Queiros, Pedro Fernandes de

Queiros, Pedro Fernandes de (pĕ`dr fərnəN`dəsh dĭ kārôsh`), c.1560–1614, Portuguese navigator. In Spanish service, he sailed (1595) as second in command of the expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña de Neira to the Pacific. The expedition traveled to the Marquesas Islands and Solomon Islands, and after the death of Mendaña, Queiros continued in command. On a later expedition he visited (1606) the Tuamotu Archipelago and the New Hebrides, but almost certainly not the Society Islands (as is sometimes claimed).