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After contemplating Olano’s vision of a fort at St. Nicholas and establishing control of the entire river, Montiano summoned Captain Don Manuel Montero de Villasante and coached him on all the reasons St. Augustine needed that naval force.* He sent Villasante to Havana in Ojeda’s launch to describe vividly for Guemes all the difficulties presented by lack of a naval force.*
He wrote a letter for Villasante to take to Guemes, repeating the entire plea.* He made sure to point out that the ships must be well manned by skilled sailors and commanded by a man of intelligence and valor, and well supplied with provisions for those people.* He begged Guemes to send all this as quickly as possible, so the English could not repeat their occupation of the Florida coast with their squadrons, blocking St. Augustine from all supplies and communications.*
Writing his letter, Montiano feared that all his specific details and strategies might just sound like a desire for power such as Oglethorpe displayed.* He assured Guemes that his motivation came solely from his passion to preserve the luster of Spanish arms, the glory of God first, the protection of La Florida, with the welfare of the garrison next.*
To prove he was not pursuing any worldly interest, Montiano invited Guemes to appoint anyone else to manage the operation.* He could choose anyone he had confidence in according to the conditions of the expedition projected against Georgia after the equinox of March, 1737.* Montiano invited Guemes to govern that person independently of Montiano, and Montiano pledged to support that person by offering accurate advice on the state of the country, and giving him all the benefit possible resulting from experience.*
Montiano swore to Guemes he desired nothing but the best service of the King.* He pledged with all his heart to happily comply with any orders Guemes imposed on the selected leader, without any resistance or alteration to Guemes’s instructions.* He trusted Guemes’s higher powers of judgement through wisdom and expanded sources of information.*
After professing his faith in Guemes, Montiano reminded him that while the English had cautiously pushed forth for several years, St. Augustine received no word from the crown on how to stop it.* The Spaniards were lulled into believing the English were keeping the good faith set forth in the preliminaries of the convention of January 14 and 15 of the previous year.* Now, without even intending to, the English had already gained the upper hand.* 
Montiano enclosed a copy of something that referred to the king’s wishes.* Did he find an old document that helped his cause?* It said they should pay close attention to the operations of the English of Carolina.* It was probably written before Georgia came along.* It contained orders to block the Carolinians’ plans and progress in Spanish territory, using force if necessary.* Montiano said that his obligation to follow that order forced him to keep pestering Guemes for the provisions required, as he was the only person who could give him the assistance he needed, with the promptness required by the present urgency.* Without this assistance, it was clear Montiano was unable to offer any resistance, nor feel like he was doing his job, since he lacked sea forces, and therefore, stores, boats, and seamen for their organization.*

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Montiano sends Villasante to Havana to plead the case (F16)

Source: Nonfiction Chronology #308