page_title: Antonio de Vea expedition
section_title: Preparations in Peru and journey to Chiloé
hierarchical_section_title: Antonio de Vea expedition / Expedition / Preparations in Peru and journey to Chiloé
caption_attribution_description: Español: Reconstrucción de una dalca en el museo de Dalcahue, Chiloé, Chile.
context_page_description: The Antonio de Vea expedition of 1675–1676 was a Spanish naval expedition to the fjords and channels of Patagonia aimed to find whether rival colonial powers—specifically, the English—were active in the region. While this was not the first Spanish expedition to the region, it was the largest up to then, involving 256 men, one ocean-going ship, two long boats and nine dalcas. Suspicion about English bases in Patagonia was dispelled by the expedition. Spanish authorities' knowledge of western Patagonia was greatly improved by the expedition, yet Spanish interest in the area waned thereafter until the 1740s.
context_section_description: Antonio de Vea was on leave in Portobelo, Panama, when he was ordered to lead and organise the expedition. The expedition was assembled in the port of El Callao, Peru, and sat sail for Chiloé on September 21. De Vea sat sail in the ship Nuestra Señora del Rosario y Ánimas del Purgatorio with the material for two additional "long boats" to be assembled in Chiloé. In Chiloé the expedition was to be divided in two groups; one led by Antonio de Vea was to sail south from Chiloé "following the coast" and another led by Pascual de Iriate would go in the ship through the open ocean directly from Chiloé to the western entrance to the Straits of Magellan where both groups would meet.
  On October 13 the expedition sighted the uninhabited Alejandro Selkirk Island without making any landing. De Vea reports that a black sailor died on October 29. Lacuy Peninsula on the northwestern corner of Chiloé Island and the nearby mainland were sighted on October 30. The expedition used the inward tidal current to enter Chacao Channel when unexpectedly Nuestra Señora del Rosario y Ánimas del Purgatorio struck on Roca Remolino, which seriously damaged her. Two Spanish dalcas approached the ship rescuing the infantrymen while Antonio de Vea and the remaining crew managed to beach the ship in the late evening.
caption: Reconstruction of a dalca in the museum of Dalcahue.
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