from being blockaded by the Mexican Navy. On September 18, 1840, Moore received orders to guard the Yucatán coast in conformity with the Texas-Yucatán Treaty and on December 13, 1840, left Galveston, Texas, with three ships to join the small Yucatán fleet at Sisal, Yucatán, under the command of former Texas Navy officer Captain James D. Boylan. Moore later captured the town of San Juan Bautista, Tabasco, and then surveyed the Texas coast. His chart was later published by the British Admiralty. Invasion of Tabasco In September 1840, Moore invaded the Mexican state of Tabasco in support to the Tabasco federalist forces, collaborating in the overthrow of the centralist governor José Ignacio Gutierrez, capturing the state capital San Juan Bautista on November 17, 1840. Subsequently, and due to a disagreement with the new federalist government, for the lack of a payment of $25,000 Mexican pesos promised to Moore, on December 14, 1840, he bombarded the capital again, until he reached a new agreement with the government of Tabasco for the payment of the debt. President Sam Houston Upon becoming President of the Republic of Texas, Sam Houston suspended the treaty with the Yucatán and ordered the fleet to return to Texas. Houston was not a big supporter of the Texas Navy. When funds for naval repairs, approved by the Texas Congress, were withheld by Houston, Moore reinstated the treaty with the Yucatán in defiance of Houston's orders. Moore and two other Texas ships, along with a few from the Yucatán navy, engaged the Mexican fleet in May 1843 in the Battle of Campeche. Mexico's naval fleet consisted of the British-built ironclad steam-powered warship the Guadalupe and was the most advanced fleet ever assembled in the Gulf of Mexico at that time. Their battle was determined a draw, though Mexico suffered high casualties. The Mexican government even coined a medal of bravery for their sailors. Mexican Commodore Francisco de Paula Lopez, a naval veteran, was recalled for his failure to defeat a smaller and out-gunned force, and was court-martialed. End of career On January 16, 1843, the Texas Congress ordered the sale of the Texas fleet. On June 1, 1843, Moore and the fleet had received Houston's proclamation accusing them of disobedience and piracy and suspending Moore from the Texas Navy. Houston even went so far as to ask for any friendly nation to capture and execute the Texas fleet. Moore