Tl,c Searclt for La Salle, 1685-1689
intruders, Iriarte and Rivas explored the bay for a few days and then continued along the coast in search of the vaunted Espiritu Santo Bay. A few days later they reached the Rio de la Palizada ( the Mississippi) previously visited by Barroto and Romero. The leaders of the expedition, Rivas and Iriarte, had completed the exploration of the entire coast from Apalache to Tampico attempted earlier by the two other men, now acting in the capacity of pilots, but no trace of the elusive colony had been found, nor had they seen a bay that could answer the description of the beautiful and spacious Bay of Espiritu Santo. Along the whole coast they had not found any point which was particularly fit for settlement. Deter- mined to rectify the findings of the former expedition in order to make certain that the longed-for bay did not escape their notice. Rivas and Iriarte continued to the east, without entering the mouth of the Missis- sippi, because they failed to see its greatness and importance. On May 22, 1687, the two vessels entered Mobile Day. For three days they explored its coast carefully, but they found no large ri,·er flowing into it that would correspond to the Rio de! Espiritu Santo. Six rivulets were noted, all of them so small and shallow that even the long boats or canoes were unable to ascend their channels. The Spaniards concluded, however, that Mobile was Espiritu Santo Bay, since in all their search they had found no other that so closely answered the objective sought. Convinced that the site was unfit for settlement and that there was no sign of a French colony in its vicinity, Rivas and Iriarte decided to proceed on to Florida to secure provisions. Without reexploring Pensacola nay, they soon afterwards sailed for Havana, where they arrived on June 17. Here they stayed for two or three weeks, before sailing for Veracruz. It was not until July 3, 1687, that the two small ships finally entered the harbor of Veracruz, more than six months after their cleparture. 13 The long delay had filled the people and the officials of New Spain with deep concern. It was naturally feared that they had succumbed, either wrecked on the treacherous coast or at the hands of the French. Just three clays before their arrival, a searching party had set out. The 1 3The detailed diary of the expedition has not been found. But as Dunn points out in his excellent study, Spa11is/1 a11d Fru1c/1 Rivalry i11 tlu G"ulf Rt!1:io11, i8, note 37, the details can be gathered from other documents in which summaries are given . The chief of these are : Viceroy to the King, July 1 5, 168i; Copia de relacion hecha al Rei Xpmo tocante a la vahia de! Spiritu Ssto.... and Munibe to the King, August 12, 1687, all in A.G. I .. Audit!llcia tit! 11/hicn. 61-6- :rn (Dunn Tr~nscripts, 1685-1688, University of Texas Library).
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