Francisco de Hoces

Francisco de Hoces († probably 1526 in the Pacific ) was a Spanish navigator . He is considered to be the alleged discoverer of Drake Street .

In 1525 Hoces took part in the García Jofre de Loaísas expedition , which aimed to discover a sea route to the Spice Islands via the Atlantic and Pacific by circling the southern tip of South America .

Hoces commanded the San Lesmes , which in January 1526 was caught by southerly winds when the Strait of Magellan entered the east and was carried away. Hoces is said to have seen the end of the country and open waters at 56 ° S.

Maritime historians believe that the point described by Hoces was either Cape San Diego (the southeasternmost point of Tierra del Fuego ) or Cape San Juan (on Isla de los Estados ). In both cases, however, Hoces would have reached the waterway between the Pacific and Atlantic (today's Drake Passage, which Francis Drake only discovered in 1578 and which Willem Schouten did not navigate until 1616). For this reason, the Drake Passage is also referred to as Mar de Hoces in Spanish, Chilean, and Argentine sources .

After Loaísa's ships had reached the Pacific, the San Lesmes was finally separated from the association in May 1526. Since then, there has been no trace of the caravel . The fate of Hoces and his crew has been the basis of numerous speculations since then. These are based on European traces in the South Pacific , which are dated to the 16th century. For example, it has been speculated that Hoces could have reached Easter Island , Polynesia or even New Zealand and thus discovered this region centuries before the following South Seas travelers.

literature

• Landín Carrasco, Amancio. España en el mar. Padrón de descubridores . Madrid: Editorial Naval ISBN 84-7341-078-5 .
• Oyarzun, Javier. Expediciones españolas al Estrecho de Magallanes y Tierra de Fuego . Madrid: Ediciones Cultura Hispánica ISBN 84-7232-130-4 .
• Langdon, Robert. The lost caravel re-explored . Canberra: Brolga Press ISBN 0-9588309-1-6 .