Nautical Research Journal 209


1. T e Narvaez Expedition barca display. All photographs by the author.


T e Narvaez Expedition Barca By Steve Harris


T is display is meant to be a representation of one of the fi ve Narvaez expedition barcas or barges built in 1528 as described by expedition survivor Cabeza de Vaca. T e model display was built for the San Marcos de Apalache State Park Museum in Florida near where the vessels probably were built. T e model was built from original source data translated and interpreted by Dr. John Worth at the University of West Florida and according to expert analysis and opinion from Drs. John Bratten and Greg Cook (marine archeologists with the University of West Florida) and especially with analysis and suggestions from Dr. Roger Smith, head of underwater archeology for the State of Florida,


and author of a book on construction of the Spanish ships of exploration, Vanguard of Empire. To our knowledge, this is the fi rst model reconstruction built of these vessels that uses expert analysis from nautical archaeologists and from original source translations. T ese vessels were built by the desperate and determined men of the Narvaez expedition throughout the late summer and early fall of 1528. T ey were likely the fi rst vessels built by the Spanish (and possibly any Europeans) in North America.


T e Narvaez expedition set out in the Tampa Bay area in 1528 to explore the Gulf Coast. T e three hundred men of the expedition became separated from their ships and soon came under Native American attack and were aff ected severely by illness. Aſt er a battle with Apalache Indians in the Tallahassee area, they


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