The Ill Fated Journey of Conquistador Cabeza de Vaca Part 2 Shipwrecked in Texas

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
My name is Eric Gasco and you're listening to the
Distorted History podcast and program. I can give you many names,
and you're a ladder. Hey look, I'm Raisling. I'm got

(00:24):
the by terah A long struggle for freedom, it really
is a revolution. Spanish Conquisa or Kabeza Devakan fifteen twenty
seven had been given the assignment of serving as a
treasurer and chief constable of an expedition in the New World,

(00:47):
namely an expedition led by one Penfilo danar Viz, who
had been granted world permission to conquer the lands along
the Gulf coast from Florida to what is today Texas.
Now Norviza's initial plan was to land in the region
of Texas slash Northern Mexico, just above the lands that
had been conquered by his rival Hernan Cortes, lands which
Narviaz believed he should have been the one to conquer. Thus,

(01:09):
this was in many ways a mission to claim the
glory and riches that Narviaz thought had been stolen from him. Yet,
as it turns out, the winds and currents of the
golf of Mexico did not agree with his plans to
land in Texas slash Northern Mexico. As a result, narviz
and the members of his expedition were ultimately forced to
make landfall on the western chores of Florida, which, while
not the plan, was st all theoretically okay because again

(01:32):
he had also been given permission to conquer these lands
as well. Narvaizan was eager to set off in search
of the empire similar to the Aztecs that he was
convinced existed in these lands and the golden riches that
they contained, doing so over the protest the Cabeza Devaka,
who thought they should resupply and set up a base
camp of sorts before setting off, especially since these soldiers
and their horses were all weakened after spending a month

(01:54):
lost in the golf of Mexico exhausting their supplies. Narviazo
would not be dissuaded now, when his chance as the
redemption was so near. Yet instead of wealthy empires, they
found scattered settlements, swamps, mosquitoes, and a variety people who
were let's say, not exactly happy to see them. Indeed,
upon reaching the fringes of the Kingdom of the Appalachi,
upon capturing a remote town and kidnapping its mayor, the

(02:16):
Spanish came under almost caughts an attack by the Apalachi
warriors and their massive bows, which, while unable to claim
the lives of many of these invaders, they did serve
to convince these Spandards to abandon their mission, as they
were hungry, tired, and a spirited after having failed to
find the kind of rich empires they were after. So
the conquisitors, who were actually on the verge of discovering
a fairly sizable kingdom, albeit one without gold, turned around

(02:40):
and started heading back These Spandards and trushed their way
through swamps, growing increasingly attired and progressively sicker as they went,
ultimately deciding to go to the coast in the hopes
of spotting their ships so they might be rescued or
at least resupplied. However, upon reaching the coast, not only
were their ships not in sight, but the harbor that
they came to was completely inaccessible to their ships due
to being too shallow and being surrounded by barrier islands.

(03:03):
Which is all to say that the members of our
visa's expedition when we last left off, were in dire straits.
They had failed in their mission to fine rich kingdoms
to a louten plunder and were now stuck in a
strange land that they had no idea how to survive in.
Plus a number of their members, including Norviz himself, were
severely ill to do something like malaria, typhoid or typheiz.

(03:23):
Yet before and talk about how they tried to escape
this nightmare and how the situation actually somehow got even worse. First,
like always, I want to give credit to my sources
for this series, which include Andre's Rezendez's A Land So Strange,
The Extraordinary Tale of a shipwrecked Spaniard who walked across
America in the sixteenth century, Paul Schneider's brutal Journey Cabaza

(03:44):
of Vaka in the epic First Crossing of North America,
David A. Howard's Conquisador in Chains, Cabeza of Vodka and
the Indians of North America, and Alex D. Krieger's We
Came Naked and Barefoot the Journey Cabeza de Vodka across
North America. And like always, a full list of these
and any other sources like websites that I used will
be available on this podcast, Bluesky and coffee pages. Plus

(04:05):
for anyone who doesn't want to be bothered skipping through commercials,
there is always an ad free feed available to subscribers
at patreon dot com slash to storted history. With all
that being said, let's begin. Upon reaching the shore, the
members of our visor's expedition set up camp, ultimately spending
about a month and a half year at this location
which they would take the call and the Bay of Horses,
because it was here that every three days they were

(04:28):
forced to kill one of their horses to supplement their
dwindling supplies. That being said, while here, the Spaniards also
took advantage of the puniful oyster beds scattered around the
bay that provided them with sustenance, while also making navigation
of the bay if possible for the traditional sailing vessels
they were used to, again just further illustrating just how
poorly suited this particular part of the coastline was for

(04:49):
the needs of these Spaniards. It was then, as a
result of the nature of the Bay of Forces, that
they would be concuisadors in an aprovised forge started melting
down stuff like parts of their crossbows, stirrups, and spurs
to use that melt to instead craft various axes and saws,
tools that they planned to use to cut down trees
so they could start constructing rafts that wouldn't be able
to sail over the various sand bars and oyster reefs

(05:10):
that need the bait inaccessible. With the plant being they
would take these rafts out to the open sea, where
they hoped to be spotted by one of their ships,
because for all their superior weapons and armor, the only
thing that these concisiors wanted that at this point was
to get out of Florida. Their mission of conquest was over,
and nothing exemplified that more than killing their horses, who

(05:31):
represented their greatest strtatic advantage in the name of just
surviving a couple more days and melting down their weapons
to build rafts and cast themselves into the sea, which
was honestly not the most outlandish of pliants, as twenty
years prior to this, nor Advised actually let a mission
to rescue another filmed connosation mission. As you see, a
group led by one Alonzo de Ojeda had attempted to

(05:53):
found the county of Uraba in modern day Columbia. This attempt, though,
had apparently felt spectacularly, at which point, with the colony
facing starvation, a small desperate group set sail hoping to
reach Hispaniola, only to extend wreck off the coast of Cuba.
Half of this group then subsequently died, until one man
was taken by some native residents of the island in

(06:13):
a canoe to Jamaica, where he managed to convince Darvis
to go look for survivors. So it wasn't unheard of
for a group to throw themselves into the mercy of
these woods and receive rescue. Plus this time, at least
there should theoretically be people looking for them, as surely
these ships, these sailors, and those they had left behind
had to be wondering when it happened to them by
now and it started searching for them Meanwhile, It also

(06:36):
has to be said that this whole raft building thing
was not easy past. The plan was to build five rafts,
which meant that each one of them had to carry
fifty men and the supply of corn that they had
procured three series or raids on nearby towns, which had
garnered some six hundred and fifty bushels which they would
be relying upon to stay alive for however long their
raft journey lasted. Plus, in addition to the men in

(06:57):
their supply of corn, these rafts also had to be
larger enough to support the weight of the remaining weapons
and armor. As a result, the once hopeful Conquisodores had
to have cut down well over one hundred trees just
to assemble the rast, which was likely especially difficult considering
that they were just using improvised tools. Then there was
the fact that they didn't have any rope to tide
the logs together with, which meant the men had to

(07:20):
weave their own out of the hair from the mains
and the tails of the horses they had slain. Additionally,
they also had to create their own sales lest they
be forced to row the entire time. To that end,
they sewed a number of their shirts together, which they
then attached to improvised masts. Yet, even more important than
all that was the fact that they had to figure
out a way to construct waterproof containers so they could
bring with them a supply of fresh water as they

(07:42):
headed out the sea, with the conquisitors ultimately opting to
try and cure the hides from their sane horses legs
to make leather water bags. All this work then, was
especially hard, with many of the surviving men being either
sick or otherwise exhausted thanks to their months long travels
through these decidedly unfriendly lands. Us keep in mind the
men doing all this work were not sailors or craftsmen.

(08:04):
They were soldiers who had little to no knowledge or
experience in such pursuits. And keep in mind they did
not have unlimited time to pull all of this together,
because again their supplies were running low, as were their horses.
After five or six weeks of work, though, they finally finished,
which was honestly cutting things quite close considering the fact
that they only had one horse left. So before setting off,

(08:26):
these soldiers killed and ate this last horse, knowing that
it was likely the last meet they were going to
have for some time. With the work done, the two
hundred and forty two surviving members of the expedition, including
these still very ill ArviZ, set off on five rafts
on the twenty second of September fifteen twenty eight. It
had been roughly half a year since they had sent
off from their ships. On this ill advised mission, and

(08:48):
were now launching themselves into the sea in the desperate
hope that they might be rescued, with kebezin Avaka noting
quote so greatly can necessity prevail that it made us
risk going in this manner and placing ourselves to see
so treacherous without any one of us having any knowledge
of the art of navigation. As again keep in mind
these were soldiers, not sailors, so they had no idea

(09:09):
what they were doing. They would then spend the first
day just getting out of the bay, as they had
to row the entire way, while also avoiding what obstacles
they could. Try as they might, though they would still
periodically be stopped by the various sandbars that lay in
their path, at which point those who were still healthy
enough to do so had to climb out to lift
and shove their rafts off these obstacles. Once framed themselves

(09:31):
to these obstacles and the bay itself, these spaniards eventually
came upon an island populated by a community of Native
American fishermen, who, upon seeing these strangers coming toward them
in their rafts, fled, abandoning both their canoes and their village.
In the process. The Conquisadors then used to pour learned
canoes to add some more protection from the waves to
their rafts, while also laying claim to the dried fish

(09:52):
that had also been left behind in the village. From there,
the rafts of the failed Conquisadors hugged the coastline as
they sailed to the west. Now would think that they
would have sailed to the south, considering that's where they
had come from, and that's where more than likely these
ships that would have been looking for them would be.
And indeed this would be a point of contention among
the men in the boats. Yet these discussions always came

(10:14):
back to the ideal. What would they do if they
didn't encounter anyone or any ships upon going south, as
beyond the tip of Florida was open sea. Granted, Cuba
was also in that direction, but braving those woods in
their simple rafts seemed far too dangerous of a proposition.
In contrast, heading west, narviz Ardude helm the promise of
eventually reaching the Spanish controlled land of Mexico, which they

(10:36):
would be able to reach all the while staying within
sight of land plus according to their own estimates, While
some one thousand miles lay between Florida and the Spanish
settlement of Panuco and Mexico. They believed they had already
troubled some seven hundred miles from where they had initially landed.
As such, they felt they had to be fairly close
to Panuco and rescue at this point. The problem Maza

(10:56):
had not in fact traveled anywhere near that distance may
basically start one thousand miles stone ago before reaching the
safety of Panuco when you get down to it. Narvas's

(11:38):
loss for golden glory, or more importantly, his impatience to
achieve both, had effectively doomed his expedition, as his decision
to abandon his ships and conduct this march inland, despite
not knowing anything about this territory, all the while having
insufficient supplies for such a journey, and quite predictably doomed
him and the vast majority of the men under his command,

(11:58):
a choice that, notably, whether conscious or not, very much
echoed the actions of his rival Cortes upon arriving in Mexico. Yet,
where Cortes had been successful in his conquest, Norviz had
failed miserably, in part because, unlike Cortes, he was acting
wholly on rumor and not on any confirmed information as
for the ships they had left behind, while they had
done as ordered, at least for a time, as they

(12:21):
had reportedly after being told about the bay Nervaz and
the others had found sailed off the coasts looking for
the entrance, but after not finding it to the north,
they turned back and eventually found the mouth of Tampa Bay,
which actually laid to the south of where they had
been told to look. Meanwhile, round about the same time
that the ships finally found the entrance of the bay,
their vaulted. Palo Morello, who had failed in his own

(12:41):
search for the bay, also showed up after having gone
to Cuba to retrieve the ship of supplies that had
been waiting for them, in addition to making sure that
his own ship was also loaded with fresh supplies as well,
meaning that had Nervus waited and set up a safe
port like Devac had wanted, their forces would have been
well supplied and much better prepared to conduct expirations of
the territory. But that's not what they did, and in

(13:03):
the months since Narviz and the rest of his forces
had departed, those they had left behind. Once they were resupplied,
turned their attention to trying to find ArviZ and his men.
Two that end these ships and sailed along the cosine
looking for some sun of Nerviz and the other so
that they might link up, during which time one man
from the ships would pay the ultimate price for Nerviza's actions,

(13:23):
as one day, during their search, one of these ships
sailed around Tampa Bay, where they noticed a piece of
paper attached to a pole that had been stuck into
the ground. Assuming that this had to be a message
that had been left behind by Narviz, possibly containing instructions
for them, the ship sent two men ashore. These two
men were then properly attacked, with one being killed and
the other in prison and hell captive for years by

(13:45):
the Native Americans who had set this trap, having done
so in response to Nervis apparently cutting off the nose
of their leader. The captured sailor would then pay for
Nervis's offense over and over again, as every day was
forced to do things i carry wood and wood while
being given little to eden, barely being given any time
to rest. His vengeful captors would also regularly beat him

(14:06):
with stakes or slap him in the face, while on
days of celebrations, their festivities sometimes included making him run
a ronde plausa for an entire day, during which time
should he slow down, whereas would shoot arrows to encourage
their prisoner to quicken his pays. They also reported on
at least one occasion, suspended their unfortunate captive over a fire,
only freeing him after he had already been badly burned

(14:28):
by the flames. That all being said, it has to
be noted that the sailor's testimony is our only evidence
of this treatment, So while he probably wasn't treated kindly,
it is also possible that he exaggerated what he had
experienced so as to regain his position among Spanish society
instead of being made an outcast for quote unquote going native.
As for the rest of these sailors in the Varius

(14:49):
would be calmists. They would basically search and wait for
any sun and advise and his men for a whole year,
meaning that hadn't our advised led the rest of the South,
they would have been rescued instead after a year of searching,
with their supplies running low and it becoming increasingly obvious
that something must have happened the fleet and the Ecanus
returned to Cuba. One person who refused to give up

(15:09):
there was Narvis's wife, Maria dave Vellezuela, who organized their
own search mission for her husband by employing an alley
of his from Spain, Hernando de Ga Bios, to lead
the actual physical expedition. After several months of searching and
finding no traces are Nervis, though, Gabios would return and
sell the ships and take the money from the sale
for himself, or at least i was his plan until

(15:31):
Maria took him to court and had him put in chains.
Now what none of those searching for Nerviz and the
others could have guessed was the fact that the people
they were looking for were not in Florida, were even
the region any longer. As again, they had decided to
set sail on rafts, hoping first to be spotted by
their own ships, but failing that, instead of heading to
the south, where they had set off from, they'd opted

(15:51):
to head to the west, intending to reach the Spanish
outpost in Mexico Calpennuco. As ArviZ and the others sailed westward,
though they encountered a new threat that they had yet
had to experience so far in their journeys. Thirst. As
with everything they had been through in Florida, finding fresh,
drinkable water had not been an issue. Now though it
became a primary concern, especially since it seems at least

(16:12):
some of their improvised horse side water bags had started
to degrade thairly rapidly. Indeed, as they sailed along off
the coast of Likely, Alabama, these bands were barely clinging
on the life as they managed to just find enough
fresh water here and there to keep going. Mid ones
during one of these expeditions for water, though, that their
luck ran out, as while those who were too weak

(16:32):
from illness or thirstly winning on the rafts or on
the shoreline, those with enough strength set about exploring a
small island they had come across, hoping as they did
that it would contain some source of fresh water. Unfortunately, though,
there were no streams or springs on this island, which
meant there would be no relief. Meanwhile, the would be
concuy sitors were so consumed with their search for water

(16:53):
or just from being laid out from illness and want
of drink, no one seemingly noticed that there was a
storm bearing down upon them. Now you would think that
this wouldn't be all bad news, as at least a
storm meant rain. This particular storm, however, did not bring
much of any precipitation, just powerful winds, winds that whipped
the waves up so much that the Spaniards dare not
try to sail away from the island in order to

(17:15):
reach the mainland for five days, and the storm would
trap these men, who were already only verge of dehydration,
on a woterless island, during which time they would lose
twelve men who, in their desperation, tried their luck at
drinking sea water, only to die quote very quickly. Disease
and thirst then continued to claim significantly more lives than
they would Begincisitors had lost through combat. The deaths of

(17:37):
these men meanwhile, spurred the others into action, as the
decision was made. Then, rather than stay here and die slowly,
they would brave the ways and attempt to reach the mainland. Now,
to be clear, their rasts are in no way built
to withstand such conditions, as they only had a short
layer would running around the edges to try and keep
the wooter out. This layer then was wholly insufficient for

(17:58):
the ways are now dealing with, which then left these men,
who were again weakened by thurston illness, to use their
hands to bail the water out of their grasp before
they went down. The men on each and every one
of these rafts, then, at some point during this crossing,
were all convinced that at long last the time had come,
their rafts were going down, and they were going to
drown on this remorseless sea. Yet somehow, against all odds,

(18:21):
all five rafts and the remaining inhabitants made it through
the day, at which point they neared the shoreline, where
there was a protection against the worse of the still
raging storm. It was here then, after surviving that gauntlet,
that Nervaz and the others were presented with either yet
another thread or potential salvation, as they were approached by
a collection of canoes rowed by men who could base

(18:42):
it Avoka would describe as large and well proportioned. The
surviving Concuisadors and the people in the canoes then spoke briefly,
with neither side understanding the other. Still, the people in
the canoes did not appear hostile, and so when they
turned around and started rowing back the shore, nervas ordered
as men to follow, actually coming to a seaside village
where the homes were made of wooden reeds that had

(19:03):
been lashed to wooden frames. Norviz And, who had recovered
someone at this point, would take the lead as he
met with the leader of this village, who wore a
fine muskrat coat. This well draft chief appeared to be
relatively friendly, as he brought our advice into his own
house and offered these strange man some dried fish and
fresh water. In return, ourvis gave the people this village beads, rattles,

(19:23):
and some corn that they apparently still carried on the rafts.
The villages it seemed especially like the corn, and asked
if they had any more, and response to our vis
would then order his men to hand over some more
of the reserves, which suggest that they were still fairly
flush with the produce. Plus, it likely seemed a fair
price to pay to get himself and his men some
much needed fresh water and a safe place to stay

(19:43):
while the storm continued to rage on. This sense of safety, however,
would prove to be a mirage as that very night,
while most of the concison were subbed on the beach,
fee would be killed instantly as their heads were crushed
by rocks wielded by the villagers. Now why this happened
we don't know, because our vis basically suggest that this
attack was unprovoked, which does not necessarily mean that that

(20:04):
was the case. It is possible, then that the Spanish
had done something to offend these people, or it is
also possible that because the men were killed were sick,
the two might have been related in some way. Regardless
of our advised, who was slipping inside the chief's home
almost suffered the same fate, but only managed to take
a wound to the face, thanks apparently to Kabeesa Avak
and some others, who, upon realizing that they were under attack,

(20:27):
charged in to save his life. The concuisitorsen tried capturing
the chief, but he was in turn saved by his
own warriors, although in this clash the chief would lose
his fine muskrat coat. The Spaniards sen retreated to the beach,
where fifty of their strongest stood guard, while the wooded
and ill fled to the rafts. Yet they could not
just set off, because the storm was still making travel

(20:47):
too risky. A pair of attacks from the villagers, though
involving thorn rocks and spirits, would dryly would be conquisadors
further into the surf, at which point, desperate to turn
the tide, seventeen Spanish soldiers led by Andres run days
crept forward under the cover of night and hid themselves
in the reeds, where they waited until a third attack
was launched upon their companions. Derantes and his men that,

(21:09):
after making sure the attackers had moved past their hiding spot,
rose up and attacked the villagers from the rear with
their steel swords. This brutal, deadly assault then had long
last forced the villagers to retreat, Yet still the fact
remained that many of the Spanish, including Cabeza Devaka, had
been injured in these repeated melees. When the sun finally
rose the following morning, then they were somewhat surprised to

(21:30):
find the village completely abandoned. Now the Spanish, after everything
they had been through, very much wanted to leave as
well as he did not want another fight. They were
pretty beat up from the previous night's clashes. Plus they
wrest all sick with their mysterious fevers and were weakened
from the hydration. The problem massy storm must all raging offshore,
and it was also starting to get quite cold, as

(21:51):
by this point it was early November, when do you
see was not something that can quisadors had prepared for man,
they were especially ill prepared for it now, considering that
their shirts were serving as sales for their rafts. So
they would spend several days in the village constantly on
guard as they waited for the storm to dissipate, during
which time they made upon a smashing up the villagers
canoes in a mixture of spite and so as to

(22:13):
use them as firewood once the storm had finally cleared.
The concusators also likely claimed a number of clay pods
from the village so as to bring with them a
supply of fresh water that would last for at least
a few days. Still, this was just a temporary solution,
meaning they were going to have to continue searching for
sources of fresh water as they continue to sail westward,
which men keeping a weathered eye on the shoreline as

(22:33):
they went by, always looking for the mouths of any
river that they might sail up and procure a fresh
supply of water. It was in about a week after
their fateful encounter with the villagers and their canoes, that
these Spaniards on their five rafts started sailing up a
river where they were approached by yet another group of
Native Americans in canoes. Now, these Spaniards were generally wary
after their last encounter, but one of their own Greek men,

(22:55):
called Deroteo too durrow, along with an unidentified and possibly
and saved African two men go ashore with them. Now
it's unknown if this was simply them looking to procure
much needed water and we're willing to take their chances,
or if they had decided they had enough a life
of the rafts and intended to go and live with
these people, which would have been a shocking but not
entirely unheard of move. As on their Spanish men and

(23:18):
women during these early days of exploration and conquest, following
something like a shipwreck were known to quote unquote go
native as they were taken in by various native groups
and adapted to this new way of life, some of whom,
even when the chance of rescue arose, wantimately opted to
stay in their new communities. In fact, about a decade
or so later, Hernando de Soto, during his own attempt

(23:38):
to explore in Cocker the southeastern portion of what would
become the United States, would have several of his men
deserve to go and live with the indigenous people. Now, again,
we don't know if that's what these two men in
this instance intended. What we do know is that Norviz
had tried to prevent the two men from going ashore. However,
according to Devaka, by this point quote his authority had
waned to the point that he was no longer able

(23:59):
to assert his will over the individual members of the expedition.
So the spanishs were left to wait on the rafts,
hoping that their two fellows would return with water. Their
warriors would only increase, though, when the locals rown back
out to the rafts and their canoes, carrying with them
the clay vessels the men had brought ashore to get wooter,
as not only were the men who had gone ashore
not with them, but the clay vessels were also still

(24:21):
by reft of water. The men and the rafts then
not trusting the people in the canoes. After their last
experience with people in canoes, then set sail, leaving the
two who went ashore to their fate. So regardless of
if the two men had been captured, been otherwise delayed,
or had opted to live with these people, they were
now trapped and Nervaz's expedition was down another two men,
with the Vaka noting how everyone was quote sadened at

(24:43):
having lost those two Christians. Now, while the fate of
the two men they had left behind was a mystery
to Devaka and the others, we do know, thanks to
Hernando de Soto's later expedition, that the two men were
ultimately killed, although the timing and cause of their deaths
very much remain unknown. The five rafts meanwhile continued on regardless,
while the men on board said Rass became increasingly hopeless

(25:06):
and dispirited. With every passing day and week. These men
were constantly only lookout for Spanish vessels that would mean
rescue a long last from this waking nightmare, But day
after day would pass and no sales would ever appear
on the horizon. Eventually, as a part of their regular
search for fresh water, these Spaniards and their five rafts
came upon a sizebo river, which would prove to be
the Mississippi, meaning they had at this point traveled some

(25:28):
three hundred and seventy miles and setting off in their
improvised rafts, which may sound impressive until you realize that Panuco,
of the Spanish outposts that were heading for, was still
some six hundred and twenty miles further on. Meanwhile, when
they tried rowing up this impressively large river in the
hopes of having a campfire for once, they found that
not only could they make no progress, but that the

(25:48):
current was so powerful, in fact, that it cast them
out into the Gulf of Mexico. At which point, is
luck would have it, a powerful wind kicked up, which
carried their rafts even further out to sea, something they
couldn't exactly stop. Between the general lack of strength that
remained among the men and the fact that their simple
rafts and sales had no way of sailing against a
wind like more complex ships had. The only thing they

(26:09):
could do and then was take down their improvised sales
so was to limit the distance they were carried away
from the shore. It then took a good two days
of the exhausted and dying men on the rafts to
row back to shore, where an ominous site greeted them,
as when night fell, the shoreline was led by bonfires
that put off massive plumes of black smoke. Apparently their
little fleet had been spotted by the locals who proceeded

(26:31):
to set these bonfires. Whether they were meant to guide
the rafts and the shore or were meant as a warning,
we don't know, but these spandards were not about to
take the risk given their recent experiences. Given this, the
men on the rafts decided to wait until dawn the
following day before making their way any closer to shore,
because if they were going to do this, and they
had little choice in the matter since they were now

(26:52):
out of water, they'd rather be able to see who
they were finding if things came to that. Come dawn, however,
the men in the boats who wote to find that
they had drifted during the night as the currents had
carried their rafts not only out of side of the shoreline,
but also out of sight of one another, which for
some was a devastating turn of events, while others were
already so broken that they weren't in all surprises. Something

(27:12):
like this had happened. After all, it was now early November,
meaning that they had been at sea for some forty
days at this point, during which time nothing had gone right, which,
keep in mind, was in addition to these six months
of failure that had preceded this, and everything else that
had gone wrong before even reaching Florida. Basically, not any
single thing had gone right since they arrived in the
Caribbean the previous year. Regardless, the main concern for many

(27:36):
at this point was finding their companions on the other rafts.
The first such wrath that Abason of Voka's would encounter
was coincidentally the one being led by none other than
the head of their expedition, ArviZ himself. Then, upon leaking up,
they could just barely see a third raft off in
the distance, at which point, according to Devaka, at least
no Revis consulted him on what they should do next. Now,

(27:57):
Devoka was of the opinion that they should do everything
in their per to keep as much as their company
together as possible, which meant setting sail for the distant
third raft before trying for the coast. One of the
men in Narvis's boat, however, believed in imperative that they
reached the shore now before they were taken out the sea.
Once again, Nerviz, apparently agreeing with this, man, opted to

(28:17):
head to shore immediately, ordering Kabeza Devoka to follow suit
with his own raft. Devaka then would do is ordered
and would follow Nervs's lead in heading for the shore.
As they did, though, Norviz's boat gradually started pulling away,
something that the other ultimate survivors would attribute to the
other raft being generally lighter, which allowed it to move faster.
Cabeza Devaka, though, would attribute this to the fact that

(28:39):
Arvis's raft quote carried the healthiest and most robust men
among us. In no way were we able to follow
or keep up with him, suggesting very strongly then there
for some time now Nerviz had been far more concerned
with his own safety than with that of the men
under his command. He then made sure he had the
fittest and healthiest men with him to ensure his own survival,

(28:59):
and was now willingly leaving the Vaka and the others
behind to reach the supposed safety of the shore and
its life giving a supply of fresh water, a suspicion
that was seemingly confirmed as night began the fall, as
that was when Cabeza Devaka tried calling out to the
increasingly Dissantarvis to suggest they tie their crafts together so
they wouldn't get separated again during the night, a suggestion

(29:19):
that ArviZ responded to by ordering his men to not
throw a rope to the other raft and to not
catch a rope should one be thrown from the Vaka's craft,
a moment that Kabeza Devaka focuses upon in his narrative
as it further highlighted these stark contrasts between him and ArviZ.
As you see, not only did the Vaka want to
try and reunite with the other rafts, but back while
they were still in Florida before setting sail, apparently so

(29:41):
many horsemen in their company had made plans to run
off on their own, leaving the others to their fate.
The Voga, though, had work to convince the horsemen to
stay and help their fellow survive. Yet Molly had been
able to convince the horsemen to work for the betterment
of the group. In contrast, Nirvaz seemed immune to such entreaties. Indeed,
when they dumb found in, Nevaka called out the nervaz

(30:02):
Bo what he and the others should do. They supposed
later reportedly responded that it was quote no longer time
for one man to rule another. Each one should do
whatever seem best to him in order to save his
own life. And with that, the men in our Visa's
boat resumed their rowing, and it wasn't long before they
passed beyond site. As Devaka and his men just physically
could not keep Bob Cabeza. Nevaka would never see Nervaza

(30:25):
the others from his raft ever again. For us, though,
to wrap up that part of our story, we will
follow Nervis for a bit longer. From what we know,
Nervis any men in his boat would land on the
Texas coast, likely somewhere in the general area of modern
day Galiston. From there they continued on any general westward
and southern direction as they continued on their journey towards
the Spanish settlement of Pnuko. As Darviz and his men

(30:47):
found along the coastline in their raft, they eventually saw
what appeared to be people walking along the shore in
the same direction. People that they eventually discovered were survivors
from another one of their rafts that had capsized, left
with no other choice than the survivors had just started walking,
desperate for food and fresh water and hoping to eventually
reach Panuco. Seemingly seeing opportunity here, Nerviz ordered his own

(31:09):
boat to shore where he had and most of the
men from his raft get off and joined the others
in their march, orders, which they accepted because walking for
an unknown distance was still seen as a reprief from
the weeks of being cramped up on the raft. That
being said, it is not sounding Nervis himself joined in
on this march, but instead made the sacrifice of staying
on the raft with a small group of rowers. As

(31:31):
the reality was by this point, the once muscular Nerviz
was but a shell of himself. He had been weakened
first by his years of imprisonment in Mexico and was
now further shattered by this harrowing journey, leaving him a
weak and sickly man who likely could not help but
think upon the advice he had been given to stay
at home with his wife and the wealth she had
procured for him. Regardless, the members of these two rafts

(31:52):
proceeded like this for a couple of weeks, with most
of the group walking along the shoreline on our Aviz
and Haelnick group kept pacing the raft that they occasionally
used to ferry the others across any rivers that lay
athwart their path. Then, one night, as the vast majority
of the seven or so men with them slept on
the shore, Nervised his personal page Campo and their pilot
Anton Perez slept alone on the raft just off the

(32:15):
shore like they normally did, a privilege that Nevis had
a reserved for himseltened those closest to him as he
feared a potential attack from Native Americans, as this way,
should the others be attacked, he would be safe on
his raft. This night, however, would be the last time
any of the others ever saw their vaunted leaderpin Filo
day Nervise alive, as the raft carrying the man who

(32:36):
had been granted permission from the Spanish Crown to conquer
all the lands bordering the Gulf of Mexico, was swept
out the sea by another high wind and was never
seen again. Meanwhile, the original three hundred who had sent
off to explore and conquer the lands of Florida and beyond.
After their rafts had become separated. The remaining two hundred
and forty or so who remained alive were then scattered
along the Texas coastline. Now Kebezad Devaka and the men

(32:59):
of his raft, for example, after being abandoned by their
vis and essentially told that it was every man for himself,
and responded by setting off for the other raft that
they had seen in the distance. The two crafts then
trowled together for four days while being battered by winds
and currents that prevented them from getting the shore. Forces
that the men were unable to overcome, at least in
part because they had been on half rations for a

(33:21):
while now and no longer had the strength to row anymore. Then,
not helping matters was a powerful storm that swept down
upon them during the night, which separated the two rafts
for good. At this point, then, between everything they had
been through the half rations and the sheer lack of water,
there were only five men left on Devaka's raft who
were still physically capable of rowing, while the others were

(33:43):
quote so close to death that fewer conches. The men
then did all they could but by the end of
the day, only to Vodka and his helmsman had the
strength left to handle the tiller when they made their
last desperate attempt to use their sales to reach the shore.
Yet as desperate as they were, neither man was prepared
to try and make landfall in the dark. The two
then intended to wait until dawn to make their attempt,

(34:06):
but a large wave took that option away from them
as they lifted the entire raft up into the air
and threw it onto the beach with such an impact
that it shook their near death companions awake. Now on land,
anyone with any kind of strength set about finding water
and wood with which to light a fire. As it
was cold and they were all soaking wet, the would
be concusitors for a change were in luck, as they

(34:27):
quickly found a supply of fresh water and were soon
able to gather around a fire, where they roasted on
the little corn that they still had left. Cabeza Devaka
would then mark this day as the sixth in November
fifteen twenty eight, although given how much they had been through,
some suspected was probably actually later in the month. Regardless,
as they started to recover to Vaka and some others
ascended the nearby dunes so as to take a look

(34:50):
at this land they now found themselves in. As they did,
they found themselves on a large flat plane of seemingly
endless grasses, only disturbed occasionally by a river running through them,
and well to be trees on hills. One of the
fitter men among them, Lope de Oviedo, was then ordered
to ascend one of these large oak trees to get
a better look around, at which point Oviedo discovered that

(35:11):
they appeared to be on an island, with scholars suspecting
that this was quite possibly Galliston or some place nearby.
Even more interesting, though, was that Oviedo had spotted ruts
in the grasses that he was convinced could have only
been made by cattle, and where there were cattle, there
had to be other Europeans, news which obviously excited the
other men, but kad Bezi of Evaka wanted confirmation, so

(35:32):
he sent Oviedo out on his own to follow these
tracks to see what he could find. Devaka's conscious approach
would prove to be wise, when, instead of cattle or
a Spanish settlement, Oviedo founding Native American village, finding it
apparently empty, though Oviedo took this opportunity to purloin some
dried fish and a small dog. The thing was, though
the village that Oviedo had assumed was abandoned was apparently

(35:54):
not quite as deserted as he thought, as it was
long before a group of armed Native Americans were all
on this trail, meaning they were lent directly back to
where Nevaka and the others were camped, which wasn't the
best news as none of these men at this point
were fit to defend themselves in any way. Indeed, according
to Cabeza Devaka quote, it was difficult to find even

(36:15):
six who could raise themselves from the ground. Now. Who
exactly these people were as unclear, in part because it
seems that the groups who occupied this region were very
migratory at this point. Meanwhile, by the time other Europeans
made any serious attempts to explore this region, while over
a century had passed, during which time the area had
changed dramatically due new groups from other regions who had

(36:37):
been driven out by the European invaders moving into this
region and displacing many who had lived here during Nevada's time,
meaning that by the point any other Europeans had entered
the region and started making note of the people living here,
the picture had changed quite dramatically. So the best guest
seems to be that these people were related to the
aco Quisa or karen Kawa peoples. As for the men

(36:57):
who had followed Oviedo, they in particular were said to
have pure snipples and ears, and were apparently quite large,
and likely made to appear even more so due to
the fear felt by these Spaniards who were all but
helpless before them. So with fighting out of the question,
they tried the only other tactic available to them, as
Kabeesa Nevaka took what bees and bells they had left
and proceeded to walk up the beach to where the

(37:19):
locals had stopped, in clear view of the thieving strangers
who had washed up on their shore, basically letting them
know they could see them. The Native Americans then considered
the offering that Devaka had made and seemingly accepted it,
as responded by each taking an arrow from their quiver
to hand over to the Spaniard and what was likely
a sign of friendship and I kind of here, take this,

(37:39):
I won't be using it to kill you type of move. Indeed,
it seems that for one sluck was on the spaniards side,
as these people had a tradition of creating little bell
like objects out of shells and coyote teeth. As such,
they were quite taken with and impressed by the bells
that were among the gifts that Devaka brought to them.
Now whether it be because of these gifts are just
because they recognized how weak and need of how these

(38:00):
strangers were, the locals soon brought them some fish to eat.
Then the following day, in addition of bringing them even
more food, they also shut up with some of the
women and children from their village, seemingly showing them the
weird men who had washed up on their shore, which
demonstrates that not only were these strangers a source of curiosity,
but also that the locals had at this point decided
that they weren't really a threat. As for the survivors

(38:23):
from Devaka's raft, they would spend a week or so
training bells and beads for food from the locals, although
while just generally trying to recover, as for the first
time in months, they had plenty of fresh water, food,
and a fire to warm themselves by winter, though, was coming,
and these spanders did not know how long they could
continue to rely upon the hospitality of the locals. So
one morning, after getting some more food, after the friendly

(38:45):
native Americans departed, Kambeza Evaco ordered the men back to
the raft, fully intending to set sail once again in
an attempt to reach Pennuco. First, though, they had to
free their raft from the sand it had been half
buried in by their initial impact on the shore and
the subsequent waves. Before doing so, though, the men that'll
be stripped off their clothes so as to keep them dry,

(39:05):
and then took them most of the morning to dig
the raft out using nothing but their hands, some sticks,
and some shells. With that, Dundavaka gave the stone weak
men the order to begin shoving their raft back into
the waves. These still naked men then grabbed a hold
of the craft and began the process of shoving it
out into the surf, and which point the men started
scrambling on board to grab oars and start rowing. However,

(39:28):
they were barely making on hundred yards out before a
large wave came crashing down on top of the men
and the boat. The shock and the impact in the
cold water then combined to wing the weakened men's movements
to a halt. While the men were thus frozen in place,
the raft started twisting, and soon another large wave struck them,
flipping the craft over completely. Now most of the men

(39:49):
were flung free or were otherwise able to scramble back
to shore. However, three would be trapped by the overturned
and sinking craft and would drown as a result. As
for the others, according to Devaka quote, the sea with
a single thrust through all the others who were in
the waves and half drowned onto the coast. They were saved,
but they were now trapped. Things honestly couldn't have gone

(40:37):
much worse. They lost three more. They're already dwindling numbers.
As keep in mind, forty nine minutes started off on
this boat with Gabez of Avaka in Florida, and they
likely lost a fuel along the way due to disease
and dehydration, and now had lost three more to the
remorseless sea. Almost as devastating, though, was the fact that
they had lost their raft, which was their surest means

(40:58):
of traveling for any significant distance, and of just as
much importance, They had also lost their clothes, which had
been stored on the raft to keep them dry, meaning
there were now just forty or so wet and naked
castaways whose ribs by this point were quite visible due
to malnutrition, and winter was fast approaching. This was a
crushing moment for the wood be conquisodors. Some then simply

(41:19):
sat on the shore silently with their arms wrapped around
their knees, seemingly just waiting for death, while others openly
wept due to everything they had been through. A handful, though,
remained determined, and so they returned to the remains of
their fires and did what they could to revive or
renew their flames until they were able to build them
back up in the bonfires. So they weren't dead just yet,

(41:41):
but the loss of their primary means of transportation was
still devastating still, though the greater loss might have been
their clothes, and not just for practical reasons of protection
from the elements and other obstructions. As he spent As
saw their clothing as almost emblematic of the difference between
them and the indigenous people that they saw as inferior
and thus fit for conquering. Their clothing then was a

(42:02):
kind of symbolic manifestation of how superior they and their
culture was, and here it was literally stripped away from them.
These Spaniards, filled with despair, then gave the island that
they now crash landed on too twice they name Malhaldo
or bad fortune. Meanwhile, the locals would return the knight
to bring more food to these strangers, as they had
done ever since the first day they had washed ashore.

(42:24):
They were then understandably quite stunned to find these strangers now,
somehow even worse off than they had been when they
had left them in the morning. Upon seeing them now
naked and huddle together around their fires, potentially fearing this
to be some kind of strange new behavior, they turned
and started walking away. The voca, though, rushed after their
benefactors and managed to explain to at least some degree

(42:45):
everything that had transpired since the morning. The locals, upon
grasping the extent of the tragedy that these men had experienced,
then came and sat down among them and began openly
weeping on their behalf. This likely ritualistic show of grief
would last for half an hour as they cried and
held quote so sincerely they could be heard a great
distance away, a display. Then, instead of comforting these would

(43:08):
be concuisitors, only made them feel worse, as it was
a sign of just how far they had fallen. Quote.
To see these men so lacking in reason and so
crude in the manner of brutes, grieved so much for us,
increased in me and in the others of our company
even more the magnitude of our suffering and the estimation
of our misfortune. That being said, for Devaka, this moment

(43:29):
seems notable for another reason as well, as not only
did to show how far heenous, prideful companions had fallen,
but it also spoke to something about these Native Americans.
As he noted that quote, they began to cry with
the Christians, as if they sorrowed over the happening. This, then,
was seemingly the first time that Devaka had the realization
that these people might be just as capable of feeling

(43:50):
empathy as he was. Perhaps then this is why he,
for the first time attempted to convince these people to
bring them back to their village. Perhaps he believed that
these people were capable of taking pity on them, or
perhaps he was simply desperate and had no other choice,
as without clothes, with winter coming, and with no knowledge
of how to survive in this land, these people represented

(44:11):
their only chance of survival. Yet, even as bad as
things were, not all the would be conquisitors were down
with his plan. As an addition to being a complete
reversal of their state admission to bring quote unquote civilization
to these primitive heathens, they feared that once they were
actually in the village, they would be sacrificed, a fear
that was most pronounced among the men who were veterans

(44:31):
of Cortes's campaign in Mexico, as they could not forget
what they had seen there. For Devaca, though, while he
was not without such fears, he also saw no other option.
It was either try and survive with the help of
these people who had been friendly so far, or die
their shivering and naked on the beach. That being said,
asking this group to take in an additional forty or

(44:52):
so mouse to feed with winter fast approaching was no
easy ask. Indeed, while it seemed that after Devaca pleted
for their assistancy local didn't agree to help the shipwrecked strangers.
Instead of taking them back to their village immediately, they
told the castaways to wait there on the beach. The
locals then sent off, but in doing so, the Spaniards
noticed that they started gathering a lot of driftwood. Actions

(45:14):
that were unusual and concerning to these Spaniards, as they
did not understand why they couldn't just go with them
right away, and what was with the sudden fascination with
gathering wood, something they had never seen them do before.
Some of the conquisadors then began to worry that this
was a prelude to being roasted by these people. The locals, though,
would return after some time and inform they would be
concuisadors that they should follow them. The Spaniards, though wakened

(45:37):
from the time on the boats, the lack of food
and water, and now after sending on the beach for
much of the day naked and cold, could not keep
pace with these strong and healthy Native Americans. The locals
and tried to urge them on for a while before
ultimately just picking the men up so they could carry
them the rest of the way. As they went. These
Spandards then discovered the reason why of the locals had
been gathering wood. They had been constructing a series of

(45:59):
bonds along their path, not to cook them, but because
they had recognized the state the Europeans were in and
figured they might not survive the journey without these periodic
stops to warm up before heading off for the next bonfire. Then,
upon reaching the village, they were brought into what was
likely a recently constructed shelter that had been built for
these Spaniards, a structure that was constructed out of a

(46:20):
long willow pole that had both ends stuck into the ground,
over which matts and skins were draped. As the Spaniards
and warmed themselves by the welcoming fires in the village,
the locals began to make music, sing and dance, and
what seemed to be a kind of celebration. Yet still
the Europeans continued to fear that they would be sacrificed
at any moment, and then wouldn't be until the following morning,

(46:41):
when they were brought some broods and fish to eat,
that they actually began to relax somewhat. That day to
Vaka was apparently one of the few with strength enough
to get up and take a look around. As he did,
he happen to note that one of their saviors was
in possession of some objects that, while clearly of European make,
Thevaco very much recognized that he had not treated these
objects to them, and nor could they have come from

(47:02):
the raft, a discovery that very much seemed like a
hopeful sign, as it must have meant they had come
into contact with other Europeans. Indeed, as hope was, the
actually landed close enough to the Spanish outpost of Panuco,
but they had obtained these objects through trade with them.
The reality was though they were still hundreds of miles
away from Panuco. Indeed, devagasoaps were soon dashed, as after

(47:23):
some more simplistic communication between himself and the locals, he
would learn that another boat of people like himself and
his companions had come ashore waste of the East, and
that's where they had gotten these objects from. Yet first
disappointed as he felt that they had not at last
reached Panuco, there was to hope that they might find
some more of their missing companions. To that end, Ivaco

(47:44):
ordered to their strongest men to head out in the
direction indicated, with the hope of making contact with presumably
more survivors of their ill fitted expedition. Indeed, as it
turns out, a raft which had been under the command
of captains of Alonzo del Castillo and Andres Dorantes had
been washed up ashore about five miles off the coast.
These men had also encountered and traded with some friendly

(48:04):
Native Americans, and had themselves just learned of other castaways,
and had thus set off in search of these others.
As a result, the men that Devace had set off
wouldn't actually get that far before they encountered Castillo and
Dorante's goop, who were actively searching for them. The men
from the other raft were then led back to the
village and were then shot. At the state of the
survivors from Devaka's raft, they could never have imagined that

(48:26):
they could fall so far, but seeing their fellows in
such a sad and sorry state was a stark reminder
of just how vulnerable their situation was. Indeed, they were
not all that much better off, but they at least
had clothes and had not spent an entire day huddled
and freezing on a beach. Most importantly, though, their raft
was still intact, although it was not exactly in the
best condition. Devaca, Dorantes, and Castilla then came together in

(48:49):
decnah that their best hope was to repair their raft.
This choice, however, presented its own issues, namely the fact
that they had two rafts war survivors and just one raft.
Though who had tried so hard to keep everyone together
and united the son at this point of desperation, the
best path for it was to split up. Specifically, those
who still had the strength to do so would take

(49:11):
the raft with the hope that they would reach Panuco
or some other Spanish outpost, and then send help back
to those who were too sick and weak to join them,
with such individuals having to stay in this village until
they regained enough strength to start traveling along the coastline
on foot. This plan, however, would ultimately be abandoned when
it was discovered that the other raft was in such

(49:31):
bad condition that there was no hope of repairing it. Indeed,
when they tried pushing it into the wood without anyone
on board, the craft simply sank. So they shifted gears
while keeping the core concept of the plan intact. Which
was the healthiest and most capable among them, would set
off hoping to reach Panuco so rescue could then be
sent back. Specifically, a group of five men were selected

(49:53):
who were both strong enough for an overland journey and
who also knew how to swim so they could cross
whatever rivers that lay in their path. To be clear,
this was a desperate attempt, as these men would have
little provisions as they set off heading south along the coastline.
These five men would also be traveling through the months
of December, January, and February, which is you know winter.
That being said, since they were traveling along the Gulf coast,

(50:16):
conditions weren't as bad as it could have been elsewhere
on the continent. However, the region is known to experience
cold fronts and are kibble dropping temperatures well below the
freezing mark with little to no warning. Also, it should
be noted that it was definitely corner back then in general,
as an addition of being preed global warming. This was
also during the spent a time known as the Little
Ice Age. Despite this, the five wood press on ultimately

(50:39):
troubling some one hundred and twenty miles until they reached
the inlet known as Pasca Vayo, where the the five
realized that they simply could not carry on any farther
as their bodies that long last had given out under
the strain, and they simply laid down and died. As
for the remaining two who had undertaken this mission, while
they were taken in by a group in Native Americans
called the Gravenes, though they seemed to have not done

(51:01):
so out of any sense of generosity, it said, they
seemed to take the two men captive so as to
enslave them. Indeed, when one of the two men, after
spending a short time with these people, attempted to set
off again as he tried to complete his mission of
reaching Panuco, the Kuovnis hunted this man down and killed
him for trying to escape. The lone survivor of this
mission then decided to wait before making his own escape attempt.

(51:22):
While biding his time, the survivor would be given the
opportunity by his captors to speak with another individual who
looked like him, with this individual, Hernando Esquavel, being one
of the men who had been left behind when their
vice was apparently blown out the sea. Following the apparent
death of the leader Esquavel, and the others that continued
their march alone the shoreline, heading toward Panuco as one

(51:44):
other choice did they have. Problems would arise, however, as
they started fighting amongst themselves as there was a belief
in some quarters that they were marching in the wrong direction. Now,
the men who had assumed the leadership of their group
after Narviz's death apparently did not take too kind to
being questioned. As a result, he became more abusive and
authoritarian until one of the officers killed him in a

(52:07):
fit of rage. Others meanwhile, we're dying simply due to
hunger and cold. One by one, then the remaining members
of this group died, while the survivors did the only
thing that was left to them to try and survive,
and that was eat the flesh of their dead companions.
And with that, after years of no cannibalism taking place
on this podcast, we now have unintentionally back to back incidents,

(52:28):
with this one proven to be even worse than what
happened with the Donners, as this continued until only Esquovall
was left alive, only to be captured and ultimately relatest
tale to the lone survivor of the expedition that Devacan
the others had set off. By comparing notes, then these
two men knew what had happened to four their five rafts,
and none of it was good, as had only left
the men on the island with Devaga, Dorantes and Castillo

(52:51):
and the men of the fifth raft. The best hope
that any of them had then was that the fifth
raft had managed to avoid their fate and perhaps even
reached a Spanish settlement like Nuko and alerted them of
the others. That, however, was not the case, as the
fifth raft had two landed on the Texas coast, yet
instead of encountering a relatively friendly band or even one
interested and taken them captive, the members of this fifth

(53:13):
raft had apparently been found by a group called the Camones,
who attacked and killed anyone from the raft who had
not already died from hunger and dehydration. Now neither Esquevell
nor the lone survivor from this group of five would
ultimately be among the survived this ordeal. The lone survivor, however,
would pass along the information he had gathered about the
fate of the other rafts when some months after this encounter,

(53:36):
he was informed that more strangers like himself had arrived
in the area. Indeed, as it turns out, these will
likewise be survivors of Arviza's mission who had washed up
on the island that they had taken to calling Mahaudo
or bad fortune. Which brings us back to sen Island,
where after the departure of the five man mission, the
members of the rafts, led by Cabeza Devaka and Captains
Derntes and Castillo, spent the winter on what was possibly Galveston,

(53:59):
along with the two Native American groups who traditionally made
that island home during the winter, with the members of
a Vodka's raft staying with one of these groups and
Derant's and Castillo's men staying with the other. Now, these
were two distinct bands who each spoke their own language
different from that of the other group. Yet despite these differences,
they seemed content to share the island to these Spaniards.

(54:20):
These people seemed to live incredibly simple lives, dwelling as
they did in simple semi circular tents that were easily constructed.
This simplicity, however, belind the sheer depth of knowledge they
had of their environment and the region in which they lived.
These people, you see, were semi nomadic and were thus
expert foragers thanks to their depth of knowledge of which
plants were edible and when was the best time to

(54:42):
harvest them and their roots or fruit. They also had
an in depth knowledge of the local animals and their movements,
both the service there fishing and hunting needs these groups
and when roam around the region during the spring, summer,
and fall, and then returned to the island for the winter,
to rely on the local roots and fish to survive.
Now under normal circumstance, as winters were never easy, especially

(55:02):
come February, when much of what they relied upon to
survived became hard to impossible to come by. This winter,
in particular, though, would prove to be especially bad, as
in addition to the eighty or so additional men, it
was also unusually cold, and they were played by a
series of storms that prevented the locals from fishing and
digging up the cattail roots that they usually harvested from

(55:22):
under the winter during the winter. For the already weakened
and dangerously thin Spaniards, this was especially bad news and
so they seemingly started dying in droves, with the Vodkas
simply noting in his eventual recounting of events quote in
a short time of us eighty men who arrived there
from both ends, only fifteen remained alive. Meanwhile, the relationship

(55:42):
between the ship or eck special and the Native Americans
who had saved their lives had changed. For as generous
as these people worked through these Spaniards in their initial circumstances,
they likely hoped that at some point these men that
they brought in and looked after would return the favored
by proven to be helpful or even just useful at something.
The Spanish hour proved to be both poor hunters and fishermen,

(56:03):
as again, these were primarily soldiers and thus had not
cultivated such skills place. They had not the years and
years of developing the muscles and skills to use bows,
and nor did they have any kind of knowledge of
the local animals or fish. Given this inability to do
anything else of use, these men were then set to
work digging up roots, carrying firewood, and fetching water. Meanwhile,

(56:25):
not all out of Vodka's men following the shipwreck had
joined the others in going to the Native American village six.
In fact, I refused to leave the beach, fearing that
they would be sacrificed and possibly even eaten by the Heathens,
instead opting to winter on the beach, which predictably proved
to be a terrible idea, as they soon ran out
of food and eventually resorted to committing cannibalism, leaving only

(56:47):
one left alive, something which discussed and horrified the Native
Americans when they learned of what had happened. As again,
for all the Spaniards talk in fear of the Native
Americans being dangerous cannibals, which was one of these uses
that they used to justify their conquest and enslavement all
the people of these lands. They were the ones who
actually committed this foul deed, much to the terror and

(57:08):
discust of the people who they attributed such deeds to.
The local opinions of these Spaniards then shifted dramatically as
they went from looking at them as kind of pitiful
and helpless to now suddenly seeing them as dangerous and
even deranged. Indeed, Devoka's understanding of these events was that
had the locals actually called these men actively committing such acts,
they would have killed them on the spot, and just

(57:30):
to be safe, might have killed the rest of them
as well. So the relationship between the locals and these
Spaniards was already taking a negative turn. Then, making things
worse for the chances of the survivors was the fact
that about half of the Native Americans that were sharing
the island with became ill and died from what Devaka
described as a quote illness of the bowels, a disease
that they blamed, probably rightly on these strange people that

(57:52):
had washed up on their shores. The leaders among the
Native Americans and debated among themselves in a kind of
informal trial to decide and what they should do about
these strangers who had apparently brought such death and tragedy
to their island, with the general consensus apparently tending more
toward just killing them all. That is until one among
the mast that if these strangers were so powerful that

(58:13):
they were able to bring so much death and destruction
done upon them, then why were they dying at an
even faster rate than the original inhabitants of these lands. Indeed,
as this individual would note, the leader of these strangers
to Vaka himself was barely clinging on to life at
this point, so it didn't make any sense that these
individuals were purposely causing these deaths, and so it was

(58:34):
agreed that they would spare their lives. Meanwhile, as winter
finally started coming to an end, the native bands that
they were living with started heading for the mainland in
pursuit of the one food source it was available at
that time, oysters. The shellfish then would service their main
source of sustenance until April, when they started being able
to add other items like blackberries to their meals. And
as these groups departed from the mainland, they of course

(58:56):
brought the surviving spandards with them, although in the case
of the Vakas raft, only two had survived the winter,
and one of them was to Voca, who was by
this point quite ill. As for Alonzo del Castillo and
Andres Dorantes, the captains on the other raft, they were
focused on making an attempt to reach a Spanish settlement.
Now the word at this point something like twelve to
fifteen in their men remaining, including Deronte's African servant Esteban,

(59:20):
and so from their perspective, if they had any hope
of getting out of this alive, they had to try
and get eight. Now, Castillo and de Roantes and started
making plans to head for Pinuco, and in doing so
they gave some thought of making the trip to go
and pick up Devoca, who was currently harvesting oysters with
the members of his band, but the two captains ultimately
decided against such a course based on how ill Devaca

(59:41):
reportedly was. As for Cabeza Devaka, when the band of
Native Americans who had taken him in eventually returned to
the island of Malhaldo bad fortune, he would find that
all of Castillo and de Ronte's men, with the exception
of two, and left, with these two remini behind because
they too had been deemed too weak and ill to
join in this latest expedition too Panuco, with one of
these men being Lope de Oviedo, the men who, upon

(01:00:04):
initially landing on this island had scanted the area and
had at the time been the fittest among them. Thus
begins the period of time in which these Spaniards are
typically described as being enslaved. Now, it was admittedly not
exactly a pleasant existence, as the undertow the physically demanding
work to survive in this land, while their feet burned
when they walked over the sand during the summer, their
fingers bled as they dug up brutes, and calluses formed

(01:00:27):
on their backs from carrying their belongings from one campsite
to another. To be clear, though, all the work that
they were doing was labor that was typically carried out
by the women of these bands. As to Vaka, and
the other Spaniards had proven themselves incapable of carrying out
the work done by the men of these groups, including
hunting and fishing. Basically, then they were primarily being asked
to pull their own weight so they and the others

(01:00:48):
might continue to survive. That being said, there was some
degree of mistreatment, as according to Devaka quote, any child
would give them a good hair pulling, and for them
this was great fun, the greatest pleasure in the US world, which,
honestly though, just sounds like children being children. That being said,
the adults would also stop these Spaniards in the face
and or beat them with sticks if they did not

(01:01:09):
do as instructed. Indeed, according to Devaka, three of their
men were killed quote only for daring to go from
one house to another Devaka and the others and seemingly
considered themselves slaves, although this seems as much as anything else,
a byproduct of their own use of slaves. To be clear, though,
while they were forced to work, this wasn't really the
same thing as what these Spaniards were doing in their

(01:01:31):
colonies to begin with. These weren't societies that actively set
out to procure slaves for labor. Now, they sometimes had
people captured in conflict with other tribes that they forced
to work, but again that feels like a side effect
of well, we have you, but we can't just have
people hanging around not doing anything and expect to survive,
as basically everyone had to do their part to aid

(01:01:51):
in the survival of themselves and the group, so they
couldn't just take on another mouth to feed without requiring
that additional mouth to help produce the means for their
continued to so for at least during their stand Mohalldo,
I wouldn't really consider them slaves, as while yeah, they
were forced to work and punished if they failed to
do what they were told, it was also seemingly a
situation of if they were going to take you in

(01:02:13):
and keep you from dying, they were going to expect
you to pull your own way to at least some extent. Indeed,
for their illustrating that this wasn't your typical slavery situation
was the fact that the people who had supposedly enslaved
them actively helped Derantes and Castillo locate the other survivors
who were healthy enough to make their attempt to reach Panuco.
In other words, it does not sound that they tried

(01:02:33):
to stop their departure in any meaningful way. Indeed, they
would even ferry the men over to the mainland and
exchange for the fine for a code that they had
taken from the village chief of the Canoe people who
had taken them in, and then attack them in the night.
That all being said, this was once again an example
the Spaniards experience a bit of a raw reversal from
their intended mission in the way that they saw themselves

(01:02:55):
as they had come here to this new world to
be conquerors who brought both quote unquote sibilisation an alternatively
ensliment to those already living here. Yet here they were
stripped of all signs of their civilization down to their clothes,
all the while having to rely upon the kindness of
the people that they had come here to conquer and
kill and were now being treated similar to slaves by

(01:03:15):
the people they intended to enslave. Combson Evaka would then
spend a year living on Mohado with the original band
they had encountered, during which time he tired of his
life as a quote unquote slave and fled to go
live with another group called the Jerukos, who lived in
the forest on the mainland, ultimately choosing to run into
the tree line one day when no one was watching.

(01:03:36):
That being said, it doesn't seem like anyone gave chase
or put in that much of an effort to retrieve
their quote unquote slave. Meanwhile, upon joining the Cheruko, instead
of doing more of the labor that he had been doing,
Devoca was given a new task to carry out, as
there was a need for a neutral third party to
connoct trade between the Cheruko and the other bands that
lived in the region, who they were generally at war with,

(01:03:57):
but who also had items that they would like to
trade or Indeed, upon arriving to Vaka would be encouraged
to go visit different areas and people to procure for
them the various goods they wanted Slash needed to this,
and they would be conquiso or collected from the Tarugos
items like various shells, including a certain type that was
used to cut fruit quote unquote, sea beads, and various
other items that the Tarucos had access to but those

(01:04:20):
living further inland did not. The Voka then started a
noon life where he would travel into the interior region
of Texas by himself for weeks at a time as
he traveled distances of one hundred and twenty or more
miles to conduct trade missions. As he met with various
Native American groups with whom he would trade the goods
he had brought with him for stuff like animal hides,
cane flint to make arrows, and red ochre, which the

(01:04:42):
Tarucos used to ritually paint themselves for Tovaca. While this
was still dangerous, this was also much more agreeable to
his sensibilities as quote This occupation served me well because
practicing it, I had the freedom to go wherever I wanted,
and it was not constrained in any way nor enslaved.
And wherever I went, he treated me well and gave
me food out of want for my wares, and most importantly,

(01:05:04):
because by doing so, I was able to seek out
the way by which I would go forward, meaning that
by conducting these traine missions, he was constantly able to
learn more about the region and what his options were
for seeking to reconnect with other Spaniards who he knew
were somewhere on this continent, just not exactly where or
how far away. That being said, while the scife was
more agreeable than the one he had known Backo Mahaldo,

(01:05:26):
it was not without its downsides, as While de Vaka's
trading partner seemed to have provided him with food during
his stays with them, that did not help him during
the long distances between his various stops, travels which he
seemed to have conducted alone, meaning was often alone in
the wilderness where he was left to deal with the
quote great dangerous as well as storms. As such, he

(01:05:47):
never truly grew comfortable in his new life, and instead
always kept an eye out for a way to return
to his people. Yet, for his egres to Vodka apparently
wants to make an attempt to reach Minuko, he stuck around,
not wanting to lead the lane two survivors from the
rafts who remained on Malhaldo, although soon there was just
one survivor, Lobe de Oviedo Gabeza Nevaca then would make

(01:06:08):
at least yearly trips back to the island to visit
Oviedo to try and convince the other man into joining
in on an attempt to reach Panuco and thereby return
to Spanish civilization. For Oviedo, though there were probably two problems. First, he,
unlike Devoca, did not know how to swim, which was
problematic as in addition to the fact that they were
on an island, they would surely also be rivers in

(01:06:30):
their path. Plaster was the fact that no certain rescue
parties had ever come for them, which strongly suggested that
none of the others who had set off on this
exact same journey hadn't made it. After three years of
these conversations, however, in fifteen thirty three, Devaka was finally
able to convince Lobe de Oviedo to join him in
making an attempt to reach Panuco, with Devoca helping the

(01:06:51):
other man reach the mainland, where the two men ultimately
ended up following the same route that Derontes and Castillo
had taken four years earlier. Then, after crossing a series
of four rivers, would meet up with a group of
Native Americans named the Corvenes, from whom they learned that
there were three others like them living in the area.
As you see, it turns out that Deront'es and Castillo's
group had experienced a much more difficult time getting this

(01:07:14):
far than Nevace Oviedo did to begin with. At the
second of the four rivers, the group and started a
pair of rafts out of driftwood to get across. The
first of the rafts that made the trip without issue,
but the second raft, which had five people on board,
got caught in a powerful current that swept them downstream.
Realizing that they were about to be shot back out
into the Gulf of Mexico with no means of returning,

(01:07:35):
which was pretty much a death sentence for the five
men on the raft, jumped overboard, two of whom would
then make it to shore, while the other two drowned.
As to the one man who had remained on board,
he was indeed swept out into the gulf with no paddle,
no mast, and no sale to get him back. To shore.
This man was lucky, though, is after just an hour
at sea, the waves actually brought him back to the coast,

(01:07:56):
where he was reunited with his companions. The group then
pressed on for Panuco, but the same problem that they
had dealt with since first arriving in the New World
continued to plague them, namely the reality that none of
these men knew how to survive in these lions. As
a result, soon two more would diastarvation, which meant that
they had already lost for their number on this expedition.

(01:08:17):
It was then around this time that their survivors were
taken in by the local tribes. However, unlike the people Mahaledo,
the people in the region, including the Coavenes, weren't all
that friendly to these weird looking strangers. As the Quavenes
w was informed of vakan Oviedo that their fellows were
regularly quote kicked and slapped and cudgeled bond The people

(01:08:37):
who had taken them in slash took them captive. Indeed,
as if they proved their point, the Coovenes began beating
Oviedo as they also quote, through mudballs at us and
each day placed arrows at our hearts, saying that they
wanted to kill us. As for the fate of de
Rantees and Castillo's group, most had died in the intervening years.
Some were killed for trying to escape, while others because
their captors had dreams and they took his omens about

(01:09:00):
these strangers, while still others, according to the Govenes, had
been executed simply for the quote unquote amusement of it. Now,
upon hearing all this, Oviedo decided he wanted to go
back to Malhado, as the island that they had named
bad Fortune was downright pleasant compared to what they had
encountered here, and whatever unknown horror still lay in between
them and Panuco, which, per Devaka's latest estimate, still lay

(01:09:23):
another five hundred miles distant. Now, Devoca, who very much
always wanted to keep everyone together, tried to talk Oviedo
out of going back. After all, fear of their fellows,
who they had not seen it years, were just a
little ways away. Did he not want to go see them? Plus,
the Govenes had to be bothering about how they were
being treated. Yet quote I pointed out many things, but

(01:09:44):
I was unable to detain him by any means, so
Oviedo left, heading back to Malhado, leaving Nevaka alone, but
determined to carry on, especially after learning that there were
others like him nearby. Indeed, based upon what the covena
said told him it was now the season of the knots,
thus the people holding his companions would likely be in
the area where they harvested set nuts. Based upon this information,

(01:10:07):
to Vodka then headed inland, following a river which was
likely the Guadalupe, which led him right to gross up
of Countries, where Native American groups from all around the
area gathered to harvest the yearly bounty of knots. And
among the various groups who took advantage of this ample
supply of food with the Mariames, the people with whom
Andre's Dorantes was now residing, a group of some two

(01:10:28):
hundred or so people who live in the lower Guadalupe
Valley in round that covered dwellings. Dorantes and was understandably
quite surprised by Devaka's arrival, as it had been over
three years since he had last laid eyes upon the
Royal Treasurer, who he assumed had to have surely died
by now Indeed, the last time he had seen him,
the Vaka had been laid low by the same disease
that had claimed the lives of many, and even if

(01:10:50):
he had survived, it was a safe bet that he
would have likely fallen afoul one of the local Native
American groups, whose behavior varied widely from the perspective of
these Spaniards. Vodka would write on this reunion quote, we
gave many thanks to God upon finding your sauls reunited,
and this day was one of the days of greatest
pleasure that we have had in our lives. During this reunion,

(01:11:11):
Devoca will learn from Derantes about the fates of all
the other members of our Viz's expedition. As to Rantes,
during his captivity, had met with the sole survivor of
the group of five who had set off forru Penugo
shortly out of their initial landing on Mahado, hoping to
reach the outpost and send back assistance. It was and
through this conversation that the Vaka learned the fate of
Narvaz and the others, and how they were now possibly

(01:11:33):
among the last still alive. That being said, they weren't
completely alone. As an Alonzo den Costio and as to bond,
the enslaved African man were still alive and living with
the uguasces A, people who seemed to be generally similar
to the Mariames believed just a little further to the
south and west. These two groups, and much like the
Gruevans had demonstrated, seemed to take some delight in messing

(01:11:54):
with these men who they had captured slash taken in
as they brigally did things like ining their bows and
arrows at their chest, pulling their bows taut like they
were about to shoot and kill them, only to relax
suddenly and start laughing as he inquired if they were afraid,
which they were. As to Ranti's in particular, always took
their threats seriously because he claimed they were a violent
people who would kill their own children due to a

(01:12:16):
vision they had any dream. Indeed, Devoka would claim that
these people actively killed their daughters by leaving them outside
to dine in the elements, accounts which I would typically
take with more than a grain of salt and would
look at as colonist's attempting to justify their conquests and
mistreatment of such people. However, into Vodka's case, he would
know that this behavior was unique to these specific people,

(01:12:37):
writing that quote they don't love their children as much
as he was about whom we spoke of earlier, meaning
the residents of Malhuda who had taken them and when
they had first wrecked on the Texas coast. As the
Vaka would write that they quote well their children and
treat them better than any other people in the world. Furthermore,
while I was reluctant to fully describe what the Vodka
had experienced on Mahauda as being enslaved, it does seem

(01:13:00):
like Esteo Derante's Estemont and now to Voca were indeed
captives of these people. To that point, when Devaca began
speaking with his fellow Spaniards of his plans to press
on towards Panuco, they warned him against letting the Native
Americans know, as they were convinced that they would be
killed for trying to escape. Instead, they counseled that he
should wait until the summer, when both the merry Ames

(01:13:20):
and the Aguasses traveled to the south and west to
reap the harvest of the brickley pears and the fruit
bearing cacti in the region. As that way they would
all be together again and that much closer to Binuco.
And so while the last survivors of the Narva's expedition
were now effectively captured and enslaved, they also now had
a plan to escape. However, the story of their escape,

(01:13:40):
their eventual journey to Spanish hold lands and house, and
journey and its experiences changed combes of a Vaca and
his outlook on these lands and their people will have
to for now remain a story for another time. Thank
you for listening to Distorted History. If you will like
to help out, please rate and review the podcasts and

(01:14:02):
tell your friends if you think they'll be interested. If
you would like ad free in early episodes, I set
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to started History. By paying ten bucks a month, you
will gain access to the special ad free feed available
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(01:14:24):
a convenient place to go to access that information regardless,
once again, thank you for listening, and until next time,

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