Ángel de Villafañe (b. c. 1504) was a Spanish conquistador of Florida, Mexico, and Guatemala, and was an explorer, expedition leader, and ship captain (with Hernán Cortés), who worked with many 16th-century settlements and shipwrecks along the Gulf of Mexico. Life and work Ángel de Villafañe was born about 1504, as the son of Juan de Villafañe and Catalina de Valdés, both natives of León, Castile (Spain), who had served Ferdinand and Isabella. In 1513, at age nine, young Angel accompanied his father in the fleet of Pedrarias Dávila to Darién. In 1523, Villafañe went to Pánuco in the company of Francisco de Garay. With Garay thwarted in his plans to establish a colony by Hernán Cortés, Villafañe instead joined the Cortés faction and sailed to Mexico City. In Mexico City, Angel de Villafañe married Doña Ynés de Caravajal, a relative of Pedro de Alvarado, the famous conquistador (second in command to Hernán Cortés and governor of Guatemala). Angel de Villafañe became known as "one of the principal caballeros" of that city, and both he and his wife were recognized as "gentle people, hidalgos, and of great fortune." Villafañe participated in the conquest of Michoacán and Colima, and he also helped subdue the Chontal Mayas, the Zapotecs, and the Mixes. For his actions, he was awarded an encomienda at Xaltepec. He then participated in the pacification of Jaliscos and, as a ship captain, in Cortés's exploration of the Pacific coast. In 1553, Villafañe became entangled in a political struggle, after acting on the viceroy's orders to arrest the king's inspector, Diego Ramírez. Caught between the viceroy and the royal audiencia, he sought to extricate himself by sending a letter to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles I of Spain. His letter was transported in April 1554 on the ship San Andrés, the only ship of the four sailing at that time to make port. The other three ships were wrecked by a hurricane along the coast of Padre Island, in future Texas. In early June, when word of the disaster reached Mexico City, the viceroy requested a rescue fleet and immediately sent Villafañe marching overland to find the treasure-laden vessels. Villafañe traveled to Pánuco and hired a ship to transport him to the site, which had already been visited from that community. He arrived in time to greet García de Escalante Alvarado (a nephew of Pedro de Alvarado), commander of the