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SEARCHING FOR LA SALLE
Spanish authorities had learned of La Salle’s
mission in late 1685 and were justifiably
alarmed. Expeditions were sent to eliminate
the threat. It would not be an easy task. So lit-
tle attention had been paid to the region
since the early expeditions of Alonso
Alvaredo de Pineda, Hernando de Soto, and
others that even if the French force had
landed near the Mississippi as planned,
Spanish authorities had no way of estimating
La Salle’s location. Their panic would, ironi-
cally, contribute more to geographical
knowledge about the Gulf Coast than the
previous 150 years combined.
Maritime searches were dispatched from
Cuba and Mexico. Navigators Juan Enríquez
Barroto and Antonio Romero (1686) were
slowed by a ship too large for coastal recon-
naissance, but collected important informa-
tion while exploring westward from Florida.
They missed the mouth of the Mississippi,
which lay disguised by floating vegetation and
silt (in fact, they named the area Cabo de lodo,
“Cape of Mud”). Later that year, Enríquez Bar-
roto and Romero piloted a return expedition in
two specially built ships called piraguas,whose(^142) B Discovery of the Americas, 1492–1800
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