Francisco de Hoces (died 1526) was a Spanish sailor who in 1525 joined the Loaísa Expedition to the

Spice Islands 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 are ...

as commander of the vessel ''San Lesmes''. In January 1526, the ''San Lesmes'' was blown by a gale southwards from the eastern mouth of 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 ...

to 56º S latitude, where the crew "thought they saw a land’s end". This is commonly understood as that they saw open waters westward away from a point of land that could be the southeasternmost tip of either

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of the Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main island, Isla ...

Isla de los Estados Isla de los Estados (English: Staten Island, from the Dutch ''Stateneiland'') is an Argentine island that lies off the eastern extremity of Tierra del Fuego, from which it is separated by the Le Maire Strait. It was named after the Netherlands ...

. In either case, they supposedly had seen an open water connection between Atlantic and Pacific Oceans south of Tierra del Fuego, so they preceded

Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake ( – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician. Drake is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580 ...

in inferring the existence of such a connection. This is the reason some Spanish, Argentine, and Chilean historians maintain that

Drake Passage The Drake Passage (referred to as Mar de Hoces Hoces Sea"in Spanish-speaking countries) is the body of water between South America's Cape Horn, Chile and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It connects the southwestern part of the Atla ...

should be named ''Mar de Hoces''.

Disappearance and aftermath

After the Loaisa Expedition reached the Pacific through the Strait of Magellan, the whole fleet was dispersed by another gale, and the ''San Lesmes'' was seen for the last time in late May 1526. The final fate of ''San Lesmes'' has been the subject of much speculation, based in some 16th-century European traces later found in different places around the

South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, which suggest she could have reached

Easter Island Easter Island ( rap, Rapa Nui; es, Isla de Pascua) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its nearl ...

, any of the Polynesian archipelagos, or even

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

. Any of these cases would represent the first European landing in the

Polynesian Triangle The Polynesian Triangle is a region of the Pacific Ocean with three island groups at its corners: Hawai‘i, Easter Island (''Rapa Nui'') and New Zealand (Aotearoa). It is often used as a simple way to define Polynesia. Outside the triangle, th ...

, preceding confirmed European landings in this region by several decades. Australian writer Robert Langdon has been the most prominent supporter of these theories in his books ''The Lost Caravel'' and ''The Lost Caravel Re-explored''. Following Robert Langdon's death, his theory has since been used as the basis for Greg Scowen's conspiracy thriller '' The Spanish Helmet'', which features de Hoces as one of the main characters.

Bibliography

*ANALES DE DERECHO. Universidad de Murcia. Número 21. 2003. Págs.217–237 *Landín Carrasco, Amancio. ''España en el mar. Padrón de descubridores''. Madrid: Editorial Naval *Oyarzun, Javier. ''Expediciones españolas al Estrecho de Magallanes y Tierra de Fuego''. Madrid: Ediciones Cultura Hispánica . *Langdon, Robert. ''The lost caravel re-explored''. Canberra: Brolga Press *Scowen, Greg. ''The Spanish Helmet''. Whare Rama Books

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoces, Francisco de 1526 deaths 1520s missing person cases 16th-century Spanish people 16th-century explorers Lost explorers Spanish explorers of South America Spanish explorers of the Pacific Spanish sailors People lost at sea Year of birth unknown

Disappearance and aftermath

See also

Bibliography

References