Francisco Cortés Ojea (also spelled Hojea or Ojeda) was a 16th-century Spanish

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

and

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

who took part in the first expeditions sent from the

General Captaincy of Chile The Captaincy General of Chile (''Capitanía General de Chile'' ) or Governorate of Chile (known colloquially and unofficially as the Kingdom of Chile), was a territory of the Spanish Empire from 1541 to 1817 that was, for most of its existenc ...

to the

Strait of Magellan The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and Tierra del Fuego to the south. The strait is considered the most important natural pass ...

. The times and places of his birth and death have not been documented. He was a map-maker with the expedition of

Francisco de Ulloa Francisco de Ulloa () (died 1540) was a Spanish explorer who explored the west coast of present-day Mexico and the Baja California Peninsula under the commission of Hernán Cortés. Ulloa's voyage was among the first to disprove the cartograph ...

sent in 1553 by the governor of Chile to survey the southern coast of the country and the Strait of Magellan. He later commanded the ''San Sebastián'' under the orders of captain

Juan Ladrillero Juan Ladrillero (b. c. 1490 in Moguer – 1559) was a 16th-century Spanish navigator and explorer who from 1557 to 1559 explored the coast of Chile from Valdivia (39° 48’ S) to the Barbara Channel (54° S, between Clarence Island and Santa ...

in the expedition sent in 1557 by governor

García Hurtado de Mendoza García or Garcia may refer to: People * García (surname) * Kings of Pamplona/Navarre ** García Íñiguez of Pamplona, king of Pamplona 851/2–882 ** García Sánchez I of Pamplona, king of Pamplona 931–970 ** García Sánchez II of Pam ...

Context

On May 29, 1555,

Joanna of Castile Joanna (6 November 1479 – 12 April 1555), historically known as Joanna the Mad ( es, link=no, Juana la Loca), was the nominal Queen of Castile from 1504 and Queen of Aragon from 1516 to her death in 1555. She was married by arrangement to Phi ...

, the princess-regent of Spain, issued a ''real cédula'' (royal ordinance) ordering the governor of Chile to conduct a recognizance of the lands situated in the other part of the Strait of

Magellan Ferdinand Magellan ( or ; pt, Fernão de Magalhães, ; es, link=no, Fernando de Magallanes, ; 4 February 1480 – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese people, Portuguese explorer. He is best known for having planned and led the Magellan expeditio ...

. Spain expected to find there a region rich in

spice A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for flavoring or as a garnish. Spices a ...

s and resources as valuable as those the Portuguese were drawing from the

East Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to various lands in the East or the Eastern hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found in and around t ...

Expedition of Francisco de Ulloa

In 1552

Pedro de Valdivia Pedro Gutiérrez de Valdivia or Valdiva (; April 17, 1497 – December 25, 1553) was a Spanish conquistador and the first royal governor of Chile. After serving with the Spanish army in Italy and Flanders, he was sent to South America in 1534, whe ...

, governor of Chile, decided to send an expedition of two ships of 50 ''toneles'' each under

to explore the southern coast of the country, including the strait of Magellan. The expedition took on supplies in the port of

Valdivia Valdivia (; Mapuche: Ainil) is a city and commune in southern Chile, administered by the Municipality of Valdivia. The city is named after its founder Pedro de Valdivia and is located at the confluence of the Calle-Calle, Valdivia, and Cau-Cau R ...

at the end of October 1553 and sailed along the west coast of the island of Chiloé and of the

Chonos Archipelago The Chonos Archipelago is a series of low, mountainous, elongated islands with deep bays, traces of a submerged Chilean Coast Range. Most of the islands are forested with little or no human settlement. The deep Moraleda Channel separates the isla ...

, and continued to the west of the channels of Patagonia, arriving 5 January 1554 at a bay (San Simeón or San Francisco). From there the expedition continued south, entering into the strait and travelling about 90 miles into it. Given the lateness of the season and a lack of supplies, de Ulloa decided to return north and did so, helped by a wind from the south that accompanied him. He dropped anchor at Valdivia in mid-February. On this expedition, Cortés Ojea acted as the

flotilla A flotilla (from Spanish, meaning a small ''flota'' (fleet) of ships), or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet. Composition A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same class ...

's mapmaker.

Expedition of captain Juan Ladrillero

In 1557, the new governor of Chile, Don

, ordered another expedition under the command of

. It consisted of two ships of 450 ''toneles'' each, with a crew of sixty men. The ''San Luis'' was commanded by Ladrillero himself and the other ship, the ''San Sebastián'', was placed under the command of Cortés Ojea. They equipped their vessels in

on 17 November 1557 and after sailing for eight days arrived at a bay they called Nuestra Señora del Valle, probably at the entrance of the

Fallos Channel ''Fallos Channel'' (Spanish: ''Canal Fallos'') is a waterway in the Aisen Region of Chile that runs north of Ladrillero Channel between the Little Wellington Island and Prat Island at the east and Campana Island at the west. It forms with the L ...

. There they made their first contact with the indigenous people of the region, the

Kawésqar The Kawésqar, also known as the Alacalufe, Kaweskar, Alacaluf or Halakwulup, are an indigenous people of South America, indigenous people who live in Chilean Patagonia, specifically in the Brunswick Peninsula, and Wellington Island, Wellington, ...

. Ladrillero had one of them come aboard as an interpreter for the remainder of the voyage. They set off again on 6 December and on the 9th the two ships were separated in a violent storm and lost one another. Cortés Ojea, on the ''San Sebastián'', travelled the channels and islands that form the archipelagos now known as

Madre de Dios Island Madre de Dios Island (Spanish: ''Isla Madre de Dios'', ) is an uninhabited island in the Magallanes Region, Chile. It is located west of the Trinidad Channel and Concepción Channel. Madre de Dios Island is composed partly of limestone and has ...

Mornington Island Mornington Island, also known as Kunhanhaa, is an island in the Gulf of Carpentaria in the Shire of Mornington (Queensland), Shire of Mornington, Queensland, Australia. It is the northernmost and largest of 22 islands that form the Wellesley I ...

and

Queen Adelaide Archipelago Queen Adelaide Archipelago ( es, Archipiélago Reina Adelaida) is an island group in Zona Austral, the extreme south of Chile. It belongs to the Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region. The major islands in the group are Pacheco Island, Contrer ...

. Short of supplies because most of the provisions had been on Ladrillero's ship, he reached the mouth of the strait but did not recognize it. On 23 January 1558 he and his crew decided to return to the north. They had reached the

latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...

of 52.5° south without finding the entrance to the strait, although they were very close. On 27 January they turned north, sailing up the Pacific hugging the coast, encountering many dangers due to bad weather. The ''San Sebastián'' was in very poor condition, taking on water everywhere, its sails unusable. Finally on 15 February a storm blew them into a sheltered bay, probably on an island west of

Wellington Island Wellington Island is an island west of Southern Patagonian Ice Field, Chile. It has an area of 5,556 km2 and most of the island forms part of Bernardo O'Higgins National Park Bernardo O'Higgins National Park () is the largest of the prot ...

. Cortés Ojea's crew began building a

brigantine A brigantine is a two-masted sailing vessel with a fully square-rigged foremast and at least two sails on the main mast: a square topsail and a gaff sail mainsail (behind the mast). The main mast is the second and taller of the two masts. Older ...

so they would be able to set sail again. Some crewmen disassembled the ''San Sebastian'' to salvage its planks and nails and felled trees to make masts and replace planks. Others fished to supply the crew with food. During their enforced stay the Spaniards were attacked by the

and had to hold them off with musket fire. After two months of work the ship was ready to take on supplies, but the moment wasn't right for taking to the high seas on this boat and they had to wait until July 25, 1558 to launch her. They used the sails and the oars to travel, stopping at night to rest. At the end of September they had reached the north of the Chiloé archipelago. They were already short of rations, but they met indigenous people, less warlike than the ones they had met further south, who supplied them with food, with which they were able to reach Valdivia on October 1, 1558. The return of Cortés Ojea struck the conquistadors as ominous. They had had no news of Juan Ladrillero. Having reached the latitude where the western mouth of the strait was supposed to be, Cortés Ojea had concluded that following some sort of cataclysm, an island must have blocked its entrance. For a time this hypothesis spread among the population, and the poet

Alonso de Ercilla Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga (7 August 153329 November 1594) was a Spanish soldier and poet, born in Madrid. While in Chile (1556–63) he fought against the Araucanians (Mapuche), and there he began the epic poem ''La Araucana'', considered one o ...

picked up this account in the first song of ''

La Araucana ''La Araucana'' (also known in English as ''The Araucaniad'') is a 16th-century epic poem in Spanish by Alonso de Ercilla, about the Spanish Conquest of Chile. It was considered the national epic of the Captaincy General of Chile and one of the ...

''. (Ercilla had left for

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

before Ladrillero returned and to tell his tale of exploring the strait).

Context

Expedition of Francisco de Ulloa

Expedition of captain Juan Ladrillero

See also

Bibliography

External links