There is nothing in this Relation but what is very natural and simple. De Fuca's Demand was excessive, for which Reason, probably, as a Man who over-rated his Services, he was not rewarded by the Viceroy or the King; yet the Viceroy availed himself of him, by sending him to Court to give an Account of his Voyage, which he might be ordered to do, as another Expedition was desired, and a Representation for that Purpose made by the Viceroy Luis Velasco, as is mentioned in the Schedule of the King. History of California, P. 173.
It did not appear that he could certainly perform what he undertook, concluding he was in the North Sea, from such Sea returned back to New Spain, therefore had not acquired a Knowledge of the Entrance into the Streights from the Eastward; which was the Difficulty that obstructed this Discovery on the Part of the English, and had been so much sought after, but unsuccessfully. His Age was also a very material Objection, that he would scarce be able to bear the Fatigue of such a Voyage, his Desire to undertake which immediately proceeded from his Avarice: Nor was it confident that the Hundred Pounds should be sent over to bring him to England, if the other Part of the Terms could not be complied with; which seems to be the Meaning of the Expression, the Action is well liked of if the Money could be procured. And de Fuca, whose Motive for proposing this Undertaking, was to be satisfied for his Loss by Captain Cavendish, would not have altered his Design of going into his own Country, and proceeded to England, unless he was assured of his being so gratified on a Performance of what he undertook.
Dowlass, who was a good Mariner, as he travelled with him, and kept his Company, would have had particular and frequent Conversation with de Fuca, and who, as a Mariner, was more capable of finding out if his Account was true, and was thoroughly satisfied it was so, as he spoke to Mr. Lock about him. Neither Lock nor Dowlass could have any sinister Views, but only animated by a publick Spirit to do their Country so acceptable a Service, which it was thought to be in England, as it is said the Action is well liked of.
As to de Fuca being taken Prisoner by Captain Cavendish, and how did he escape out of the Hands of the English? When the Ship was taken all the People were put ashore on the Coast of California, the Goods were taken out, and then the Ship was set a Fire, which burnt to the Water Mark, the Wreck floated ashore, they erected Jury-masts in her, and fortunately got to Aquapulco.
De Fuca says, the Cause he thought of the ill Reward he had of the Spaniards was, that they understood very well the English Nation had now given over all their Voyages for the Discovery of a North-west Passage, wherefore they feared not them to come any more that Way into the South Sea; and therefore they needed not his Service therein any more: Which is so far agreeable to the Accounts of those Times, that, after the Death of Sir Francis Walsingham, the Discovery of a North-west Passage had no Patron at Court; and Sir Francis had particularly interested himself in procuring Davis to go on his last Expedition. The Discovery was not re-assumed until the Year 1602, by the Muscovy Company, who had never engaged as a Company in this Discovery; but having made some successless Attempts, as to the North-east Passage, fitted out Capt. George Weymouth for the Discovery of a North-west Passage, which it is observable was the same Year with Vizcaino's Expedition. And it is observable the next Expedition for the Discovery of a North-west Passage, was not until the Year 1606, when Mr. John Knight was fitted out; and the same Year the King of Spain orders Vizcaino on a third Expedition, but Vizcaino died, though in the interim Vizcaino had been to Old Spain, to make Application to make a fresh Attempt, at his own Expence, and he could not obtain Permission of his Majesty. As the Expeditions which the Court of Spain order peremptorily to be undertaken, correspond as to the Time with those from England, shews a Jealousy on the Part of the King of Spain that the English might succeed as to a Passage through the Streights. And though it is mentioned as the principal Design in the Expeditions by Order of the King of Spain, is the Discovery of a Harbour for the Aquapulco Ship, the Publick understood there was yet a farther Design, and as much may be collected from the King of Spain's Schedule in 1606. Count de Monterey, 'by pursuing the Discovery intended by Don Luis de Velasco, wrote to me concerning, and was of Opinion that small Vessels from the Harbour of Aquapulco were the fittest; and that in the Discovery might be included the Coasts and Bays of the Gulph of California, and of the Fishery, to which, in my Letter of the 27th of September 1599, I ordered to be answered, that the Discovery, and making Draughts, with Observations of that Coast, and the Bays along it, having appeared to me highly convenient, it was my Will he should immediately put it in Execution, without troubling himself about California, unless occasionally—And Sebastian Vizcaino carefully informed himself of these Indians, and many others, whom he discovered along the Coast for above eight Hundred Leagues; and they all told him, that up the Country there were large Towns, Silver, and Gold; whence he is inclined to believe that great Riches may be discovered, especially as, in some Parts of the Land, Veins of Metal are to be seen; and that the Time of their Summer being known, a farther Discovery might be made of them by going within the Country, and that the Remainder of it may be discovered along the Coast, as it reaches beyond 42 Degrees, the Limits specified to the said Sebastian Vizcaino in his Instructions.' Though these Orders were received in Mexico in 1599, no Voyage was set out on until 1602, the Time that Weymouth sailed, then probably enforced by additional Orders from the Court of Spain. The Expedition which was overturned by the Mutiny of the Soldiers, seems to have been about the Time of Captain Davis's Expedition; for de Fuca says, after the Voyage was so ill ended, the Viceroy set him out again in 1592, which implies a Distance of Time between the first and second Voyage.
The Instructions Vizcaino had in the first Voyage were given by the Viceroy, for it was the Viceroy who appointed him, and were formed according to the Opinion that the Land beyond forty-two Degrees took a Course to Westward and Southward of West. And the Maps were constructed agreeable thereto, therefore the King says, 'Vizcaino had represented to him that the Coast, as far as 40 Degrees, lies North-west and South-east, and that in the two other Degrees, which makes up the 42 Degrees, it lies North and South,' and, as before mentioned, says, 'and that the Remainder of it may be discovered along the Coasts, as it reaches beyond 42 Degrees, the Limits specified to the said Sebastian Vizcaino in his Instructions.' Therefore when Martin Aguilar got to 43 Degrees and found an Opening, he concluded, as the Coast was represented to be terminated to the Northward, by the Maps and Charts in Use, that this must be the desired Streights; and therefore said on their Return, 'they should have performed a great deal more, had their Health not failed them; for it is certain that only fourteen Persons enjoyed it at Cape Blanco. The General and those that were with him had a mind to go through the Streight, which they call of Anian, and is said to be thereabouts. It had been entered by the foreign Ship, who gave Intelligence of it to the King, describing its Situation, and how through that Passage one might reach the North Sea, and then sail back to Spain, along Newfoundland and the Islands of Baccalaos, to bring an Account of the Whole to his Majesty.' Torquemada, Vol. i. P. 725. But it is very plain the King had another Information of this Matter, and as to the Extent of the Land to Northward. Luis de Velasco was the Viceroy in whose Time the Expedition of de Fuca was; and the Expedition of Vizcaino was under the Direction of the Count de Monterey, who was either not informed of what had been done by de Fuca, or might not think de Fuca's Account of sufficient Authority to justify him, the Viceroy, in drawing his Instructions agreeable thereto; contrary to the general Opinion of the Cosmographers at that Time, and the Description they gave of the Coasts in their Maps.
It must appear from what hath been said that there are no such great Improbabilities in the Accounts of Salvatierre, Chacke, or de Fuca, as hath been represented. It is also evident that the English had great Expectations of succeeding; and the Court of Spain had great Apprehensions we should meet with Success, and be enabled to attain a Passage by the Streight of Anian into the South Sea; for which there must have been some reasonable Foundation both on the Part of the one and the other. The English were first induced to attempt the Discovery of such a Passage, from the Accounts which they had from Spain of there being such a Passage. The Court of Spain entertained, as hath been shewn, an Opinion of there being such a Passage from the Time they conquered Mexico; and, agreeable to what Torquemada says, had a certain Account of it, or at least an Account which appeared to the King to be authentick. What that Account really contained we do not know, nor was it consistent that it should be made publick; therefore what is said as to the Particulars of it are but Conjecture, and Representations upon Reports, for which the Reporters could have no real Authority. As Vizcaino regretted being prevented, by the Sickness of his People that he could not go round the World, and have carried home to Old Spain his Account of his Expedition. This firm Persuasion that he should have accomplished his Passage to Old Spain, by the Streight of Anian, must have been from some Information which he had received before he set out, that such Passage was practicable: Neither is it mentioned as if he proposed making a Discovery of it, but as of a Thing before done. It was the Opinion of all those who were with him, that it was practicable; which is agreeable to what Salvatierra informed Sir Hugh Sydney, and Sir Humphrey Gilbert, That a North-west Passage from us to Cathay was constantly believed in America navigable. Vizcaino, who is represented as a Commander of great Conduct and Discretion (and which the Account of his Voyage expresses him to have been) would not have attempted to make a Passage thro' such Streights, to the Hazard, perhaps entire Loss, of the King's Ships, and what he had before done rendered of no Effect, unless he had a discretionary Power either to pass to Old Spain by these Streights, or return to Aquapulco.
After the Expedition of Knight failed, and Vizcaino died, we hear of no other Expeditions at the Expence of or by the positive Order of the Court of Spain until that of Admiral Cassanate, who went the third Year after the Expedition of de Fonte, to make a Survey of the Coast of California; yet we have no Reason to conclude there were no other Expeditions, but it is rather to be supposed that, after the English had proceeded in their Discoveries as far as Hudson's Bay, the Court of Spain thought it necessary, and found an effectual Way of keeping their Expeditions, both in respect to their Equipment and what was done on such Expeditions a Secret, by sending Officers from Old Spain to conduct them, and as to which the Religious would not think themselves at Liberty to make any Publication without the Permission of the Court.
Having no Intercourse by Trade with those Parts, we cannot be acquainted with what is transacted in those Parts, any further than what the Spanish Writers are permitted to inform us, and the imperfect and uncertain Intelligence of those who have been cruizing in those Seas. The Spanish Nation have been particularly cautious of keeping the Knowledge of their Coast secret: Neither was it known, in the Year 1745, that an exact Survey was made of those Coasts until Pasco Thomas annexed to his Account of Lord Anson's Expedition, published in 1745, a Copy of a Manuscript, which Manuscript contained an Account of the Latitudes and Longitudes of all the most noted Places in the South Sea, corrected from the latest Observations by Manuel Monz Prieto, Professor of Arts in Peru, and are composed with as much Precision and Exactness, as Tables of that Sort are usually made; but when these Coasts were surveyed to the Northward, to attain a Knowledge of which was formerly attended with such immense Difficulty; and to what Purpose and what Trade is carried on there, we are at present entire Strangers to. It is by Accident only that we have this Account; and if the Spanish Nation have used this Precaution, with respect to the Knowledge of their Coasts, undoubtedly they would use the same Caution with respect to giving us any Insight as to how we might find a more ready Access to such Coasts by a North-west Passage.
The Point of Sueste del Estrech d'Anian, inserted in such Tables, shews the Opinion of the Streights is far from being exploded; but it is acknowledged by the Geographers of Peru and New Spain, at the present Time, that there are such Streights. The naming the South Point of the Streight implies there is Land to the Northward, as to which it doth not seem to be consistent with the Purpose of the Person who composed this Table to take any Notice, but that there is such Land is confirmed by the Russian Discoveries.