In 1774 the Spanish Viceroy of Mexico informed Junipero Serra that he intended to establish a presidio in San Francisco "for the further extension of Spanish and Christian power." Junipero Serra, on receipt of this letter, selected Fathers Palou and Cambon to accompany the soldiers, and Lieutenant Juan de Ayala was ordered with his ship stationed at Monterey to further explore the San Francisco Bay; Juan de Anza, another brilliant officer, was entrusted with the establishment of the new presidio; the site he chose being the identical one on which the Presidio of San Francisco stands today. Lieutenant Juan de Ayala of the Royal Navy of Spain, was the first to steer a ship through the Golden Gate, and a strange coincidence was that his ship was the San Carlos which had come to San Diego with a portion of the first Spanish pioneers in 1769. With Lieutenant Ayala was Father Vincente de Santa Maria who, with Fathers Palou and Cambon, planted a Mission Cross and founded Mission Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, which has withstood so many ravages of time and change, of man and elements. The seventh Mission was San Juan Capistrano, founded November 1, 1776, by Father Lasuen. This Mission was also a very flourishing Mission, the Indians were laborers in its construction, which lasted nearly fourteen years. Mission Santa Clara was the eighth to be established. It was founded on January 12, 1777. The original lines of this once beautiful Mission are almost entirely changed but like all its sister missions it still retains much of its dear old atmosphere, and can boast of the tomb of Father Magin Catala who died there in 1836 "in the odor of sanctity." Mission Santa Clara was founded by Father Tomas de la Pena y Saradia; and its history is fascinating and romantic. The Mission Cross which Father de la Pena y Saradia planted here, is still standing. The ninth Mission was San Buenaventura, founded also by Junipero Serra in person, in company with Governor Felipe de Neve, on Easter Sunday of March 31, 1783. From San Buenaventura, Junipero Serra and Governor de Neve marched to what is now Santa Barbara. Here the Indians were numerous and more intelligent than any in California, where the Indians were far denser than either the Incas of South America or the Aztecs of Mexico. Delays, caused by military differences, retarded the foundation of Santa Barbara Mission, which would have been the tenth, but Junipero Serra planted a Mission Cross and selected the site on which it was destined to be founded four years after his death. From here Serra returned to Carmelo; his journeys from one Mission to another being always on foot.