Ιωάννης Φωκάς μιά απίστευτη ιστορία
Ioánnis
Phokás (Greek: Ιωάννης Φωκάς), better known by the Spanish
transcription of his name, Juan de Fuca (born 1536 on the Ionian island of
Kefalonia or Cefalonia; died there 1602, was a Greek-born maritime pilot in the
service of the King of Spain, Philip II. He is best known for his claim to have
explored the Strait of Anián, now known as the Strait of Juan de Fuca, between
Vancouver Island (now part of British Columbia, Canada) and the Olympic
Peninsula (northwestern Washington State, United States).
Family and
early life
Phokás's
grandfather, Emmanouíl Phokás (Gr: Εμμανουήλ Φωκάς), fled
Constantinople at its fall in 1453, accompanied by his brother Andrónikos (Gr: Ανδρόνικος). The two settled first in the
Peloponnese, where Andrónikos remained, but in 1470 Emmanouíl moved to the
island of Cefalonia. Iákovos (Gr: Ιάκωβος), Ioánnis's father established himself in the
village of Valerianos (Gr: Βαλεριάνος) on the island and came to be known as "the Valeriáno Fokás"
(Gr: ο Φωκάς ο
Βαλεριάνος) to
distinguish him from his brothers.
It was in
this village of Valeriáno that Phokás was born in 1536. Little to nothing is
known about his life before he entered the service of Spain, some time around
1555.
Name
The name of
the man known to history as Juan de Fuca is the source of some confusion. While
Juan de Fuca is clearly a Spanish rendering of Ioánnis Phokás (Gr: Ιωάννης Φωκάς), some sources cite Apóstolos Valeriános (Gr: Απόστολος Βαλεριάνος) as his "real" name. It is possible
that Phokás was baptized Apóstolos and later adopted the name Ioánnis/Juan
(i.e., John) because Apóstol is not much used as a name in Spanish. Given that
Fokás/Fuca was the family name borne by the seafarer's father and grandfather,
Valeriános is likely to be a nickname used on the island which would have been
quite meaningless in the Spanish Empire.
Early
career
Fuca's
early voyages were to the Far East, and he claimed to have arrived in New Spain
in 1587 when, off Cabo San Lucas in Baja California, the English privateer
Thomas Cavendish seized his galleon Santa Ana and deposited him ashore. He was
a well-traveled seaman, perfecting his skill as a pilot in the Spanish fleet.
The King of Spain, he also claimed, recognized him for his excellence and made
him pilot of the Spanish navy in the West Indies (a title he held for forty
years), but there is no record in Spanish Archives of his name or position or
of his visit to the royal court. Before he made his famous trip up the
northwest coast of the North American continent, he sailed to China, the
Philippines and Mexico. The Strait of Juan de Fuca between the United States of
America and Canada was named for him by British Captain Charles Barkley because
it was at the same latitude that Juan de Fuca described as the location of the
Strait of Anian.
Voyages to
the north
Fuca Pillar
at Cape Flattery, Washington beside the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
According
to Fuca's account, he undertook two voyages of exploration on the orders of the
Viceroy of New Spain, Luis de Velasco, marqués de Salinas, both intended to
find the fabled Strait of Anián, believed to be a Northwest Passage, a sea
route linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The first voyage saw 200
soldiers and three small ships under the overall command of a Spanish captain
(with Fuca as pilot and master) assigned the task of finding the Strait of
Anián and fortifying it against the English. This expedition failed when,
allegedly due to the captain's malfeasance, the soldiers mutinied and returned
home to California.(Note that in this period, Spanish doctrine divided control
of ships and fleets between the military commander, who was an army officer,
and the sailing and navigation commander, who was a mariner.)
In 1592, on
his second voyage, Fuca enjoyed success. Having sailed north with a caravel and
a pinnace and a few armed marines, he returned to Acapulco and claimed to have
found the strait, with a large island at its mouth, at around 47° north
latitude. The Strait of Juan de Fuca is in fact at around 48° N, although
Fuca's account of sailing into it departs from reality, describing a region far
different from what actually existed there. The Strait follows directly into
Puget Sound, Washington, beginning at around 47° 59' N and continuing as far
south as 47° 01' N at Tumwater, Washington. During the voyage, Fuca also noted
a "high pinnacle or spired rock", which may have been Fuca Pillar, a
tall, almost rectangular, rock on the western shore of Cape Flattery on the
northwestern tip of Washington beside the Strait of Juan de Fuca - although Fuca
noted it being on the other side of the strait.
Despite
Velasco's repeated promises, however, Fuca never received the great rewards he
claimed as his due. After two years, and on the viceroy's urging, Fuca
travelled to Spain to make his case to the court in person. Disappointed again
and disgusted with the Spanish, the aging Greek determined to retire to his
home in Kefallonia but was in 1596 convinced by an Englishman, Michael Lok
(also spelled as Locke in English and French documents from the period), to
offer his services to Spain's archenemy, Queen Elizabeth. Nothing came of Lok
and Fokás' proposals, but it is through Lok's account that the story of Juan de
Fuca entered English letters.
Controversy
Because the
only written evidence for Fokás's voyages lay in Lok's account — researchers
being unable to find records of the expedition in Spanish colonial archives —
there was long much controversy over his discovery and, indeed, whether he had
ever even existed as a real person; several scholars have dismissed Juan de
Fuca as entirely fictitious, and the 18th-century British explorer Captain Cook
strongly doubted that the strait Fokás claimed to have discovered even existed
(although Cook actually sailed past the Strait of Juan de Fuca without entering
it and did stop at Nootka Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island). With
later English exploration and settlement of the area, however, Fokás's claims
seemed much more credible.
Finally, in
1859, an American researcher, with the help of the U.S. Consul in the Ionian
Islands, was able to demonstrate not only that Fokás had lived but also that
his family and history were well known on the islands. While we may never know
the exact truths that lay behind the account published by Lok, it must be
considered unlikely that the man himself was a fiction.
Legacy
When the
English captain Charles William Barkley, sailing the Imperial Eagle in 1787,
(re)discovered the strait Fokás had described, he renamed it the Strait of Juan
de Fuca.
The Juan de
Fuca Plate, a tectonic plate underlying much of the coastline he explored, is
also named for Fokás.
Juan de
Fuca Provincial Park on Vancouver Island's West Coast is named for the strait,
as is the hiking trail of the same name.
( Sculpted by local artist Spyro Hourmouzis, this bust of Juan de Fuca is located in his native Valeriano, Kefalonia )
