Over the winter of 1542-1543 they built "seven bergantines, or pinnaces, with which to seek a water route to Mexico". On July 2, 1543, Just over half of the members of the expedition (322 people) had survived and they traveled to the Mississippi River. Along the way they had a running three day battle with the chiefdom of "Quigualtam", in which more men were lost. Alvarado's expeditionary group eventually made it to the Gulf Coast on July 16th, 1543, and began sailing westward along the Louisiana and Texas shores. The group probably also found some of Texas' bays (possibly Matagorda Bay, Corpus Christi Bay or Aransas Bay) before finally arriving the Pánuco River, and then traveling on to Mexico City.
