Having ranged backward and forward until the 23rd of September, and refitted the ships, Juan Ponce resolved to send one of them to take a view of the island of Bimini where the Indains said there was much wealth and a spring that made old people young again.

Juan Piere de Ortubia was appointed captain of that ship, and Antony de Alaminos pilot. They took two Indians to show the shoals, there being so many that it is difficult to pass between them.

Twenty days after, Juan Ponce returned to Puerto Rico. Some time after him so did the ship he had sent. It found the island of Bimini but not the wonderful spring. Yet, the island was large, pleasant and abounding in other waters and delightful groves.

Why did Ponce sail southwest on his return home? It was opposite to the direct route. Again, he seemed to have a plan in mind that is not apparent to us.

Ponce coasted south to Cape Romano and the Ten Thousand Islands before veering away to the Marquesas Keys for turtle, fish and birds. He called this stopping place Tortugas, for the sea turtles which come ashore in early summer to lay eggs. Casual students might confuse the present Dry Tortugas Island with Ponce's landmark. Early maps, however, clearly distinguish the unique circle of islets as Tortugas until they became associated with a Cuban Governor.

The Marquis de Cadereita in 1622 set up a camp on the largest Tortugas island to personally supervise salvage of a Spanish treasure fleet driven onto the nearby reefs. Thereafter the atoll was called "Cayo del Marquez." Ponce's humble designation shifted to a bare spit 45 miles to the west where two centuries later the physician who treated President Lincoln's assassin was imprisoned.

The next landfall of Ponce, after Tortugas, likewise is in doubt. The western end of Cuba is close to Tortugas, yet it was by then too well explored to be unknown to Ponce or his pilots. There is a high probability that he discovered the Yucatan Peninsula. Mexican historians now favor this possibility. If so, some other European had preceded him -- or the white man's iron-age culture spread in the New World with amazing speed.

Ortubia and Alaminos foundered on the Bahama shoals even with their Indian guide. The embarrassed mariners were dragged off by Miruelo, possibly the nephew of the Miruelo found

loitering near Yucatan, if not the elder ship captain of the same name who may have tagged along.

Whether or not Ponce believed in the wonderful Fountain of Youth, Alaminos did locate a small island in the Bahamas which all agreed was the long sought Bimini. Unfortunately it did not possess any supernatural properties.

Thus, Florida made its way into the history books -- officially a place not previously known and a genuine discovery by Ponce. Herrera best put the adventure into perspective:

Though this voyage made by Juan Ponce turned to little or no account to him, yet it gave him encouragement to go to Court to sue for some reward for the countries he had discovered, believing them to be all islands and no continent, which notion continued for some years. However, that voyage was beneficial on account of the way soon after found out to return to Spain -- through the channel of Bahama, which was first performed by the pilot Antony de Alaminos.

With significant deeds to Ponce's credit, he returned to Spain and obtained a license from King Ferdinand and the title "Adelantado of Bimini and Terra Firme."

Ponce was granted the privilege of establishing a colony on new lands to be selected by him in Florida. First, however, the King had more urgent tasks for Ponce -- subduing the rebellious natives of Guadalupe.

PRINCIPAL CLUES FROM HERRERA

1. Ponce sailed northwest from Puerto Rico, past the Bahamas.
2. He came to mainland shoal water at nine fathoms, one league from shore.
3. The latitude of landfall was 30° 8'.
4. Ponce ran along the coast for the remainder of the day, anchored five days in eight fathoms.
5. He then sailed "the same way" north by northwest a day before turning south.
6. Ponce sailed along the keys as far as two white islands in latitude 26° 15' where he turned north and sometimes northeast.
7. Upon reaching mainland again Ponce turned southward as far as some small islands that "lay out to sea."
8. He entered "a way" between the islands and mainland to take on water and careen a ship.
9. A scouting party "went to sound the harbor" and stepped ashore to talk with Indians.