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in latitude 22° north, and seeing their provisions running low and that they had been seventy days out on the expedition, it was decided to sail directly back to Veracruz, where they arrived on March 13, 1686. A large portion of the Gulf coast had been carefully explored but no trace of the intruders had been discovered, nor had any bay been found resembling the storied Espiritu Santo.• Tlte second maritime expedition, 1686-1687. At about the same time that Barroto and Romero returned to Veracruz, the first news of the French settlement on the Gulf coast reached Spain. A special ship had been dispatched from Havana by the general of the galleons, with letters from Admirals Palacios and Astina and the Governor of Cuba, giving the details of the French invasion as revealed by the declarations of the pirates. The action taken up to December 31, 1685, was likewise sum- marized for the king's information. Great was the alarm of the Council of the Indies, therefore, when it met on April 2, 1686, to deliberate on the measures that were to be adopted to drive the French from their strategic position. Immediate action was necessary, the Council declared, to "pluck out the thorn that had been thrust into the very heart of America." Fully aroused to the dangers of the moment it recommended in the strongest terms that two vessels be sent at once, fitted out with as many troops and arms as possible. In order not to arouse suspicion, the relations with France being once more strained at this time, the two frigates were to be sent as an escort with the annual fleet in which the Count of Monclova, the new viceroy, recently appointed, was to sail for New Spain. The projected expedition to the Isthmus of Darien, threatened by pirates, was to be postponed, the expulsion of the French from the Gulf coast being considered more important. Furthermore, the new viceroy should be authorized to use all available resources to destroy the French colony; he should be instructed to use, if necessary, part of the fleet before its return to Spain; and a fort should be established if deemed advisable, at Espiritu Santo in order to maintain the rights of Spain to the Gulf coast.' The Count of Monclova arrived in Veracruz on September 13, 1686. 1 Diario y derrotero del Viaxe q hico la fragata nra. ssra. de la cohpn. al descubrimto. de la Vaia del Spiritu Santo ... A . G. I., A11diencia de Mexico, 61-6-20 (Dunn Transcripts, 1685-1688) . 'Palacios to Oreytia, November 17, 1685; Astina to the king, November 18, 1685; Munibe to the king, December 3 I, 1685; Juntas del Consejo de Indias, Abril 2, 6, 8, 1686; A . G. /., Audiencia de Me:r:ico, 61-6-20 (Dunn Transcripts, 1685-1688).
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