The pearling license used by Bernardo Bernal de Piñadero in 1664 and 1666 was given to Francisco de Lucenilla in February 1667. After months of provisioning, the two ships of his expedition, with fifty-four men, sailed from Chacala to Bahía de las Palmas. With stops at Matanchen and Mazatlán they reached the peninsular coast on May 20, 1668. Natives were friendly, but the pearls were in short supply, so Lucenilla cruised north to La Paz, then down to Cape San Lucas with no better fortune. Throughout June the ships ran slowly northward, stopping many times to try their luck with Indians. At the end of the month they rested in Concepción Bay, but the crews were rebellious after such a hot and unprofitable voyage and demanded that the captain return to Chacala. Adverse winds drove them to the coast of Sonora, and they ended the voyage near Guaymas in July. Father Cavallero completed his account at the mining camp of San Miguel Zapotitlán, Sinaloa, on September 20.
He attributed the failure of the enterprise to the shortage and the poor quality of manpower, the inadequacy of capital backing, poor leadership, and greed built up by hope for quick, easy wealth. Further, Lucenilla had promised to convert souls but had actually blocked efforts by Cavallero and his fellow priest to do so. “Therefore, God wished to punish him” (p. 63). Then the priest named each person on the voyage, gave a brief summation of his value (almost always “useless”), and concluded that no further voyages like this should be permitted.
The Lucenilla voyage has been mentioned in most accounts of Baja California pearling. Cavallero’s manuscript, in the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid, had never been published. Not only is it the most complete account of the enterprise; it also details the many weaknesses which accompanied almost all pearling expeditions in the preceding century and a half. For these reasons and because Lucenilla’s cruise was apparently the last licensed undertaking before the famed Atondo-Kino attempts at La Paz and San Bruno in 1683-85, Cavallero’s report is a valued addition to the historical literature of Baja California.
