<P> Narváez's crew initially numbered about 600, including men from Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Italy . The expedition met with disaster almost immediately . Making stops at Hispaniola and Cuba on the way to Florida, the fleet was devastated by a hurricane, among other storms, and lost two ships . After landing near Sarasota Bay, the expedition was split, with 300 men sent overland in search of gold . They encountered numerous attacks by indigenous peoples and suffered from disease and starvation . By September 1528, following an attempt by survivors to sail on makeshift rafts from Florida to Mexico, only 80 men survived after being swept onto Galveston Island off the coast of Texas . The stranded survivors were enslaved by Native American tribes, and more men continued to die from harsh conditions . </P> <P> Only four of the original party--Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Alonso del Castillo Maldonado, Andrés Dorantes de Carranza, and Dorantes' enslaved Moor Estevanico--survived the next eight years, during which they wandered through what is now the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico . They eventually encountered Spanish slave - catchers in Sinaloa in 1536, and with them, the four men finally reached Mexico City . Upon returning to Spain, Cabeza de Vaca wrote of the expedition in his La Relación ("The Relation"), published in 1542 as the first written account of North America . With later additions, it was published under the title Naufragios ("Shipwreck"). </P> <P> On December 25, 1526, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, also known as Carlos I of Spain, granted Pánfilo de Narváez a license to claim what is now the Gulf Coast of the United States for the Kingdom of Spain . The contract gave him one year to gather an army, leave Spain, found at least two towns of one hundred people each, and garrison two additional forts anywhere along the coast . Narváez had to secure his own funding for the expedition . He recruited investors by marketing the promise of riches comparable to those recently discovered by Hernán Cortés in Mexico . He also called in many debts owed to him, and used this money to pay for major expenses of the expedition . </P> <P> Appointed by the Spanish Crown as treasurer and sheriff, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca was to serve as the king's eyes and ears, and was second - in - command . He was to ensure the Crown received five percent of any wealth acquired during the expedition . Other expedition members included Alonso de Solís as royal inspector of mines, Alonso Enríquez as comptroller, an Aztec prince named "Don Pedro" by the Spanish, and a contingent of Franciscan and diocesan priests led by Padre Juan Suárez (sometimes spelled "Xuárez"). Most of the expedition's 600 men were soldiers, chiefly from Spain and Portugal, including some of mixed African descent, and some 22 from Italy . </P>

What was the result of the stories told by the survivors of the florida expedition led by de vaca