MI "S10 PADRE OF S i TA CLARA The Lif e and ·ork of Padre ragin Catala oly ranciscan of Early Re- told by Rev . A. D. Spearman, s.J. ***********""* CHAPTER I ~ HOMELA D OF- J ISSIO ARms

The Spanis easter coast, l and of t e Catalans , is mountain- out, with ancient ore deposits wor-ked by early Greeks and Romans , and with mo:untain ·sides and valleys lon husbanded to produce its somewhat scanty crops of grapes, figs , hazelnuts, olive oil, wheat, barley, large beans , vegetables, and feed for its varied liv~stock. It forms in a cultural and somewha t geographical sense a large circle with t e outlying Balearic islands which long a go first gave mules to the Roman empire, and have since preserved the Catalan l anguage as at Ba rcelona, Huesca , Teruel, and on the coastal shore~ ~o Valenci and Cadiz. So ru ged i n eneral. was the land that long a o the folk­ saying developed, "Los Catalanes de l as piedras !!1...E!!l panes l - The Catalans must gather bread from t he vecy rocks! " Such a l and produced ah rdy race acquai nted with t he problems and arts of survival; nd t he somewhat austere standar d 0£ livin was a healthful at mosphere for the growt of a strong medieval christ­ i anity. The 'panish period of coloni al expansion found many religious volunteers to carry f rom Ma jorca and i norca nnd the coastal villages and towns their sturdy eritage of strong Catala - 2 character · nd deep Catholic Faltl to t e l ast ecclesiastical f ro. tiers of the north Pa cif ic co as t. Ma in Catala was to be one of these Conguista ores f or t he Fait • He rn s born, with is twin brother, Pedro ·rolasco, on the 29t h or 30th of January, 1761, at ontblanch , in the old Provin­ cia of Catalonia and Ki ngdom of Arago, now withi n t e province and Archbishopric of Tarragona. Montblanc was and is a not in­ consider ble town1 of over f our thousand inhabitants l ying in t he open neck of land between the rid _e of -an i guel to the north and the triple rid es of Roguerole, t e Prades , d t e Masara to t he sout • It is watered by t e .J:2. 'ra.."'l eoli rising i n t e Roguerole hills., The river Fr an coli. t hen flows south ard past Valls, which lies somewhat off its east bank,. and on down to t he J edi terranean wat ers by t h e city of Tarragona . ontblanch lies f ifty miles due west of t he ci t y of Barcelona ; and t he l a r e valley of "tthich it is t e eastern gateway stretcnes ten miles westwar d to t he irregular slopes of the hi gh ierra !!! Tallat , or Sierra~ l as Llenas--Ran e of t he Floods-- which extends in a meandering fashion f rom above ontblanch westerly and south to t he tip of Aragon to make a separation f ro t he Ll anos del Urgel and the righ , pl a ins city of Lerida. Medieval iron springs are found i n t he .Roguerole near t e headwa ters of t e !!!.2 Fr ancoli.

1I n t e 13th century t he Ki s of Ar a on on f our s pecia~ occasions held Courts of Justice f or Catalonia at 1ontblanch; and t heir second sons were esignat ed wit t he title of Duke of ~ont blanch. Catala - 3

Ma in (let's ~ive that nae its Spanish pron nciation, "la- heenn , a ccenti t e l ast syllable, as also the family name , 2 Catala , wit an acute on the final) as born into a devout f ily. His mother was Francisca Guasch y Bur eras, dau ter of a prominent merch nt in the town. Her exemplary husband was the notary public, 1'ati s Cat la y oig, of a ily of comfort- able means . He \as called ''Doctor atias" by is contemporaries and in the docu uents. A ia. ternal uncle , Reverend atias Catala, was diocesan iest att a ched as holder of a benefice to the church at .-fontblanch. Francisca's new arrival , youn est of six. children, was baptized at the fifteent century romanesque church of Santa of JiTontblanch, on aturday, January 31st, 1761, with license of t he pastor, Jose ,ontane.r y Murtra, by Reverend Juan Ferrer . 3 The Compadres, or Godpa rents, were Raimundo , his eldest brother, and his sister, Josefa Catala. The chil d received the full n~me of· Hagin Jose ti•s Catala, • • .l). and used aft erwar d for signature only' :th~_t. of his patron , 1 agin. St . Magin4, like so many of the great Churc ' a c ildren of , is unfamil iar to nglish - s eaking Catholics, but was much venerated in is native land in t he neigp,borhood of his l ate

2 The r ecord of marria e of the Catala' s survives. It was April 24, 1746. Five boys nd one irl \1ere born to this union. e eldest, R on, became like his father , 'otary Public of ont­ bl nch. not er rot er of ~agin' s was Pascual, wh o became Dean of t he Priest of .:>a ta ·,aria ajor, dyin at age of O on ov, 14,1829. 3cf: Un isionero ·Santo - Vida del Padre fug i n Catala,·por P. CeferinoEngelh rdt, • Casa Eaitorial Jose Vilamala, Barcelona , 1924. ·Traduccion (y anotacicn) del • Pedro Sanahuja• O. F •• , PP • 40 , 42 , 43 & f . 4As St . ,aginus . e 1as named heavenly p trone of all submarine personnel by Pope Pius II i n 1956. Catala - 4 third- century home , the mountains of rufagana , Catalonia, - ­ Padre Catala ' s own native region. T e patron saint had lived in a mo tain cave as one of three hermits near Rocamora in the termi nal foothills of the ierra de ill Llenas. A ter some years of solitu~e , pr yer, and penitential exercises , t e oly hermit Magin felt the call to preac tl e Gos el to the stil unconverted pagan peoples bout hi , and did so with muc s ccess. So many turned fro the state-cstablis1ed idol wor i p of old o e ' s eclectic paganism, tlat t e impe~ial overnor of Tarragona had the her it agin arr ested for 'treaso against state" an its worshi under the d ma ing crirne-- accusation of "0diu Generis

Humani--Hatred o t e w ai • ce . n This , of course, s the accepted agan way o ivin a dog a bad nae before h nging him. The ermit w s offered the 1~ al kindness of sacrificing to the fal e gods or bringing on i self the tender mercies of agan torture and death. It w s t e period when God frequently testified by miracles to i C rist's follow­ ers i n the planting of the new and tender Christian 1th. The Governor' s own ughter, t he early chronicles relate, became suddenly posses d by dern.on--to be ·freed only byte pr yer of the her it . But cast into rison nd c a ins by the unre entant overnor, the holy man was freed by divine intervention and soo returned to his cave . Once more apprehended, e a cruelly beaten and his 1ead struck off on t he 26th day of August, ver-1 early in the fourth century, pparently in t he em ire-wide ersecution of

Diocletian. e c rn 1- inded and brutalized pa aJ1 sses were Gatala - 5

not won to Christianity by the preaehi of stern christian morals, but by the visible miracles and testimonies of C rist' s ma rtyrs to his divinity and is love for ankind even to the death on the Cross. Pa r Ma i Catala' s childhood was enriched by the simple faith of a eople still moved by the earliest outpourings of the Spirit. The Cat a as knew and loved their heritage. For the boy Ma.gin , is divinely inspired love of God , and of f ellowman f2!:. God ' s sake , did indeed begin at home; but it as not to remain only the re. On ust 10th, 1767 , when six years of age, he received the sacrament of Confirmation at the hands of Archbishop of Tarra ona , Most Reverend D. Lario y Lancis, officiating at t e neighboring Tilla e church of Lilla. There you viag in became indeod a true and e rfect christ1an and spiritual soldier of Jesus Christ. There was one Eadrino or sponsor for the confirmation class , Reverend Francisco l irasso, a native of arria, t he ten pastor of ontblanch .•

Serious t i r; for ~he Spanish Dominions were trans iring ' \e oh;l).d when our Magi n as still a ...... r ). at his other' s knee. e masonic · secret societies had begun in earnest in the early seven­ teen hundre st activate their plan of displacing traditional christendo with their man- made pattern of society. They had taken control of many Italian city. states by 1731 , and more by 1751, in bot of .rhich years the opes of o e ad exco unicated their emberships as subversive of F.uropean christian eiviliza- tion. ey ~ere stron enou , however, by 1763 to use the Bourbon Ki o- s of ain, r anee, Port al, wit} N ples and the Catal a - 6

Two Sicilies to suppr ess t he world- j_ issiona ry a nd du cation- a l Order of t he Society of J esus ( t he J e suits) . As th - .:>pe.nish and Portu "' 1ese do , inions circled t e glo e ., t e sudden suppresion oft is body of so . twenty- seven t housand educated rn ~n an their misstons and home colleges struc a blO\., a t c ris tian culture and educa tional regress t hat Latin ,e rica has ven yet not ful ly r e covered rom. The a ction was a lso to i nfl uence the life of t he young boy of ontblanch , ~agi n C tala. The year t hat a in ,-ra s confinned, 1767 , anot. er a intly Franciscan who wa s born at Petra, ajorea --one of t he cultural neighbors i n t hat r eat Catalan circlet t spoke t h e same l anguage a s Magin Catal a 5-- the grett t Padre Junipero erra ms a lready pl an­ ning f r o n t h e suppressed Jesuit missions of Lower Calif ornia the entrada , s piritual and t empor 1 , t at ould found "'an Diogo£!.! Alca la and open the pat h of Christ to ne ,, t 1ousands of neophytes in -Alta -Ca--liforni- -a . ,,~fadre ,. erra had a lre dy f in:i. s ed one f r uitful missionary ' ,.:·-~; stint of nine years among t he Pame I dians a t the be utifu1 stone miss ion church of Santia go~ Ja lpa n , ~ ich he built i n the rugged mountains of the Sierra Gorda of Mexico. He would have already had h is ~reparations ma de for Alta C lifornia save that

5-r e Lan~e d'' oc , tongue of t he island and mainland Kingdom of ..a jorca of t:'.e l~Century which included Perpigna.n , Narbonne and Rousillon of t e French Gulf of ~ , with Catalonia--ear lier and l ater part oft e Kingdo of ragon . r anee ained the north­ ern part in 1659. It all was the aneient Provincia Ilomana , Langue d ' oc eoming fro Ho c Est I of t he old Latin for ''yes' in its l ate Provencal form . - - Cat ala - 7

when t he cruel blow of suppression f ell u o t he Jesuits, the secret orders enjoined under penalty of deat on Serra and Portola by the royal conspirators of Carlos I I to t ake over the J esuits ' missi ons , were suddenly altered . The riars Con­ ventua l, a di ffer ent Franciscan roup, a ctually accompanied the military leader Gaspar e Portola to displace t he Jesuits 1n Baja California. After Portola had fulfilled his ersonally repugnant duty of arresting and deporting t he Jesuit Fathers of Loreto, La Paz, and the other twelve surviving missions on 6 February Jrd of 1768 , the Friars Con entual took charge of the spiritua l burden, It wa s har dly a year and a half since t h is arrangement had been made, and Juni pero erra, able and interested a s well as truly zealous f or souls , -when learning of it, obtained from the Audiencia at Guadalajara a restoration of t he original plan. The Order of Friars Minor accordingly. entered Lower California 1'.':.' by April 1st, 176S. l en t he Entrada into began, Calif rnia missi.ons we re entrusted to t he Dominican Fathers. They, l n time , added seven !'l'lore missions to t he seventeen f ounded by t he Jesuits and t he one founded at ant a Ma ria de Velicata i n 176$ by Father Serra.

6 Rev. Peter M. Dunne, S.J., has kindly pointed out t hat t he date planned for the replacement of t e J esuits was perforce delayed by storms i n t he Gulf of California, wh ic prevented Portol a from crossing t he gul f and making t e arrest by the King 's orders until Feb. J, 1768. Portola was an old personal friend of t he Jesuits and within h is orders to a rrest t hem at midnight, trie d to be kind to t hem. One a ed priest-invalid died soon on shi pboard. Catala - 8

feanwh ile, Magin Catala was growing up in the nei"' borhood of the fine old Franciscan Friars' Convento and church where Ma.gin very probably served with his brother, Pedro Nolasco, as an altar boy and received the seed of his vocation to treSeraphic Order. The church itself stands in the twentieth century, but had been reduced to use as a factory, 'f.hile t he Convento was destroyed apparently in the ilitary seige of ~ontblanch in 1759. The wars and revolutions fomented by the masonic rogram of the early 19th century also lacerated many uropean landmarks, spiritual, political, and cultural in the d~ rk years of 1848. As a direct. result, the ample records so precise and character­ istic of the Spanis Emp ire in all its dominions, were in so many instances destroyed. The reat Franciscan historian, Se hyrin ngelhardt, foun • records showing tat agin Catala took the habit of St. Francis at the rancisean friary in Barcelona on April 4th, 1777, just a few months after the found­ ing of Catala's future scene of labors, ssion Santa Clara~ Assis. There, in California, a brother Franciscan, Fray Thomas de la Pena, had erected the Mission Cross beside a sparkling

rivulet at its juncture with the larger Rio ~ Guadalupe in what was to become known as the f ertile Santa Clara Valley of California. At the close of Magin Catala's novitiate, a year later-­ without doubt on pril 9th, 177 --the same day his brother, Pedro Nolasco, is recorded as receiving the ranciscan Habit at the Gerena Convento,--Brother r agin p-=--onounced his erpetual vows of Franciscan poverty, obedience, and chastity. He retain­ ed his own name with out addition or change, as las the Spanish Cat ala - 9

Franciscan custom. Despite the seeds of political and social corruption already erminating in Paris, Madrid and Lisbon, the Franciscan Order in Catalonia was actually in its golden age of piety, learning, and numbers . Twelve hundred earnest, well trained reli ious men occupied the Fran.ciscan Conventos of Catalonia, ready to spread the Faith to all parts of the new world and of. the island do minions of Spain int e est Indies and the . Following the usual classical studies of the times, Fray Magin continued on into t he co urses of cholastic Philosophy and Theology. As a student at t he Convento of ...fill Francisco.£!! Gerona,7 Catala wa s advanced to Holy Orders and ordained priest February 18 or 19 in t h e year 17 5 by fust Reverend Thomas de Lorenzana.8 The Libro ~ Filiaciones of the Franciscan Provine of Catalonia cont a ins under the above dates the name of fa.gi n Catala. Int e ma rgin of the page, i n the same handwritin as • - • ~:.... - ~; .. t he name-entry, it is noted that Padre Magin ha d left the Province . . , l . for the Indies in the year 17S5. His mother' s pious death had already occurred, December 8th , 1782, a ed 58. His father , the Doctor ~fatias Catala, lived until July 19, 1792. Both were buried in t he Campo Santo of Franciscan Convento of Montblanch .

7 Records in Libre de Ordes de 177~ a l1.2Q de l'Arxiu Ma jor de la Mitra de Gerona , l'olio 125;-roun oy research of Padre 'Pedro de Sananuja, O. F . M., author of t he Spanish translation of Engelhardtt !l.!l. isionero Santo, Casa Ed . Jose Vilamala, Barcelona, 1924, p . 5~. Swithout reasonable doubt he made all is clerical studies in t his house a mag:1.ficient ojival buildin f ro t he 13th Century, t hird l ar gest religious house of the Franciscan Pro­ vince of Tarragona. Catala - 10

Though the ~panis Kin , Carlos III, had f orbidden any and all his subjects under pain of death to discuss or criticize his plan of savage destruction of the Jesuit Order in his domin­ ions, the matter was in fact known to many. However, the in­ tellectual cance,f' eating at the court dilettanti of Franee, Spain, and Portugal had· not-- yet unleashed the French Revolution. The faith in the hearts of middle-class Catholic Spain was strong. The religious communities were in a flourishing state. The edifying letters from the ranciscan mission front of in Florida, Texas, l ew "' exico, Sonora, Sinaloa, Arixona, Lower and Upper California, continued to stir zeal for missionary accom­ plish.r.ent in the young religious of Spain. Padre Ma.gin Catala was among them. Our record resumes in his application, together with that of the padre, Jose de la Cruz "'spi, to be sent to the American missions. The two, accordingly, with the blessings of their Father Guardian and the farewell embrace of their religious brethren, sailed from Cadiz in October, 17S6. Materially, the was perhaps at the height

of its orga.nization and biire~qqr,atic• t efficiency i n that ecade • ', : .·.Li, I .. ··t•~ ·_. ..: .. It had long recovered from the d~p~Q~e of the Armada; and its galleons, , and coursed the seven seas. They sailed often in convoys for safety a ainst t he brigandage of the murderous British pirates, those doughty successors of Drake and ~organ. Indeed, on the California coast of the 1750 's, there was t he redoubtable Woods Roers hiding in the Santa Barbara Catala - 11

channel so s to lie in wait for the rich ,anila Galleon wit its wealth f rom China and the Phillipines as it turned south ard along the snow-capped coastal Sierra~------~ ucia f or Aca ul- co, he would attack. Padre Ca tala and his com anion Espi oulct then with favor- ing winds ma e t eir voyage i thirty d ys ro Cadiz to Vera Cruz. But agai n with calms or untoward storms it mi ht stretch rit out to ninety or a hundred days . is event would being all the accompanying dan ers and horrors of inadequate food and water. The l a ck, also, of f res oods wit their then unrecognized vita ins brought disabline; scurby and its languishin death . Spanish medicine had not et learned t he secret that was to save the English sailors nd give t em t,he -- ame of ''Limeys. ' But Providence smiled on our Catalans ' · ·voya e , and on landing they ' " were more fortunate than Padre Junipero Serra had been fifty years before. Catala and Espi made the shanks' mare trip over the stony roadways from tidewater to exico City without serious injury or incident. On arrival there , Father Espi was at once sent further on his journey by the qrescent road of t he old Ma yan-ruin cities

\ . to the Pa cific ooa.~t 'l«'lere at :Mazatlan near Tepic he would em- •1,, bark as chaplain of a Sp~nish coastal vessel. These vessels brought supplies to the Alta California of San Diego and an Francisco with their neighborine Missions. They would t hen go on to the new outpost at ootka ' s Cova de Los Am igos, halfway up the w st coa st of the vast island l ater to be named for the Englishman, Vancouver. Catala - 12

Pa re gi n Cat a la , however , was atta ched to t he Francis-

c n Apostolic Mission College of _1fil Fernando S! r exico, a princi pal center of Fran ciscan mission pl a nning and supply in . During t he next six years , his activities are unknown to u, f or agai n ma ny of t he carefully kept records of the Fr ncis cuns at t his College were s a cked , stolen, or burned in t he public street i n 1858 by t he ma sonic- inspired rabble of Juar ez, i n his hatred of t he ult r a -cons ervat i ve h i er arc y , and of all t h i ns sug esting r eli ious discipl i1e , or pain. Some of the s e records, so valuable f or h istor,r , did survive t he mobs ' intent; and were aften ·iard sa lvaged arui, _.gat hered int"o

the present ~ex · can reh ivo ~ 1s, acion, where large rooms stuf fed with legajos, or sheaves , of documents and papers are i n 1955 sa id to be s till unsorted and uncat alogued. Precious finds are constantly being made t here s i nce t he great Dr. Herbert Holton s ifted t hrough t his ma t ter of ma terial f or American s cholars , so much of it relating to California . As yet, if any f urther date on Padre Mag in survives, it is ina ccessibl e . The future may be kinder to the friends and admirers of this nobl e Fr a nciscan priest. emission records kept loca lly i n Cal i f ornia also were subjected to rela ted vicissitudes of political i nterf erence and the azards o f ire and water, but are still numerous. The rchives of •Mission Santa Barbar a , f at hered and preserved by the mature l aborij of t he late Father ohn-in, and now in the expert care of modern Fr anciscan scho'lars of t he cali er of

Fat her ?, aynard Geiger and Father Eric O' Brien, have preserved much of the Franciscan Mission saga of California wit h i t s Catala - 13 Padre Catala , to us. Among t hese documents is a letter addressed by Fray Francisco Pangua, as Guardian of the San Fernando Colle e , Mexico City, to Fray Fermin Francisco~ Lasuen, superior of t he California missions . It mentions t hat Padre Magin Catala's petition to his Suoeriors for per mission to labor for the con­ version of the Indians has been approved and t hat t hey are now awaiting an opportunity to send Padre Magi n to the .lllli Califor­ nia Miss.ions. The opportunity came in 1793 when a supply ship f rom Mazat­ lan on the west coast was readying for the long coastal voyage to Spain's northernmost Pacific outpost, on the west ,. coast of , Cova~!&!?. Amigo$ - Friendly Cove at Nootka . Nootka itself is set like a small blazier's triangle into the coastal shore of the i mmense northwestorn island, i n latitude forty-nine and one half degrees north, and is surrounded by channels of water. A sketch done by an officer of t he English ship, "Three Bees" in Febru ry of 1793 as t h e vessel ~tood in the entrada of the tiny island cove shows us t he Soanish Fort with its twelve naval guns removed from t he man-of-war 9 at anchr in the harbor to the left. In t he hilly back round close to the center shore stands Governor Fidalgo' s mansion facing southwesterly, and to its left the small chapel, built of standing logs, palisado style, and

9 Doubtless , the , La Princesa, of which Don , brother possibly of the Governor, was Captain. Catala - 14 surmounted by a Cross. At the center right, the background r ecedes easterly along a pineclad hill to a l arge rock behind which lay a protected area wh ere the English Capt ain Cook l anded in 1777 to rebuild one of his convoy ships badly shatter­ ed by storms , the future site of Father Brab nt' a Church and residence of Father Aloysius Stern in old Captain Salter's trading post building i n 1907 . Nootka , so tiny and far away in the great New orld, was to be long an object of international concern. It was al mos t the cause of war to n courts and diplomats. Nootka Cove had been discovered in the earl y days of August, 1774, by the Spanish Captain Juan Perez when sailing north from f. onter ey on June 11th os that year wi t h his men and two chaplains, the

Franciscans Fray !!rn Crespi and Fray Thomas ~ ~ ~- De l a Pena was t he future founder of Mission anta Clara. They had l anded at Nootka for water and provision. During the following years, various Spanish ships learning f rom diaries and maps of this safe stopping place, visited Cova .5!! 12l!, Amigos for the same purpose. Spai n , accordingly, had claimed the territory by righ t of discovery. However , before apermanent outpost was established in 1789 , Captain Jon Cook, on his voyage round the world , had ut in there as entioned to rebuild the damaged ship , and had wintered there. England t hus laid claim to the land. Later, the Russians , inching . outhwar f ro Bering Strait with their final settl ement to be at Ross i n northern Cal ifornia , likewise l aid claim to the north rest coast. Catala - 15 Among the Spanish expeditions to Nootka nnd beyond was t hat under co:rnmand of Bruna Heceta,10 Juan de Ayala, and Juan de la Bodega, which made important geographical reports used by the English Captain Cook on his voyage shortly after. Supposed discoveries by one Maldonado of a waterway east to Hudson's Bay caused t he Spanish Government to send a purely scientific expedi­ tion in the corvettes Descubierta and Atrevida (the Discovery and the Dauntless, titles suggestive of later British naval naming.) This voyage proved Maldonado's supposed report fictitious. The altruistic nature of this Spanish effort is seen in the immediate co mmunication of these findin sand maps to captains of vessels of other nations. Manuscripts in t he Archives of the Indies 11 kept at Seville, Spain, contain a detailed account o the first Mass celebrated at Nootka Island, June 24th, 1789, \-then the nsign Martinez took formal possession of' t e land for Spain. It is strongly probable that Vta. ss also was celebrated in 1791 at the present port of Esquimalt, Vancouver Island, during the Eliza exploration pf the . El Puerto de Cordova ·1 ' (Esquimalt) was discovered and named by Quimper in 1790 when Io Fray Benito de la Sierra was the careful diarist of this expedition in 1775. following his work at the old Jesuit mission of Santa Rosalia de Molege on t e lower east co ast of Baja California in 1771-1773, and a year at Mexico City, 1774, where he was the first full-time librarian of the College of San Fernando. Se illustration of his baptismal entries at Sta. Rosalia. 11 Infonnation and transcription supplied by Gabriella (Mrs. Bernard) Benson, now of a Francisco, California. Catala - 16 possession was taken with formal acts, and the lanting of the Cross was made at "Royal Roads'• and "Sooke Inlet." The following entry in Quimper' s Diary gives the ceremony at what is now known as "Royal Roads." June 23 ••• I immediately embarked in her (the long­ boat) with the pilots and with the greater part of the soldiers and sailors in armed canoes to take possession of the port, carrying the Holy Cross which was to be planted on shore. I dis­ embarked, and performed the ceremonies which the instructions prescribed, except those which per­ tain to the Chaplain, as none had been given me . I planted it in the name of His Catholic Majesty Carlos IV, whom God guard, close to a huge ·pine behind it which has no branches at the top, thus distinguishin it from the rest of the trees. At the side there is another large tree which looks like a poplar. At the back of th is pine the bottle with the documents of possession was buried in the presence of all; the clerk whom I had named for this purpose according to my instructions certifying it. I gave it the nane of Revilla Gigedo. The followin year, the~ Carlos, under command of Lieutenant Francisco Eliza, set out, May 4th, from Nootka arrang­ ing to meet its accompanyin schooner at Cordova (Es quimalt). The departure was marked with religious solemnity as recorded by the pilot, Pantoja. This day (May 3) the Virgen del Rosario, our Patroness, was deposited on !and in the gallery of the carpenter shop, embellished and adorned with becoming flags and a diversity of flowers . Mass was sung with the litany to implore her clemency for the happy outcome of the present expedition. Then we embarked in procession, · saluting her with artillery and with the cry, "Viva. la Virgen" until we were on board the packetboat where the "Salve" to the Virgin Mary was chanted. Catala - 17

On this exploratory coastal voyage , t he ~ Carlos put in and anchored at Clayoquot where t he Commander Eliza, Chapl a in Jose Joaquin Villaverde, Pantoja the pilot, and t he surgeon, Juan Terron, went to present their complime nts to the Chief Wickaninish. The venerable old man received t hem graciously and with elaborate ceremony, gr eeting them with t he endearing expression, "Guacas", Which Pantoja in is account translates as "amigos - f riends." The -1!!1 Carlos t hen proceeded on its way on the 22nd to arrive at Cordova (Esquimalt} on w. y 29th. There t e ship rema ined at anchor until June 28th. During t his interval, t he smaller goleta or schooner with its longboat explored the Strait. Eliza describes the region as being leval and suitable for crops, There 1s no record t hat a landing was made at t his time. It seems reasonable to presume, however, that t he Chapl ain of the - . . expedition, Jose Joaquin Villaverde, offered ·' the Holy Sa crifice in Esquimalt Harbor on board ship, if not on shore. He was a secular priest from Gua da l a jara, Mexico, and had made two previous voyages to the California coast in 17S2 and 1783 . In 1 03 he was still attached to t he Department of San Blas on the southwest coast of Mexico. He must have had good "sea legs •" As the Des cubierta and t he trevida had not pen•trated into • "j t he windy straits of Juan def~~~ ya~ause of storms , anot er ex- ,.'\ I pedi tion was pl anned f or 1792. · -ii\~r .-it, t he galetas (schooners} and , the latter just built, we re selected and fully equipped with the t hen available scientific apparatus for navigation, and abundant suppoies of provision. However, t hrough the fewness of experienced sailors available--thirty four in all--the Sutil was Catala - 18 fully manned as at ree-masted fore-and - aft rig ~ed corvette; and the Mexicana was reduced to a two-masted brigantine. The remarkable diary of this e e ition kept apparently by an officer of the ship, erhaps the pilot , was translated from the early Spanish first ... Jdition by Cecil Jane. 12 It gives the dimen- ,, .. -:-- , sions of these Spanish coastal vessels as keel, forty- six feet ten inches; overall length, fifty f e~t three inches; with beam of . thirteen feet ten inches; and draught forward five feet eight inches; astern, six feet two inches. They were well adapted for entering coastal inlets and channels for map- making and careful observations. Each vessel carried a quadrant, a pendulum, two a~hromatie $pyglasses, a telescope, an azimuth compass, a chrono­ meter, a marine clock, two barometers, four thermometers and an endiometer. The diarist of the Sutil, gives t he following details: "Down to t he year 17$9, the only information we possessed of the Strain of Juan de Fuca was the confused account of its discovery in 1592, left by the Greek pilot who gave it his name. Don Esteban Martinez, ensign oft e royal , when he was in Nootka, after having taken possession of that harbor int e name of his Majesty, related that in 1774, on his return from his expedition to the north, he sighted what appeared to be a very wide sound at 48 degrees, 20 minutes north, and thqt thinking this might be the entry discovered by Fuca, he sent a , second pilot , in command oft e schooner Gertrudis, to ascertain whether the strait existed ••• these reports were transmitted to the government and Don Francisco Eliza, lieutenant in the navy, was ordered in 1790 to arrange for a detailed examination of this entry ••• ".

12 The Argonaut Press, London , 1930.