 Upon his arrival in Veracruz, he purchased a cattle hacienda near Tampico, and settled in that village, become its mayor the following year.In late 1568, Carvajal captured 78 Englishmen marooned on the Tamaulipas coast by John Hawkins, who had lost some of his ships in a fight with the Spanish fleet at Veracruz.In 1572, Viceroy Martín Enríquez de Almanza commissioned Carvajal a captain, sending him to open a road through the mountains between the Pánuco and Mazapil.