Juan de Fuca (1536-1602)

 Ioannis Fokas was born on the Greek island of Kefallonia in 1536.  He died there in 1602.  There is no known portrait of him and little is known of the details of his life.  There is some evidence that he sailed to the Far East in his youth.  In about 1555, he entered the employ of the Kingdom of Spain.  By 1587, he was serving as a master mariner for the Viceroy of New Spain, sailing in the Pacific Ocean out of the Port of Acapulco.  In that year, the English privateer Thomas Cavendish seized his galleon Santa Ana, but gallantly allowed him to come ashore rather than walk the plank.  In 1591, the Viceroy commissioned a three-ship expedition to find the western (Pacific) end of the fabled Northwest Passage (also referred to as the Strait of Anián).  Juan de Fuca served as the pilot for the expedition and master of one of the ships, but overall command was given to a Spanish conquistador.  The expedition failed.  The second voyage, in 1592, was smaller (only two ships) and Juan de Fuca was placed in command.  When he returned to Acapulco some months later, he claimed to have discovered the Strait of Anián at about 47° North latitude.  He reported that there was a large island at its mouth.  Juan de Fuca stated that he spent 20 days exploring the many islands in the strait, which he described as fertile and richly endowed with gold, silver, pearls, and other things.  Further exploration was deterred by the savagery of the local inhabitants.  The Viceroy did not provide Juan de Fuca the promised rewards for discovery of the Strait of Anián.  Juan de Fuca eventually retired to his home island, in obscurity.  In 1787, Captain Charles Barkley, on the British ship Imperial Eagle, rediscovered the strait at 48°30’ North and named it for the Greek/Spanish explorer.