San Blas is known as the port where the Spanish priest Junipero Serra, 'Father' of the California Missions, departed from nearby Las Islitas beach on Matanchen Bay in the locally-built barque "Purísima Concepción" to California on March 12, 1768.

San Blas was founded in 1531, but the official date of founding is 1768, when Don Manuel Rivera and 116 families arrived on the orders of the Viceroy of New Spain, Marqués de Croix, under the supervision of José de Gálvez, who was visitador general ("inspector") of New Spain.

In May 1768 San Blas was designated as a new naval base for the Spanish Navy. At first only two ships were assigned to the port: The packet boat San Carlos, commanded by Juan Pérez, and El Principe, commanded by Vicente Vila. Gálvez ordered four new vessels to be built, one of which was the schooner Sonora, later known for the 1775 voyage of Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra to Alaska.[3]

From its founding the naval base was providing logistical support for the Franciscan missions of Alta California. As the number of missions grew San Blas was required to send supply voyages more frequently, taxing the naval base's small fleet and underfunded finances. San Blas also became the base for Spanish expeditions to the Pacific Northwest. From 1789-1795 San Blas was responsible for establishing and maintaining the Spanish post at Nootka Sound and Fort San Miguel. For about twenty years in the late 18th century San Blas was one of the busiest ports and shipbuilding centers on the Pacific coast of the Americas, rivaling Acapulco, the eastern terminus of the trans-Pacific Manila galleon convoy.[3]

In many ways San Blas was a poor choice for a deep sea harbor and settlement. The harbor was so small it could never hold more than four ships at a time. Silting caused by the nearby Río Grande de Santiago resulted in a need for the harbor to be regularly dredged. The climate's stifling humidity and torrential rains from May to August, coupled with the extensive mangrove swamps that surrounded the settlement, resulted in San Blas being plagued by clouds of voracious mosquitoes. A variety of sicknesses were endemic, including dysentery, typhoid fever, malaria, and other fevers.[3] Naval officers and workers regularly complained about the climate. When Alessandro Malaspina visited in 1791 he found San Blas's climate so unhealthy that he refused to stay there, instead transferring his operations and some of San Blas's ships and personnel to Acapulco. San Blas's location was useful and logical, however, because it minimized travel time from Guadalajara and Mexico City without increasing the total distance to the Californias. Also, the area around San Blas had a plentiful supply of hardwoods useful for ship building and repair. Fresh water was also available year round.[3]

At its height the town had 30,000 inhabitants and became headquarters of Spain's General of the Southern Seas.

The old hillside fort was built in 1770 to defend the town's extensive sea trade with the Philippines. Its front has stone carvings of the kings of Spain. On the hill behind the Fort are the ruins of the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, built in 1769. The ruins once contained the bronze bells that are said to have inspired Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, ‘The Bells of San Blas,’. The ruins of a 19th century customs house are on Calle Benito Juárez, three blocks from the main plaza.

During the colonial period, hardwood forests were the raw materials for ships which did a brisk trade with the Philippines and the manila galleon, until the shipping moved to the port at Manzanillo, and later to Acapulco.

Neon Taxco by Bill Bell

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