Ten miles and 470 years later..... (Posted 7/22/09)

We recently decided to go on a mini-cruise to a harbor only ten miles away and 470 years into the past! We anchored in the cove that Hernando De Soto, the Spanish explorer, anchored his ships in and we went ashore in our dinghy on the beach where he landed. De Soto arrived there in May 1539 with 9 ships, an army of approximately 600 men and an additional 100 people (craftsmen, farmers, etc.) he picked up in Cuba, over 200 horses, a herd of pigs for food, and all of the supplies and weapons for his expedition to seek gold and explore "La Forida".

Over the next 4 years his army wandered some 4000 miles through what is now the southeastern United States. They went north through Florida, Georgia, South and North Carolina, then west through Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi to reach the Mississippi River. On the way they fought countless battles with the Indians, killing thousands and capturing hundreds who were forced to be porters and slaves. When they reached the Mississippi River, De Soto became ill with a fever and died. His second in command took over and after crossing the Mississippi, they headed into Arkansas and then tried to cross Texas to get to Mexico to reach a Spanish fort. The desert in Texas made them turn back and they retraced their route back to the Mississippi River. At that point half of the men and most of the horses had died of illness or been killed in battles with the Indians.

The remaining survivors built boats, killed the remaining horses for food and to lessen the load on the boats and floated down the Mississippi to reach the Gulf of Mexico, being harrassed by Indians all the way down the river. They then sailed the boats down the coast of Texas and Mexico to finally reach the Spanish colony/fort at the Panuco River on the Gulf of Mexico.

The expedition was a failure in that De Soto didn't find even one ounce of the fabled gold he sought and he did not establish any colonies or ports as the king of Spain had directed him to do. But it was the first exploration of what was to become the southeastern United States and several of the survivors wrote journals telling of the natural beauty and resources.

Here we are with the Spanish explorers! (GRIN)

Below is a photo of the beach were De Soto went ashore in Florida, marked by a cross.

While we were anchored in the cove, our friends Sharon and Frank Ruckle who keep their houseboat in a nearby marina came out to anchor near us. Sharon made us a fabulous pork tenderloin dinner and we had a great visit with them. Below is a photo of their boat "Celebre".



We stayed a total of 5 days in the harbor, collected shells, visited the De Soto National Memorial museum, and just relaxed.