Francisco de Ulloa

Died 1540. It is not known when he came to Mexico nor if he accompanied Hernan Cortés in his first expedition to California. Authorities are divided upon these questions. Díaz del Castillo relates that during the absence of Cortés, his wife, Doña Juana de Zuñiga (Juñeja), sent letters to him by Ulloa, begging him to return. Ulloa, in charge of two ships loaded with provisions, reached Cortés when he was sorely straitened, and he returned to Mexico in 1537. Ulloa soon followed. Eager for new discoveries, Cortés undertook an expedition at his own expense in 1538, dispatching a fleet of three boats under the command of Francisco de Ulloa. According to Clavigero, Ulloa sailed along the coasts of the California peninsula until he was obliged by the scarcity of provisions to return to New Spains, where, in 1540, according to Díaz del Castillo , he was stabbed by a soldier and killed. Other historians relate, however, that of the three boats which sailed from the port of Acapulco the "S. Tomás" was soon lost; the "S. Agueda" was obliged to seek port in Manzanillo to repair damages, was afterwards driven by a tempest to the shores of Culiacan, where it joined the "Trinidad," returning shortly with the discontented members of the expedition, and the ship "Trinidad," under command of Ulloa, was lost, no trace having been found of her.

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