However this may have been, Cortés received and accepted the commission now offered. His reputation for bravery and great popularity gathered about him young and old, the bold spirits of Cuba, some among them former companions of Grijalva in his expedition; Bernal Diaz, the first historian of the Conquest, Olid, Alvarado, and other men of the greatest bravery, destined to play great parts in the epic of the New World.
Velasquez, even before the departure of his commander, began to distrust him, jealous again of his great powers, but they parted on good terms, and Cortés embarked at San Jago de Cuba on the 18th November, 1518. He had not gone far when an emissary of Velasquez was sent after the expedition to arrest Cortés, but encouraged by his companions, who urged him to remain at their head, he sent off the messenger and started without taking any further notice of the jealousy of his chief.
The squadron of Cortés was composed of eleven small vessels. There were 110 sailors, 553 soldiers, of which thirteen were armed with muskets, and thirty-two with arquebuses, the others with swords and pikes only. There were ten little field-pieces, and sixteen horses. Such were the forces with which the bold adventurer set forth to conquer a vast empire, defended by large armies, not without courage, according to the report of Grijalva. But the companions of Cortés were unfamiliar with fear. Cortés followed the same route as Grijalva. At Cozumel, an island off Yucatan, he learned by signs from the natives that white captives, with beards, had been lately seen by them. Cortés left a letter for these men with a boat and some soldiers, and the result was their finding a white man named Jérome d' Aguilar, whom they restored to liberty. He told them that he was a native of Ecija, in Spain, ship-wrecked in 1511, seven years before. Thirteen of his companions escaped drowning and starvation, only to be exposed to the danger of being eaten by Mayas, from which also they escaped by the toleration of a cacique, who treated them well. All the rest died but one, and this one refused to join Cortés, having a wife and children, his face tattoed, and wearing ear-rings. He preferred to continue in the way of life first forced upon him, but Aguilar gladly joined the adventurers, and proved a valuable acquisition, for though he knew but little of the country, he had much to tell of the manners and customs of the people, and moreover served as interpreter, of which the commander was in sore need. During his long captivity, Aguilar had acquired the language of the country, and could now bring Cortés into communication with its inhabitants.