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In 1592, Juan de Fuca's second voyage, he enjoyed success. Having sailed north with a caravel (a small, fast Spanish ship), a pinnace (a small boat with sails or oars), and a few armed marines, he returned to Acapulco and claimed to have found the strait, with a large island at its mouth. He also claimed that it was at around 47° north, when in reality it's actually around 48° north. Fuca's account of sailing into the strait stretches the truth of what is actually there. One thing that was real, though, is a "high pinnacle or spired rock" that he noted during his voyage. This may have been the Fuca Pillar. The Fuca Pillar is a tall, almost rectangular, rock on the western shore of Cape Flattery on the northwestern tip of Washington, which is beside the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Even so, de Fuca noted it being located on the other side of the strait.
Juan de Fuca had been promised great rewards when he had successfully found the fabled strait of Anián, but never received them upon his return. After two years, upon the viceroy's urging, Juan de Fuca travelled to Spain to make his case to the court in person. Without success, and disgusted with the Spanish, the aging Greek was determined to give up his work and return to his home in Celafonia. In 1596, though, he was convinced by an Englishman Michael Lok (also spelled Locke in English) to offer his services to Spain's archenemy, Queen Elizabeth. Nothing became of their scheming, but it's through Locke's account that the story of de Fuca was written down.
The Fuca Pillar (above) is at Cape Flattery, Washington, and is beside the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Since the only evidence of Juan de Fuca's voyages was written down by Locke, and researchers are unable to find records of the expedition in Spanish colonial archives, there was a fair amount of controversy over his discovery, and whether or not he had really even existed as an actual person. In fact, several scholars have dismissed de Fuca as entirely fictional! Not only that, 18th-century British explorer Captain Cook highly doubted that the strait de Fuca had "discovered" even existed. Strangely enough, Cook had actually sailed past the Strait of Juan de Fuca without entering it, and stopped at Nootka Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Suspicions of his discovery vanished, though, after further exploration and settlement by the English. Finally, in 1859, an American researcher, with the help of the U.S. Consul in the Ionian Islands, was able to show that not only had de Fuca lived, but that his family and history were well known on the islands. It is still unknown, though, whether or not Locke had been telling the truth about Juan de Fuca's travels.
Juan de Fuca was born on the Ionian Island of Celafonia in 1536. He died there in 1602. In the service of the King of Spain, Phillip II, he was a Greek-born maritime pilot. He is best known for his claim to have explored the Strait of Anián, which is now known as the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It was renamed this when the British explorer Captain Charles Barkley found the strait after Juan de Fuca had, and named it after him. The strait is between Vancouver Island (which is now a part of British Columbia, Canada) and the Olympic Peninsula (northwestern Washington State, United States).
Juan de Fuca is obviously a Spanish translation of Ioánnis Phokás, but some sources state that his real name was Apóstolos Valeriános. It's possible that Phokás was baptized Apóstolos, and later adopted the name Ioánnis/Juan (John), because Apóstolos isn't commonly used as a name in Spanish. Phokás/Fuca was the family name given by the seafarer's father and grandfather.
There are three main things that are named after this explorer. The first, and most important, would probably be the strait I have mentioned several times before. When the English captain Charles William Barkley, who was sailing the Imperial Eagle in 1787 at the time, rediscovered the strait de Fuca had described, he renamed it the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Secondly, a tectonic plate was named after de Fuca as well. This plate was underlying much of the coastline Juan de Fuca had explored. Lastly, there is a provincial park named after this Greek explorer. The Juan de Fuca Provincial Park on Vancouver Island's West Coast has a hiking trail of the same name.
According to de Fuca's account, he undertook two voyages of exploration on the orders of the Viceroy of New Spain and Luis de Velasco, who both intended to find the fabled Strait of Anián, which was believed to be the Northwest passage. They thought that it was a sea route linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The first voyage had 200 soldiers and 3 small ships under the overall command of a Spanish captain, with de Fuca as the pilot and master. They were assigned the task of finding the Strait of Anián and fortifying it against the English. This task failed to succeed. This was due to the captain's wrongdoing, and the soldiers refused to obey the captain's orders and returned to California.
The Juan de Fuca trail in the Juan de Fuca Provincial Park
De Fuca's early voyages were to the Far East, and in 1587 he claimed to have arrived in New Spain when, off Cabo San Lucas in Baja California, the English privateer Thomas Cavendish seized his galleon (Santa Ana) and left him on shore. De Fuca claimed that he was a well-travelled seaman, and had perfected his skill as a pilot in the Spanish fleet. He also claimed that the King of Spain had recognized him for his excellence and made him pilot of the Spanish navy in the West Indies. He held this title for 40 years. Saying that, there is no record in Spanish Archives of his name or position, or of his visit to the royal court. Before he made his famous trip up the northwest coast of the North American continent, he sailed to China, the Phillippines, and Mexico. When Captain Charles Barkley had found the strait de Fuca had visited before him, he named it after Juan de Fuca because it was at the same latitude that Juan de Fuca described as the location of the Strait of Anian.