The Sea of Cortez should by rights be called the Sea of Ulloa. Cortez only made it to La Paz. Ulloa, commander of a three ship flotilla that was
financed by Cortez, sailed right up the uncharted Sea, discovered the port of Guaymas, continued all the way to the Colorado River, thus proving that
Baja was not an island, and then for good measure returned south, rounded Cabo San Lucas, and sailed the tumultuous waters waters of the Pacific Ocean
halfway to Alta California. There, the second out of three ships was sunk, but the last ship afloat made it back to Acapulco. Ulloa's voyage set the
stage for the more famous Cabrillo, who made it to Alta California two years later, in 1542.
Ullo does not seem to have been given much credit for his amazing accomplishment at the time. Baja continued to be thought of as an Island for the
next century, despite Ulloa having proven that it was not. This was perhaps due to his untimely death, the circumstances of which are disputed.
Martinez, in A History of Lower California, wrote that Ulloa went down with his ship along with all hands in the Pacific, with only her sister ship
left to make it back to the mainland to tell the tale. Morrison, in The Southern Voyages, wrote that he made it back to Acapulco. This is quite a
significant disagreement on the fate of this historical figure. Bernal Diaz del Castillo, a soldier that fought with Cortez during the conquest,
wrote that Ulloa was stabbed to death in 1540, which would indicate he did make it back to Acapulco, where his death was witnessed, rather than
drowning somewhere in the Pacific. At any rate, history was not to favor Ulloa with the name of the Sea he discovered. As usual, the jefe got all
the credit.
And let's face it, Ulloa is just too darn hard to pronounce. I mean, how do you even say that?
Eew Yo Aah, I guess.
It sounds like throwing up.
Ulloa!
Jens Tobias
[Edited on 9-12-2020 by bajaric]motoged - 8-31-2020 at 11:46 AM
Why you naming it in English?
It already has 3 names,...
Mar Bermejo
Mar de Cortes
Golfo de California
Perhaps there was also an Aztec or indigenous name too...
del mar - 8-31-2020 at 12:34 PM
don't forget "vermilion sea"
Francisco de Ulloa
John M - 8-31-2020 at 12:41 PM
bajaric -
Ulloa's diary was published, and is online, in the California Historical Society's Quarterly, December 1924 - V-III, No 4 The title of the article is:
The Voyage of Francisco de Ulloa - there are 5 maps at the end of the lengthy article/diary - plus lots of footnotes.
Also surprising to me is that Ulloa is not mentioned at all in any of the 51 volumes of the Baja California Travel Series (at least he is not in the
index).
Ellen Barrett's Baja bibliography "Baja California 1535-1956" has a few mentions.
Also in John Francis Bannon's The Spanish Borderlands Frontier pp 25 is this: "When excitement over Cibola was rife in New Spain, Cortes had sent his
man, Francisco de Ulloa, up the coast to scout the north - Cortes in those days was preparing to use his rights to explore at will and to become the
conqueror of the Seven Cities. Ulloa, in 1539, sailed to the head of the Gulf of California and proceeding up the Pacific side to a point about 30
degrees latitude, thereby proving California to be a peninsula"
However you say his name, he is an interesting guy.
John MDavid K - 8-31-2020 at 02:08 PM
Ed Vernon begins his wonderful book with the story of Ulloa...
TMW - 8-31-2020 at 03:49 PM
Wouldn't you love to be on a ship like that in the ocean with nothing but water everywhere you look.motoged - 8-31-2020 at 03:53 PM
Wouldn't you love to be on a ship like that in the ocean with nothing but water everywhere you look.
As long as I'm not on the 2 ships that sank out of 3.
JohnBajaTed - 9-12-2020 at 02:52 PM
I have a length of civil war era chain that was used on a Colorado river steamship that traveled to & fro from the gulf delta.
There was a regular trade route from San Francisco to the gulf delta prior to the continental train. Most AZ mining equipment used this transport
route.
Aztec realm: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztecs