The Shipwrecked Men

Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca

Half mad and with almost all his countrymen drowned or murdered, Cabeza de Vaca penetrates the heart of the Desert Southwest

The original disaster narrative, The Shipwrecked Men by Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (c.1492-c.1560) tells how a confident, well-equipped Spanish expedition to explore the Florida mainland came utterly to grief through arrogance, storms and bad luck, leaving a handful of survivors to stagger to Mexico City some years later.

Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (c.1492-c.1560) was an early Spanish explorer of the New World. He led a varied and adventurous life in different parts of the Spanish Empire, fighting in both Europe and the New World and in 1541 becoming the highly unsuccessful governor of the Rio de la Plata.