Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo

Timeline

1. c. 1519–1541Around Santiago de Guatemala · GuatemalaHe went to the Caribbean in his youth, later joined Cortés's conquest of Mexico, and marched with his troops into Oaxaca. Thereafter he ran gold mines and encomiendas in Guatemala, becoming one of the wealthiest conquistadors there and building his own ships. In 1540–1541 his fleet originally belonged to Pedro de Alvarado's Pacific plan; after Alvarado's death Governor Mendoza reorganized it and Cabrillo was ordered to explore northward.
2. 1542San Diego Bay · CaliforniaOn June 27, 1542, he sailed from the port of Navidad with three ships including his flagship San Salvador, heading north along Baja California. On September 28 he entered a fine enclosed harbor he named San Miguel (today's San Diego Bay), becoming the first European commander recorded to have sailed along today's U.S. West Coast. The fleet continued north, recording the Channel Islands and Chumash villages along the coast, reaching perhaps Point Pine, Point Reyes or even farther before turning back due to storms, wintering at Santa Catalina Island in November.
3. 1542–1543San Miguel Island · Channel IslandsAround Christmas, Cabrillo fell while rescuing men attacked by islanders, fracturing his shin, which became gangrenous; he died on January 3, 1543. His second-in-command Bartolomé Ferrelo continued north, and the fleet returned to Navidad on April 14, 1543. The original notarized report is lost; what survives rests mainly on Urdaneta's summary and Herrera's seventeenth-century histories.