salvage operation, when Alvarado arrived by sea on July 22, 1554. The team labored until September 12 to salvage the Padre Island treasure. This loss, in combination with other ship disasters around the Gulf of Mexico, gave rise to a plan for establishing a settlement on the northern Gulf Coast to protect shipping and more quickly rescue castaways. As a result, the expedition of Tristán de Luna y Arellano was sent and landed at Pensacola Bay on August 15, 1559. Angel de Villafañe was involved in the Luna expedition from the start. Before it sailed, he took charge of the encampment at Jalapa, while Luna himself traveled to Veracruz to complete arrangements for the voyage. Afterward, commanding the San Juan de Ulúa garrison stationed at Veracruz, Villafañe was able to monitor the operation and report back to the viceroy, Luis de Velasco. Over a year later, when Luna proved incapable of managing the settlements at Florida and Santa Elena, Viceroy Velasco then sent Villafañe to replace him. Tristán de Luna y Arellano had suffered disease, in trying to relocate the Ochuse settlement decimated by the hurricane of September 19, 1559, and most native food (corn, beans, pumpkins) was also depleted. Villafañe reached the Ochuse (Pensacola) settlement in early March 1561, and on April 9, he assumed authority as governor of both "provinces of La Florida and Punta de Santa Elena" in replacing Luna. Leaving 50 men at Ochuse, Villafañe sailed the rest of the colony (about 230 persons) to Santa Elena (Georgia near South Carolina). After several landings along the Carolina coast, while seeking a suitable port, the fleet was struck by another hurricane, but some ships survived. Villafañe sailed his storm-battered fleet to Hispaniola, and then to Havana, Cuba, where many of his soldiers scattered. After three months in Cuba, Villafañe returned to Ochuse (Pensacola Bay) to remove the remaining 50 men of the colony, sailing back to Mexico. Along with other participants in the Florida / Santa Elena attempt, Villafañe was summoned by Viceroy Velasco to offer advice on future settlements. The conferees concluded a negative assessment of settlements on both the Gulf Coast and the Atlantic coast. Future efforts on the Atlantic seaboard were to be made from Spain, and no new colonial enterprise was undertaken on the northern Gulf shore until after the landing of René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle in Texas, more than