Quick . ..  name the oldest (or first) verifiable European settlement in current US territory?  Answer follows. Giovanni da Verrazzano visited the bay that became the sixth boro in 1524 but he didn’t settle.

This is the port of Guaymas, visited and claimed for Spain in 1539 by Francisco de Ulloa.  I can’t tell you anything about the tug here, Tolteca-1.  She looks like she could have been designed up north.  Anyone guess the La Paz BSC port of registry?

Click here for info on this port, and  connections between this port, 200 miles south of the Arizona border, and the US.  Here is an article on hopes for the port from the perspective of a few years back.

Rio Balsas is a crude oil tanker.

I’d love to learn more about Tolteca-1.  BCS is an abbreviation for Baja California Sur. 

Meanwhile, if you want to know more about Guaymas and the following:

-the first* ever aerial bombardment of a naval target,

–pearls,

–Rey Feo

and NASA . . .

 

click here.

And the answer to the question on the oldest settled current US city . . . . is St. Augustine, 1565!!

Many thanks to the Maraki crew for these photos.  More Maraki here.