Penthesilea's Wish [Vol.1]

Chapter Ninteen

At that early hour the two men entered the hotel dinning room where coffee and cinnamon rolls were available with fruit and juices. They loaded their trays copiously and sat across from one another. Professor Simons was the first to re-engage their speculations about sixteenth century explorers from the night before.

"So for now, my distracted young colleague. . . shall we eliminate the lumbering Spanish galleons from our list of tomb builders? Simply on the grounds that they passed by the Bixby site too far out to sea? Never wishing to wreck their cargos?"

Nicasio reluctantly smiled. He thought for a moment. The challenge at hand-that of testing his knowledge of the voyagers who had come in on that a first wave of exploration to California's coast, was intoxicating. And it quickly put Daniela out of his mind. It would be a stimulating exercise with his professor he surmised, and one he did not want to miss.

"Yes, I suppose . . . Why? Do you have any candidates on that Manila route?"

"Well what about Cermeno?"

Nicasio thought for a moment. Was his professor testing him?

"OK. He's one of the earliest Spaniards to sail to the west coast . . . granted. Made history just after Manila was opened to New Spain for trade. But . . . no, professor it couldn't have been him."

"Why not, young man? Cermeno's return route was ordered specifically from Madrid to be close-hauled to the land. Right? To parallel the coast all the way south to Mexico."

Nicasio took a long drink of his orange juice preparing for his answer.

Yes. And as you said last night . . .this was something they later learned not to do. But, sir, the tholos stones couldn't have been ferried to the cliff site during Cermeno's voyage. Impossible."

"And why is that?"

Now Nicasio was certain his former teacher was testing him.

"Because even though Cermeno had taken instructions from the Viceroy in Mexico . . . and most likely originally from Madrid to make his route closer to the coast . . . disaster hit him and his crew."

"Go on . . ."

"Well, as you know, he had been commissioned to search for a lay-over port. For future Manila galleon voyages. There was always a critical need to refresh the crews and repair the ships on that long, circular route to Mexico."

"That's correct. There are credible records that Cermeno's secondary mission was for the purpose of exploration. It was an 'add-on' to his commercial venture."

"And probably very well-commissioned, by the way."

Nicasio took a sip now of his hot coffee. He was confident about his contribution to the discussion.

"Dr. Simons, I read the original Spanish logs of Cermeno's route and the fate of his voyage during my research for the work on Drake last year."

"Alright. So you tell me why we shouldn't consider him. Why it wasn't him and his crew who. . . on some secret mission . . . couldn't have placed those stones on the cliff in Big Sur? He passed near enough the area according to the records."

"Well, yes. That's true. And his dates do work out for us. But it would have been impossible, sir. In 1595 his ships, the San Augustine and San Buenaventura approached the California coast from Manila on a northeastern run with a fully loaded galleon. They carried Chinese earthen ware, lacquered furniture and treasured Manila spices. It was clearly above the 40th latitude when he sighted land and navigated toward it. The Spanish log says so."