The March of Portola and the Discovery of the Bay of San Francisco | Page 8

Compact of the Bourbon princes of France, Spain, and Italy had
aroused the ire of Pitt, then at the zenith of his fame, and he resolved to
demand an explanation from Spain, and, failing to receive it, attack her
at home and abroad before she was prepared, declaring that it was time
for humbling the whole house of Bourbon. A check in the cabinet
caused Pitt's resignation, but in 1766 he was again restored to power
with vigor and arrogance unabated.
On February 27, 1767, Don Carlos III of Spain issued his famous
decree expelling the Jesuits from the Spanish dominions. This society

had established a number of missions in Lower California, and Don
Gaspar de Portolá, a captain of dragoons of the Regiment of Spain, was
appointed governor of the Californias and sailed from Tepic with
twenty-five dragoons, twenty-five infantry, and fourteen Franciscan
friars to dispossess the Jesuits and turn the California missions over to
the Franciscans.
The king having been warned of the advance of the Russians upon the
northern coasts of California, ordered the viceroy of New Spain to take
effective measures to guard that part of his dominions from danger of
invasion and insult. While the viceroy was casting about to find a
person of sufficient importance and ability to organize and carry out so
great an undertaking, Don José de Galvez, visitador-general of the
kingdom and member of the Council of the Indies, offered his services
and volunteered to go to Lower California and effect the organization
and equipment of the expedition. His services were eagerly accepted,
and Galvez set out from the City of Mexico, April 9, 1768, for San Blas,
on the coast of New Galicia. Before arriving at that port, he was
overtaken by a courier from the viceroy bringing orders just received
from the court directing that a maritime expedition should be at once
dispatched to Monterey and that port fortified. Convening the Junta at
San Blas on the 16th of May, 1768, the señor visitador laid before them
the situation and the wishes of the king. He stated that on the exterior
or occidental coasts of the Californias, Spain claimed from Cape San
Lucas on the south to the Rio de los Reyes[7] in 43 degrees, though the
only portion occupied was from Cape San Lucas up to 30° 30'.[8] The
civilized or Christian portion of the community (gente de razon -
people of reason) did not, he said, number more than four hundred
souls, including the families of the soldiers of the garrison of Loreto
and those of the miners in the south; that if foreigners of any nation
were to establish themselves in the celebrated ports of San Diego and
Monterey, they might fortify themselves there before the government
could receive notice of it. In all the Sea of the South that washes the
shores of New Spain there were no other vessels than the two
packet-boats recently built in San Blas, the San Carlos and the San
Antonio, and two others of small tonnage which served the Jesuit
missionaries in their communications between California and the coast
of Sonora. In these few ships consisted all the maritime forces which

could have been opposed to foreign invasion. All this Galvez laid
before the Junta, there being present the commandant of the department
and the army officers and pilots who chanced to be there. It was
resolved to send an expedition by sea in the San Carlos and San
Antonio, and orders were made to prepare the ships, while Galvez
proceeded to the peninsula to attend to the gathering of supplies and
provisions. All the missions of Lower California were laid under
contribution of vestments and sacred vessels for the new missions to be
established, also dried fruits, wine, oil, riding horses and mule herd; for
Galvez had decided to supplement the maritime expedition by one by
land, lest the infinite risks and dangers attending a long sea-voyage
should render the attempt abortive. The governor, Don Gaspar de
Portolá, volunteered to lead the expedition, and he was named
commander-in-chief. Don Fernando de Rivera y Moncado, captain of
the presidio of Loreto, was appointed second in command. The troops
were composed of forty cavalrymen from the presidio of Loreto in
Lower California, under Rivera, and twenty-five infantrymen of the
compania franca of Catalonia, under Lieutenant Don Pedro Fages. To
the presidial troops were joined thirty Christian Indians from the
missions, armed with bows and arrows. These were intended for the
land expedition. The mission of Santa Maria, the northernmost mission
on the peninsula, was the rendezvous of the land forces, and from
Loreto four lighters loaded with provisions for the land expedition were
sent up the gulf to the bay of San Luis Gonzaga, the nearest point to the
mission of Santa