On the 4th March 1519, with the good fortune to carry such a useful and faithful interpreter along with us, Cortés gave orders for us to embark in the same order as we had followed before we ran back to Cozumel, under the same instructions and with the same lantern signals by night.

We sailed along in good weather, until at nightfall a head wind struck us so fiercely that the ships were dispersed and there was great danger of being driven ashore. Thank God, by midnight the weather moderated, and as soon as dawn broke the ships got together again, excepting the vessel under the command of Juan Velásquez de Leon. We went on our way and up to midday had seen nothing of the missing vessel which distressed us all as we feared she had been lost on a shoal. When the whole day had passed and she did not appear Cortés told the pilot Alaminos that it was no good going on any further without news of the missing ship, so the pilot made signal for all the vessels to lay to, and wait to see if by chance the storm had driven her into some bay whence she could not get out again against a head wind.