Despite his best efforts, Luna was relieved of command in 1561 by Ángel de Villafañe, who was ordered to continue Spain’s settlement plan.
After leaving 50 men at Pensacola and sending a reluctant Luna back to Spain, Villafañe’s new fleet set sail with the 230 remaining colonists to start the second port settlement of the plan, Santa Elena, on today’s South Carolina coast. However, as fate would have it, like with Luna in 1559, a hurricane struck Villafane’s fleet - destroying most of it and forcing him to return to Cuba. Almost immediately, he was sent back to Pensacola to pick up the 50 men left there to take them to Mexico.
While we’re still recovering a wealth of materials from the nearly two-year settlement effort that was left behind, this marked the official end of the attempt to colonize La Florida under Luna and Villafane.
Thus, in 1561, Spain’s grand plan to settle its vast territory was put on hold by King Phillip, who was fed up with trying and failing.
