Our Catliolic Heritage in Texas
arrived in Seville several months later, greatly damaged by the storm, 4 and a fourth is reported to have succeeded in making her way to Veracruz, carrying the sad news of the disaster to that port. 5 Of the one thousand passengers who boarded the ships so joyously at Havana, a scant three hundred reached shore alive, some walking through the shallow waters, others swimming, and still others by holding on to pieces of wreckage. The rest perished in the sea. 6 Among the survivors were five Dominicans, three of whom were priests and two, lay brothers. These religious were Fathers Fray Juan Ferrer, Fray Diego de la Cruz, and Fray Hernando Mendez, and Brothers Fray Juan and Fray Marcos de Mena.7 The coast on which they were thrown was bleak and uninviting. There was not a pueblo, nor an Indian village, nor signs of a living thing. The sand waste extended as far as the eye could see and only the rolling waves broke the silence of the uninhabited land. Fortunately for the survivors, the sea washed ashore many of the plentiful provisions that had been placed on board, such as ham, hard-tack, jam, and other things. More valuable than the provisions themselves was a box with two excellent crossbows and a number of swords which were soon to prove their worth. 8 For six days the unfortunate victims of the storm stayed on the shore in sight of the wreckage, undecided what to do and hoping that help would come either from Havana or Veracruz, where they thought some of the ships that were not ruined might have gone. In their opinion they had been driven west for a considerable distance, for they concluded that they were three or four days from the Panuco River. Their subsequent wanderings proved, however, that they were more than forty days' march from their goal. 9 Just where was the rich fleet wrecked on the Texas coast? It is not possible to determine with absolute accuracy the exact spot where the ill- starred survivors were thrown upon the shore, but it is evident from the available accounts that it was on a low-lying, sandy, and uninhabited stretch of the coast. With no intention or desire of exploring the country upon which they had been stranded, they made no effort whatsoever to determine whether they were on an island or the mainland. When, after
4 Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana ( 1723 ed.), I, 620. 5Davila Padilla, Fu11dacion, 273. 6 Barcia, Ensayo Cronologico, 29. 1 /bid., 28.
1 D.ivila Padilla, Fundacion, 274. 9 /bid., 274; Barcia, op. cit., 29.
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