The seven-ship fleet sailed from La Coruña, Spain in July 1525 and became the second naval expedition in history to cross the Pacific Ocean, after the Magellan-Elcano circumnavigation.

[1] For this purpose, de Loaísa was assigned seven vessels and a total of 450 men, including tradesmen and administrators for the Spice Islands settlement.

The San Lesmes under the captaincy of Francisco de Hoces was driven south along the coast, possibly to a latitude of 57°, where the crew noted "an end of land" which could have been the first European sighting of Cape Horn.

The four remaining vessels quickly lost sight of each other in the heavy rain and were unable to regroup when the storm finally passed on 1 June.

One of the survivors was Maestre Anes (Hans von Aachen), who previously served as gunner on the Victoria under Magellan and Elcano, becoming the first man to circumnavigate twice.

French historian Roger Hervé claimed that the Spanish caravel was diverted to Tasmania also, until it went up the Australian eastern coast and was captured by the Portuguese near what is now Cape York.

[6] New Zealand film maker Winston Cowie assesses the San Lesmes theory in his books Nueva Zelanda, un puzzle histórico: tras la pista de los conquistadores españoles [7] and Conquistador Puzzle Trail,[8] the Spanish version of which was completed with the support of the Embassy of Spain to New Zealand,[9] adding the oral tradition of the Pouto Peninsula to Langdon's work.

[11] Contemporary of Cowie's, Noel Hilliam found a wreck on Aranga about 90 kilometres (56 mi) north of the Pouto Peninsular which he claimed was the San Lesmes but the find was neither verified nor conclusive.