three settlements - one at San Diego, a second at Monterey, and a third
on a site to be selected, about midway between the two, which was to be
called San Buenaventura. The two divisions of the land-force were under
the leadership of Captain Fernando Rivera y Moncada and Governor Portolà
respectively. The ships were to carry all the heavier portions of the
camp equipage, provisions, household goods, vestments and sacred
vessels; the land-parties were to take with them herds and flocks from
Loreto. The understanding was that whichever party first reached San
Diego was to wait there twenty days for the rest, and in the event of
their failure to arrive within that time, to push on to Monterey.

The sea-detachment of the general expedition - the "Seraphic and
Apostolic Squadron," as Palou calls it, was composed of three ships -
the San Carlos, the San Antonio, and the San Joseph. A list, fortunately
preserved, gives all the persons on board the San Carlos, a vessel of
about 200 tons only, and the flagship of Don Vicente Vila, the commander
of the marine division. They were as follows: - the commander himself; a
lieutenant in charge of a company of soldiers; a missionary; the
captain, pilot and surgeon; twenty-five soldiers; the officers and crew
of the ship, twenty-five in all; the baker, the cook and two assistants;
and two blacksmiths: total, sixty-two souls. An inventory shows that the
vessel was provisioned for eight months.

The San Carlos left La Paz on the 9th of January; the San Antonio on the
15th of February; the San Joseph on the 16th of June. All the vessels
met with heavy storms, and the San Carlos, being driven sadly out of her
route, did not reach San Diego till twenty days after the San Antonio,
though dispatched some five weeks earlier. We shudder to read that of
her crew but one sailor and the cook were left alive; the rest, along
with many of the soldiers, having succumbed to the scurvy. The San