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William Henry Hudson - The Famous Missions of California
preserved, gives all the persons on board the San Carlos, a vessel of about 200 tons only, and the flagship
of Don Vicente Vila, the commander of the marine division. They were as follows: - the commander
himself; a lieutenant in charge of a company of soldiers; a missionary; the captain, pilot and surgeon;
twenty-five soldiers; the officers and crew of the ship, twenty-five in all; the baker, the cook and two
assistants; and two blacksmiths: total, sixty-two souls. An inventory shows that the vessel was
provisioned for eight months.
The San Carlos left La Paz on the 9th of January; the San Antonio on the 15th of February; the San
Joseph on the 16th of June. All the vessels met with heavy storms, and the San Carlos, being driven sadly
out of her route, did not reach San Diego till twenty days after the San Antonio, though dispatched some
five weeks earlier. We shudder to read that of her crew but one sailor and the cook were left alive; the
rest, along with many of the soldiers, having succumbed to the scurvy. The San Antonio also lost eight of
her crew from the same dreadful disease. These little details serve better than any general description to
give us an idea of the horrible conditions of Spanish seamanship in the middle of the eighteenth century.
As for the San Joseph, she never reached her destination at all, though where and how she met her fate
remains one of the dark mysteries of the ocean. Two small points in connection with her loss are perhaps
sufficiently curious to merit notice. In the first place, she was the only one of the ships that had no
missionary on board; and secondly, she was called after the very saint who had been named special
patron of the entire undertaking.
The original plan, as we have seen, had been that Father Junipero should accompany the governor in the
second division of the land-expedition; but this, when the day fixed for departure came, was found to be
quite impossible owing to the ulcerous sore on his leg, which had been much aggravated by the exertions
of his recent hurried journey from Loreto to La Paz and back. Greatly chafing under the delay, he was
none the less obliged to postpone his start for several weeks. At length, on the 28th of March, in
company with two soldiers and a servant, he mounted his mule and set out. The event showed that he had
been guilty of undue haste, for he suffered terribly on the rough way, and on reaching San Xavier,
whither he went to turn over the management of the Lower California missions to Palou, who was then
settled there, his condition was such that his friend implored him to remain behind, and allow him
(Palou) to go forward in his stead. But of this Junipero would not hear, for he regarded himself as
specially chosen and called by God for the work to which he stood, body and soul, committed. "Let us
speak no more of this," he said. "I have placed all my faith in God, through whose goodness I hope to
reach not only San Diego, to plant and fix there the standard of the Holy Cross, but even as far as
Monterey." And Palou, seeing that Junipero was not to be turned aside, wisely began to talk of other
things.
After three days devoted to business connected with the missions of the lower province, the indomitable
father determined to continue his journey, notwithstanding the fact that, still totally unable to move his
leg, he had to be lifted by two men into the saddle. We may imagine that poor Palou found it hard
enough to answer his friend's cheery farewells, and watched him with sickness of heart as he rode slowly
away. It seemed little likely indeed that they would ever meet again on this side of the grave. But
Junipero's courage never gave out. Partly for rest and partly for conference with those in charge, he
lingered awhile at the missions along the way; but, nevertheless, presently came up with Portolà and his
detachment, with whom he proceeded to Villacatà. Here during a temporary halt, he founded a mission
which was dedicated to San Fernando, King of Castile and Leon. But the worst experiences of the
journey were still in store. For when the party was ready to move forward again towards San Diego,
which, as time was fast running on, the commander was anxious to reach with the least possible delay, it
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