fiction novel depicting Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo's 1542 voyage of discovery to North America on his ship, the San Salvador.

1. Cabrillo, Juan Rodr?guez, -1543--Fiction. 2. Explorers--Fiction. I. Title.

PS3602.E6614A26Â Â 2013

813'.6--dc23

2013005355

Other novels by Christine Echeverria Bender:

Challenge The Wind

Sails of Fortune

The Whaler's Forge

Sarah Pilar Echeverria artistically created the maps within these pages.

Lithographed and bound in the United States of America

CAXTON PRESS

Caldwell, Idaho

184125

This book is dedicated with immeasurable love to my siblings, who have taught me a thousand lessons and brought me a million smiles:

John Echeverria, Teresa Townsend, Debra Geraghty,

Mark Echeverria, Felisa Wood, and Diana Echeverria.

For each of you, I will always be grateful.

Acknowledgements

The conception of this story occurred amid towering shadows of historical ships gathered from around the world for San Diego's annual Festival of Sail. As I signed books and chatted with readers, the staff and volunteers from the hosting Maritime Museum began to mention with great enthusiasm their plans to construct a replica of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo's galleon
San Salvador
. Later that afternoon the museum's president Dr. Raymond Ashley asked if I might be interested in writing a novel about the 1542 voyage that unveiled California's mysteries to the world. Considering such an enticing subject, and given my earlier work related to whaling galleons of this era found in Red Bay, Labrador, I was captivated, and my research began almost immediately.

After studying maps, accounts, and analyses for months, as is my practice, I began to investigate how I might retrace this ever more intriguing protagonist's voyage in order to gain first-hand knowledge of his experience. Good fortune provided just such an opportunity when Dr. Ashley organized a crew for the tall ship
Californian
and allowed me to join them on a sailing expedition up the California coast as far as Santa Barbara and, with special permission from the U.S. Navy, to all eight of the Channel Islands.

The days and nights spent aboard that ship, working, talking, exploring, eating, and sleeping in close quarters with the other hands, fostered tight friendships and countless impressions and memories. I was able to land upon beaches very little changed from when Cabrillo set his feet upon them, and on other shores he'd have found unspeakably changed, but with each landing and every crossing of ocean stretches in between, I learned to appreciate the man and his mission more highly. This voyage aboard the
Californian
undoubtedly allowed me to capture Cabrillo's tale with greater clarity than would have been possible otherwise. To Captain Ashley and the other officers, and to each of the crewmembers who offered their kind, patient instruction as generously as their camaraderie, I am deeply grateful.

Much thanks is also owed to Robert Munson, Historian at the Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego, who met with me during my visits to that lovely city (and my former home), sharing his wealth of knowledge and insight about Cabrillo and his age, and remaining available throughout the writing and reviewing of my book. Of him and his associates at the monument, lovers of history have much to be proud.

To the wonderful Cabrillo scholars and writers, including Harry Kelsey, Henry R. Wagner, Thomas E. Case, Paul A. Myers, Bruce Linder, and those involved in the Cabrillo Historical Association (now the Cabrillo National Monument Foundation), and to Pablo E. PÃ©rez-MallaÃna for his works related to early Spanish men of the sea, I offer my admiration and appreciation. Through the studies and teachings of past and present tribal leaders, university professors, and so many other educators, the publications by R. F. Heizer, M. A. Whipple, RamÃ³n A. GutiÃ©rrez, Richard J. Orsi, Robert F. Heizer and Albert B. Elsasser, and the tireless dedication of those employed at fine regional museums such as John Johnson at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, a greater understanding of California's native people is being fostered daily, and a debt is owed to them all.

I am also much obliged to Fr. Dennis Gallagher, the University Archivist at Villanova University, for sending me the insightful article on Fray Julian Lezcano, without which it would have been much more difficult to gain insight into his personality.

My husband Doug Bender, sister Teresa Townsend, and friends Alice Tracy, Sally Mendive, and Helen Berria are the treasured reviewers and proofreaders who saw to it that this book was well polished before my admirable and much appreciated editor, Scott Gipson at Caxton Press, took over its guardianship. Each of you, please accept my sincerest thanks.

Author's Notes

Both singularly tantalizing and frustratingly concise, Cabrillo's files allow glimpses of fabulous discoveries while leaving persistent mysteries unsolved. A full autobiographic account of his experiences does not appear to have withstood the passage of centuries. However, notes, maps, and AndrÃ©s de Urdaneta's invaluable summary of the voyage (originally produced by notary Juan LeÃ³n from the testimonies of the newly returned voyagers in 1543) have survived. These and the short description published by royal historian Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas in 1601, along with limited court records, represent much of Cabrillo's source material. A complete crew list also remains elusive, but the ancient record does permit Julian Lezcano, BartolomÃ© Ferrelo, GerÃ³nimo de San RemÃ³n, Lorenzo Hernandez Barreda, and Antonio Correa to live on in this story. Although most of the tribal characters depicted in my novel are found in historical documentation, Taya and her family are literary creations based on my study of her people.

Since conflicting evidence raises doubt that the debate over Cabrillo's nationality will ever be settled fully, my description implies that he shares Spanish and Portuguese heritages.

Another area of conjecture is whether horses were indeed aboard these ships, and if so, how many. Spanish horses were certainly brought along on many ocean crossings, but the record of this particular voyage is unable to answer this and other questions about what was actually loaded. Considering Cabrillo's highly prized right to own horses and his war history, and that he had been ordered to seek settlement opportunities, which would have greatly benefited from the presence of horses, it seems likely that he would have wanted mounts with him. Also, he believed that throughout most of the voyage they would be sailing along a coastline that might well provide adequate feed and exercise for a small number of horses. For these reasons I chose to bring a select few into this story.

Fascinating substantiation is still being found that gives witness to the arrival of early Spanish explorers. Opposite is the image of a petroglyph found in southern California's Jacumba National Wilderness. Based on scientific analyses, these could well have been created around the time of Cabrillo's voyage.

~
Christine Echeverria Bender