Background
Panfilo de Narvaez was born about 1478 in Valladolid, Spain.
Panfilo de Narvaez was born about 1478 in Valladolid, Spain.
Entering upon the profession of arms at an early age, he had already acquired considerable reputation as a soldier when he went to the Indies during the early years of the sixteenth century. He served at first in Jamaica, but when Diego Vel zquez was sent to Cuba (then called Fernandina), Narváez, by special request, as he and Vel zquez were old friends, was transferred thither, together with his thirty specially trained archers. As chief captain of Vel zquez, he took an active and ruthless part in pacifying and settling Cuba. In recompense, he was granted several Indian towns and amassed considerable wealth.
He acted in a civil capacity as accountant and special agent (procurador), and in the latter capacity, together with Antonio Vel zquez, presented many petitions for the betterment of Cuba (1515 - 18), one being for better roads. In 1520, Vel zquez commissioned Narváez to seize or kill Cortés who was charged with disobedience and disloyalty in the conquest he had undertaken. Accordingly, on March 11, with title as captain-general of the Mexican conquest, thus superseding Cortés, he left Cuba with eighteen or nineteen vessels and a force numbering at least nine hundred Spaniards and some Indians--all well equipped. On May 23, however, he was defeated by Cortés, losing an eye in the encounter, besides being captured with all his men, most of whom were added to those of his rival. He was held prisoner until 1521, when he was freed by direct order of the council of the Indies.
In 1526, he obtained concessions granting titles of grand constable, governor, captain general, and adelantado to himself and his heirs and successors forever, with the right to make an expedition of conquest and settlement to Florida, the usual obligations, privileges, and exemptions being annexed. He left San Lúcar, Spain, on June 17, 1527, with five vessels and six hundred soldiers, colonists, and friars, with Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca as treasurer. One hundred and forty men deserted during the forty-five days he spent at Santo Domingo. Two vessels, sixty men, and twenty horses were lost in a hurricane along the Cuban coast. After wintering in Cuba, the expedition (now four hundred men and eighty horses) set sail on February 20, 1528, for Havana, but could not make that port, being held for a fortnight on a reef and then driven northward to Florida, reaching land on April 14, near Clement's Point on the small peninsula west of Tampa Bay and about five leagues from the mouth of the bay which they had missed. On April 16, possession of Florida was taken for the King, Narváez causing to be read aloud the long, absurd proclamation usual in such cases. A few explorations and forays among the sullen and hostile Indians netted little, except the crossing of the small peninsula and the discovery of the inner waters of Tampa Bay. Understanding that great riches abounded in the town of Apalache, Narváez, after dispatching his ships along the coast toward Mexico (against the advice of Cabeza de Vaca), on May 1, 1528, led a shore party of three hundred men northward. They never saw their ships again. Crossing the Withlacoochie and Suwanee rivers, they turned west and after great suffering reached Apalache (in the neighborhood of the present Tallahassee), only to find it a wretched village of forty huts, whose Indians were hostile. Twenty-five days later they turned south and in a nine days' march through swamps, lakes, and dense forests, ever pursued by the Indians, they reached the town of Auté, at about the present St. Marks. This marked the end of the expedition. Narváez and others fell sick. Their only hope now was to reach Mexico. With but one carpenter and without tools or materials, they contrived to build five crazy boats on one of the many bays of South Florida. The horses were killed and eaten and from their hides were fashioned bellows, water bottles, and other necessities. From their weapons, stirrups, and other appliances, they made tools and nails. On September 22, the two hundred and forty men left were divided among the boats and they set out along the coast, no person among them having a knowledge of navigation. The water bottles rotted and the men were assailed by thirst, hunger, storms, and sickness and death. For over a month they wandered about the gulf, finding but little comfort among the few Indians they saw. Three of the boats were wrecked or foundered at sea.
Finally at a place probably near Matagorda Bay, toward the end of October or during the first few days in November 1528, Narváez was swept out to sea by a sudden storm that came up during the night. He had remained alone on his boat with the coxswain and a boy, all the others having gone ashore. He was never heard of again.
In Cuba he married a widow, María de Valenzuela.
