The sailor I am referring to was David Ingram who was set ashore at or near Tampico, and claimed to have walked clear to Newfoundland where he, and two others, were picked up eleven months later, and saw elephants on his trip. This story is reported in the book THE DEFEAT OF JOHN HAWKINS by Rayner Unwin. Chapter 16 is THE IMPROBABLE WALK.
Ingram met with Hawkins after his return, and was summoned to several courts to hear his tale.
"At the same time, much of his description of the country and its inhabitants seems fanciful, at least partly cobbled together from things he had seen or heard in his travels up and down the coasts of Africa and South America (he reported encountering elephants, a beast with "eyes and mouth … in his breast," and great cities "five or eight miles one from the other", e.g. "Bariniah, a Citie a mile and a quarter long" and that the Indians called certain birds "penguins" which he thought was just one of many Welsh words they used"
Wonder if in the Old West that is why they said that they saw the “Elephant”