![[STRAITS OF MAGELLAN]. [DUKE OF MEDINA SIDONIA]. Manuscript document, unsigned, in a secretarial hand, Gibraltar, 23 November 1581. Instructions to General Diego Flores de Valdes, for an expedition to Brazil and the Straits of Magellan. 2 pages, folio, in a cloth folding case.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2007/NYR/2007_NYR_01820_0486_000(015323).jpg?w=1)
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[STRAITS OF MAGELLAN]. [DUKE OF MEDINA SIDONIA]. Manuscript document, unsigned, in a secretarial hand, Gibraltar, 23 November 1581. Instructions to General Diego Flores de Valdes, for an expedition to Brazil and the Straits of Magellan. 2 pages, folio, in a cloth folding case.
DUKE MEDINA SIDONIA ORDERS FLORES TO RESUME HIS "DIFFICULT AND DANGEROUS VOYAGE" TO THE STRAITS OF MAGELLAN. Medina Sidonia wanted General Diego Flores to establish a colony to protect the Straits of Magellan against English encroachment. The armada set sail in September and was six weeks at sea before heavy storms damaged several vessels and killed 800 people, forcing Flores to limp back to Cadiz for repairs. There he received this order. Flores is told to move his 23 ships at "the first favorable wind" between the 26th of the month or the 5th of December in spite of the "difficulty and danger" of such a winter crossing. The expedition comprised some 23 ships, a 600-man Chilean force under Alfonzo Sotomayor (mentioned in this order), and several hundred women and children to be used to populate the new colony. He set to sea again on 9 December, reaching Rio de Janeiro on 24 March 1582. There he lingered, allowing his armada to dissipate, as ships wandered off on separate military or trading actions, and crew members bartered and sold crucial supplies. A fed up Sotomayor returned with his 600 troops to Chile. Not until February 1583 did Flores reach the Straits, but the rough currents stemmed his advance. He returned to Brazil, where he successfully attacked five French ships. The idea for a colony at the Straits was abandoned. Flores returned to Spain in May with enough of his reputation intact to survive as a Court favorite--and to go on to serve as Medina Sidonia's assistant in 1588.
DUKE MEDINA SIDONIA ORDERS FLORES TO RESUME HIS "DIFFICULT AND DANGEROUS VOYAGE" TO THE STRAITS OF MAGELLAN. Medina Sidonia wanted General Diego Flores to establish a colony to protect the Straits of Magellan against English encroachment. The armada set sail in September and was six weeks at sea before heavy storms damaged several vessels and killed 800 people, forcing Flores to limp back to Cadiz for repairs. There he received this order. Flores is told to move his 23 ships at "the first favorable wind" between the 26th of the month or the 5th of December in spite of the "difficulty and danger" of such a winter crossing. The expedition comprised some 23 ships, a 600-man Chilean force under Alfonzo Sotomayor (mentioned in this order), and several hundred women and children to be used to populate the new colony. He set to sea again on 9 December, reaching Rio de Janeiro on 24 March 1582. There he lingered, allowing his armada to dissipate, as ships wandered off on separate military or trading actions, and crew members bartered and sold crucial supplies. A fed up Sotomayor returned with his 600 troops to Chile. Not until February 1583 did Flores reach the Straits, but the rough currents stemmed his advance. He returned to Brazil, where he successfully attacked five French ships. The idea for a colony at the Straits was abandoned. Flores returned to Spain in May with enough of his reputation intact to survive as a Court favorite--and to go on to serve as Medina Sidonia's assistant in 1588.