He showed his unusual talents at an early age. As a teenager he was in command of a small armada protecting Spanish shipping in the Mediterranean. At one time, French corsairs attacked vessels carrying a wedding party. His small patache was no match for the three attackers, so he separated two in a chase, and took them one by one. The remaining attacker fled.

   By 1558 he had proved himself a responsible, if not always obedient, commander. Ordered to escort six zabras (freighters) with four warships to the battleground at Flanders, he found only four freighters, and no warships, ready. He decided not to wait, and sped the convoy to the distant port before the corsairs could attack.

   The return trip was more spectacular. Ordered to escort six ships, he found another 27 stacked up, fearing a French armada. Adding the 27 to his convoy, he approached the French fleet, gathered his charges and wove and darted about, leaving the fleet in confusion and safely reaching port.

   By his fortieth year, 1559, Menendez was General of the King's armada, hailed as a brilliant seaman, but exhausted and poor. He battled depression and fever for nearly two years before answering a summons of the king. He was to be Captain General for the Fleet of the Indies, the ships bringing treasure from the Americas.

   Six years later, Pedro Menendez de Aviles y Alonso de la Campa would accept the royal asiento for his greatest challenge - to drive the French from the American continent, establish a permanent settlement, and Christianize the native population.

   With the founding of St. Augustine, Menendez set about establishing other garrisons along the Florida coast, battling the Havana governor for supplies and, finally returning to Spain in 1567 to gain support for his enterprise.

   Within a year of his return to Spain, four of his seven settlements had been destroyed by hostile Indians and French corsairs, and promised supplies and troops were not reaching the other beleaguered settlements. Funds promised to Menendez were not forthcoming, and he spent what wealth he had accumulated supporting the Florida garrisons.

   In 1573, King Philip announced Menendez would become Captain General of Spain's greatest armada, one hundred and fifty ships and twelve thousand troops. Menendez exhausted himself organizing the armada, and his heart was breaking as the work he had done in Florida was disintegrating.

   September 17, 1574, at the armada harbor of Santander near his birthplace of Aviles, Pedro Menendez de Aviles y Alonso de la Campa died. He was 55 years old.