Panfilo de Narváez’s Florida-bound expedition of conquest,…
October 1527 CE
Panfilo de Narváez’s Florida-bound expedition of conquest, lightened to four hundred and sixty members by the desertions in Santo Domingo, had arrived in Santiago in late September.
As Cuba is the home of Narváez and his family, he has many contacts through whom he can collect more supplies, horses, and men.
After meeting with his wealthy friend Vasco Porcallo, Narváez sends part of the fleet to Trinidad to collect horses and other supplies from his friend's estate.
Narváez puts Cabeza de Vaca and a captain named Pantoja in charge of two ships sent to Trinidad, while he takes the other four ships to the Gulf of Guacanayabo.
On about October 30, the two ships arrive in Trinidad to collect requisitioned supplies and seek additional crew.
A hurricane arrives shortly after they do.
In the storm, both ships sink, sixty men are killed, a fifth of the horses drown, and all the new supplies acquired in Trinidad are destroyed.