Bernal D’az del Castillo (1495-1584) served under CortŽs through the entire Mexican campaign, and his narrative, one of only four extant firsthand accounts, is both an invaluable document and a spectacular epic. He watched as CortŽs sank his own Spanish ships, making desertion impossible and committing his small band of conquistadors irrevocably to the Conquest. He bore witness to the imprisonment of Montezeuma in his own palace and was privy to the counsels of the great leaders throughout the Campaign.