others going about these islands or who shall have left them after
doing them injury, whether they be English, Japanese, Terrenatans,
Mindanaos, or others, it shall endeavor to chastise and injure them, so
that should this occur a good result might also be obtained therefrom.
Item: If the enemy be captured, as is hoped through the grace of God
our Lord, the survivors and ships shall be brought in by the fleet.
Item: Any spoil found in the said ships shall be divided as is
customary, among the victors.
Item: Great care shall be exercised to keep the men of the fleet
peaceable and well disciplined; concerning this, the course taken on
similar occasions shall be followed.
Item: A good system in regard to the provisions and ammunition carried
shall be observed, and the use of them all well moderated, especially
should the fleet leave sight of these islands.
Item: If perchance, after having engaged the said enemy or pursued
him, he should leave these islands, then, the object having been
accomplished, you shall endeavor to return as speedily as possible
to the islands. If the weather do not permit a return until the
monsoon sets in, you shall endeavor to keep the fleet together and
to supply and provide it with everything necessary, at the expense
of his Majesty, so that you may pursue your voyage with the greatest
speed and safety possible. Given in the city of Manila, the tenth of
December of the year one thousand six hundred.
DON FRANCISCO TELLO
By order of the governor and captain-general:
GASPAR DE AZEBO
The auditor went to the port with all his men and put them aboard
the two ships. As flagship he took the "Sant Antonio" of Sebu, on
account of its having more room to accommodate the assistants [gente
de cumplimiento] who embarked with him. He left the Portuguese patache
because the governor had taken off the embargo, in order to allow the
Portuguese to return with it to Malaca without loss of time. Then he
equipped two caracoas for the service of the fleet with Indian crews
and two Spaniards to direct them. After they had confessed and taken
communion, they left the port of Cabit and set sail on the twelfth day
of the month of December of the year one thousand six hundred, with
Alonzo Gomez as chief pilot. They also took Father Diego de Santiago
and a lay brother of the Society of Jesus, and Fray Francisco de Valdes
of the Order of Augustine, aboard the flagship; and Fray Joan Gutierrez
[136] and another associate of the same order aboard the almiranta,
so that they might attend to whatever required their ministry.
At night of the same day both ships of this fleet anchored near the
settlement and anchorage of the island of Miraveles at the mouth of
the bay. Immediately at daybreak a barangai approached the ships from
shore with the sentinels whom the auditor had hastily sent the day
before to obtain some reliable news of the corsair's position. They
told him that, as soon as the fleet sailed from the port of Cabit, the
enemy, who lay in the direction of the port Del Fraile [of the Friar],
[137] had also weighed anchor, and having stowed their small boats,
both ships had crossed to the other and sea side, and that they had
seen him anchor after nightfall opposite the point of Valeitegui,
[138] where he still was. Upon hearing this, the auditor thought that
perhaps the corsair had been informed of the preparation of the fleet
and of its departure, and had consequently weighed anchor from his
position; and that, since he had stowed his small boats aboard the
ships, he was about to put to sea to avoid the fleet. He immediately
sent the same news to the admiral, and opened the instructions given
him by the governor. Seeing that he was ordered thereby to seek the
enemy with all diligence, pursue him, and endeavor to fight him, he
thought best to shorten the work before him, and to lose no time and
not allow the enemy to get farther away. With this object in view,
the fleet spent the thirteenth of December, St. Lucy's day, in making
waist-cloths, arranging the artillery, getting ready the weapons,
alloting men to their posts, and preparing themselves to fight on
the next day, on which it was thought that they would fall in with
the corsair. The auditor sent special instructions in writing to the
admiral concerning what he was to do and observe on his part. These
instructions specified chiefly that upon engaging with the enemy,
both ships were to grapple and fight the corsair's flagship--in which
were carried all the forces--and other things which will be understood
from the instructions given to the admiral. These were as follows.
[These instructions are given in VOL. XI of this series, pp. 145-148.]
At the same time the auditor notified the admiral that the fleet
would weigh anchor from its anchorage shortly after midnight, and
would go out of the bay to sea, crowding all sail possible, so that
at dawn it might be off the point of Baleitigui to windward of the
point where the enemy had anchored on Tuesday night, according to
the sentinels' report.
At the appointed hour both vessels--the flagship and the
almiranta--weighed anchor from Miraveles, and, favored by a light
wind, sailed the rest of the night toward Baleitigui. The two
caracoas used as tenders could not follow because of a choppy sea,
and a fresh northwester; they crossed within the bay, and under
shelter of the land to the other side. At the first streak of light
both vessels of the fleet found themselves off the point; and one
legua to leeward, and seaward, they sighted the corsair's two vessels
riding at anchor. As soon as the latter recognized our ships and saw
that they flung captain's and admiral's colors at the masthead, they
weighed anchor and set sail from their anchorage, after having first
reënforced the flagship with a boatload of men from their almiranta,
which stood to sea, while the flagship hove to, and awaited our fleet,
firing several pieces at long range. The flagship of our fleet being
unable to answer the enemy with its artillery because the gun-ports
were shut, and the vessel was tacking to starboard, determined to
close with him. It grappled his flagship on the port side, sweeping
and clearing the decks of the men on them. Then the colors with thirty
soldiers and a few sailors were thrown aboard. They took possession of
the forecastle and after-cabin and captured their colors at masthead
and quarter, and the white, blue, and orange standard with the arms
of Count Mauricio flung at the stern. The main- and mizzen-mast were
stripped of all the rigging and sails, and a large boat which the
enemy carried on the poop was captured. The enemy, who had retreated
to the bows below the harpings, upon seeing two ships attacking
him with so great resolution, sent to ask the auditor for terms
of surrender. While an answer was being given him, Admiral Joan de
Alcega, who, in accordance with the instructions given him the day
previous by the auditor, ought to have grappled at the same time as
the flagship, and lashed his vessel to the enemy, thinking that the
victory was won, that the corsair's almiranta was escaping, and that it
would be well to capture it, left the flagship and followed astern of
Lamberto Viezman, crowding all sail and chasing him until he overtook
him. Oliber de Nort, seeing himself alone and with a better ship and
artillery than the auditor's, waited no longer for the answer to the
terms for which he had asked at first, and renewed the fight with
musketry and artillery. The combat between the two flagships was so
obstinate and bitter on both sides that it lasted more than six hours,
and many were killed on both sides. But the corsair had the worst of
it all the time, for not more than fifteen of his men were left alive,
and those badly maimed and wounded. [139] Finally the corsair's ship
caught fire, and the flames rose high by the mizzen-mast and in the
stern. The auditor, in order not to endanger his own ship, found it
necessary to recall his colors and men from the enemy's ship, and
to cast loose and separate from it. This he did, only to discover
that his ship, from the pounding of the artillery during so long a
combat, as it was but slightly strengthened, had an opening in the
bows and was filling so rapidly that being unable to overcome the
leak, it was foundering. The corsair seeing his opponent's trouble
and his inability to follow him, made haste with his few remaining
men to extinguish the fire on board his ship. Having quenched it,
he set his foresail, which was still left. Shattered in all parts,
stripped of rigging, and without men he reached Borneo and Sunda,
where he was seen so enfeebled and distressed that it seemed impossible
for him to navigate, or to go farther without shipwreck. The Spanish
flagship, which was fully occupied in trying to remedy the extremity
to which it was reduced, could not be assisted, because it was alone
and far from land, and consequently sank so rapidly that the men
could neither disarm themselves, nor get hold of anything which
might be of help to them. The auditor did not abandon the ship,
although some soldiers, in order to escape therein, seized the boat
at the stern, and asked him also to get into it. Thereupon they made
off and went away, in order to prevent others from taking it away
from them. When the ship sunk, the auditor swam constantly for four
hours, with the quarter colors and the enemy's standard which he took
with him. He reached a very small desert island, two leguas away,
called Fortuna, where a few of the ship's men who had more endurance
in the sea, also arrived in safety. Some perished and were drowned,
for they had not even disarmed themselves, and whom this predicament
had overtaken when exhausted by the long fight with the enemy. Those
who met death on this occasion were fifty in all. The most important
among them were Captains Don Francisco de Mendoça, Gregorio de Vargas,
Francisco Rodriguez, and Gaspar de los Rios, [140] all of whom died
fighting with the enemy. Among those drowned at sea were Captains Don
Joan de Camudio, Augustin de Urdiales, Don Pedro Tello, Don Gabriel
Maldonado, Don Cristoval de Heredia, Don Luis de Belver, Don Alonso
Loçano, Domingo de Arrieta, Melchior de Figueroa, Chief-pilot Alonso
Gomez, father Fray Diego de Santiago, and the brother who went with
him. Admiral Joan de Alcega, having overtaken Lamberto Viezman slightly
after midday, captured him with little resistance; and although he
afterward saw the so battered ship of Oliber del Nort pass by and
escaping at a short distance, he did not pursue him. On the contrary,
without stopping longer, he returned with his almiranta to Miraveles,
leaving the prize with some of his own men, whom he had put aboard
it, to follow him. He neither looked for his flagship nor took any
other step, imagining that if any mishap had occurred, he might be
blamed for leaving the flagship alone with the corsair and pursuing
Lambert Biezman without orders from the auditor, and contrary to
the instructions given him in writing; and fearing lest if he were to
rejoin the auditor after having left him, ill would befall himself. The
auditor took the wounded and the men who had escaped from the islet of
Fortun, at nightfall, in his ship's boat which he found at that port,
as well as the corsair's boat and a caracoa which arrived there. And
on the following day, he landed them in Luzon, at the bar of Anazibu,
in the province of Balayan, [141] thirty leguas from Manila, where
he supplied them with provisions as quickly as possible. Moreover he
explored the coast and neighboring islands with swift boats, in search
of his almiranta and the captured corsair. This prize was taken to
Manila, with twenty-five men alive and the admiral, ten pieces of
artillery, and a quantity of wine, oil, cloth, linen, weapons, and
other goods which it carried. The admiral and the Dutchmen of his
company were garroted by orders of the governor. [142] Thus ended
the expedition. Thereby was averted the injury which it was thought
that the corsair would inflict in these seas, had he been allowed
to remain there with the aim that he cherished, although so much
to the detriment of the Spaniards by the loss of their flagship,
which would not have happened had the orders of the auditor been
observed. Governor Don Francisco Tello presented an attestation of
this event to the auditor, which is as follows.
* * * * *
Attestation of Governor Don Francisco Tello of events in the expedition
against the Dutch corsair
Don Francisco Tello, knight of the Order of Santiago, governor and
captain-general in these Filipinas Islands, and president of the
Audiencia and royal Chancillería resident therein, etc.: I certify
to whomever may see this present, that last year, one thousand six
hundred, a squadron of Dutch war-vessels under command of Oliber
del Nort, after passing through the strait of Magallanes to the
South Sea, reached these islands, in the month of October of the
said year, with two armed ships. They entered among these islands,
making prizes and committing depredations, and at length stationed
themselves off the entrance of the bay of the city of Manila, with
the design of lying in wait for the merchant ships from China, and
for the galleon "Santo Tomas," expected from Nueva España with the
silver of two years belonging to the merchants of this kingdom. By a
decision of the said royal Audiencia, on the thirty-first of October
of the said year, Doctor Antonio de Morga, senior auditor of the said
Audiencia, was commissioned and charged to go immediately to the
port of Cabit, and place and hold it in a state of defense, and to
prepare and equip a fleet to attack the corsair. In this matter the
said auditor busied himself in person. Having, with great assiduity
and industry, fortified and put the said port in a state of defense,
he completed in the shipyard and then launched, a moderate-sized ship,
armed and equipped another belonging to private persons then in the
port, both of which he equipped with yards and rigging--all inside of
forty days. In order that the expedition might be made more quickly,
and with a supply of soldiers and the most necessary equipment,
inasmuch as affairs were such that it could be done by no one else,
on the first of December of the same year, I nominated and appointed
the said auditor to sail as general of the fleet in pursuit of the
enemy, and to fight him until destroying and driving him from these
islands. The said auditor performed and accomplished this in the
following manner. On the twelfth of the said month of December,
he sailed with the two ships of his fleet from the port of Cabit;
on the fourteenth of the same month, at dawn, he sighted the corsair
outside of the bay of this city, off the promontory of Baleitigui,
with his two ships--flagship and almiranta. He pursued the enemy until
he came close to him; and both fleets having prepared for action,
engaged one another. The said auditor in his flagship attacked the
corsair's flagship with great gallantry and resolution, and grappled
it. The latter was a large and strong ship, carrying a quantity of
artillery and many fighting men. The auditor immediately threw on
board the enemy the infantry colors with thirty arquebusiers and a
few volunteers and sailors, who captured the forecastle, after-cabin,
and the colors of the vessel. At the end of the action, these men
retreated to our ship on account of the violent fire which at the
last began to rage aboard the enemy's ship. Thereupon the action
and fight continued on both sides, and lasted more than six hours,
during which the artillery, musketry, and arquebuses were repeatedly
discharged in all quarters. In another direction the enemy's almiranta,
commanded by Lamberto Viezman, was defeated and captured, with the
crew, artillery and other things aboard it. The two flagships having
cast loose and separated on account of the fire which had broken out,
and the quantity of water that poured in our bows, the enemy took
to flight with only the foremast standing, with nearly all his men
killed, and having lost his boat, the standard and the colors at his
masthead and quarter. Stripped of his yards, sails, and rigging, and
the ship leaking in many places, the enemy ran before the wind. It
has been heard from various sources that he passed Borneo with only
fifteen or sixteen men alive, and most of them maimed and wounded,
and that a few days later, he was entirely wrecked not far from
the Sunda. [143] The said auditor and his companions suffered great
hardship and danger; for besides several men of note who died fighting,
the ship which was leaking at the bows as abovesaid, because of being
weak and not built for a war vessel, and as they were unable to stop
or overcome the leak, foundered that same day, and part of the men
on board were drowned on account of being wearied with fighting and
not even yet having disarmed. When the ship sunk, the said auditor,
who would never leave or abandon it, took to the water with the rest
of the men, and escaped by swimming, with some of the enemy's colors
about him, to an uninhabited islet, called Fortun, two leguas from
the place where the fight had taken place. The next day he took away
the people from that place in several small boats which he found,
and landed them in safety on this island. In all the above, the said
auditor acted with great diligence and valor, exposing himself to all
the risks of the battle and afterward of the sea. He did not receive
any reward for his services, nor any salary, expenses, or any other
recompense. On the contrary, he contributed and spent his own property
to provide all the necessary equipment for the said expedition,
and also assisted some volunteers who went with him. Of the booty
taken from the corsair's almiranta, which was brought to this city,
he refused to take nor did he take anything; on the contrary, the share
which should have fallen to him, he ceded and passed over to the king,
our sovereign, and to his royal exchequer. Thus our aim and object,
namely, the destroying and defeating of the said corsair, has been
accomplished, so much to the service of God and of his Majesty, and to
the welfare of this kingdom, as is more minutely set forth by acts,
depositions, and other inquiries concerning this expedition. At the
request of the said Doctor Antonio de Morga, I gave him the present,
with my signature attached, and sealed with the seal of my arms. Given
in Manila, August twenty-four, one thousand six hundred and one.
DON FRANCISCO TELLO
* * * * *
In the same year of one thousand six hundred, two merchantships left
Manila for Nueva España: the flagship the "Sancta Margarita," with Juan
Martinez de Guillestigui as general, who had arrived the year before
in the same capacity; and the "San Geronimo," under Don Fernando de
Castro. On their way, both ships met with storms in the latitude of
thirty-eight degrees and at six hundred leguas from the Filipinas,
and suffered great hardship. At the end of nine months at sea, after
many of the men had died and much of the merchandise had been thrown
overboard and lost, the "San Geronimo" put back to the Filipinas, off
the islands of Catenduanes, outside of the channel of Espiritu Santo,
and there was wrecked, although the crew were saved. The flagship
"Sancta Margarita," after the death of the general and most of the
crew, ported at the Ladrones Islands and anchored at Zarpana. There
natives who went to the ships, seeing it so abandoned and battered,
boarded and took possession of it, and of its goods and property. The
few men whom they found alive, they took away to their settlements,
where they killed some and apportioned others to various villages,
where they maintained them and gave them better treatment. The Indians
wore the gold chains and other things of the ship around their necks,
and then hung them to the trees and in their houses, like people who
had no knowledge of their value. [144]
In the month of May of the year six hundred and one, the galleon "Santo
Tomas" arrived at the Filipinas from Nueva España with passengers,
soldiers, and the return proceeds of the merchandise which had been
delayed in Mexico. Its general was Licentiate Don Antonio de Ribera
Maldonado, who had been appointed auditor of Manila. A small patache
had sailed in company with the galleon from the port of Acapulco,
but being unable to sail as rapidly as the "Santo Tomas," after a few
days' voyage, it dropped behind. When they arrived off the Ladrones
Islands, some natives went out, as usual, to meet the ship in their
boats, and brought with them five Spaniards of the crew of the ship
"Sancta Margarita," which had been lost there the year before. The
loss of that vessel was learned from those men; also that as many
as twenty-six Spaniards were living in the towns of those islands;
and that if the ship would wait, the natives would bring them.
The religious and men with the general tried to persuade him, since the
weather was calm, to wait in that place, in order to take these men
from those islands, where they had lingered for a year. Certain more
courageous persons even offered to go ashore to get them either in
the galleon's boat or in the vessels of the Ladrones themselves. But
the general would not allow this, believing that time would be lost,
and his expedition exposed to peril. Without leave from the general,
Fray Juan Pobre, a lay-brother, who was in charge of the discalced
religious of St. Francis, who were coming on that occasion to the
Filipinas, jumped into one of the Ladrones' vessels, and was taken by
the Indians to the island of Guan, where he remained with the Spaniards
whom he found. The galleon "Santo Tomas," without further delay,
pursued its voyage, to the great grief and regret of the Spaniards on
shore, who saw themselves left among those barbarians, where some of
them died later of illness and other hardships. The galleon reached
the Filipinas, making for the cape of Espiritu Santo and the harbor of
Capul, at the conjunction of the moon and change of the weather. The
land was so covered with thick fogs, that the ship was upon it before
it was seen, nor did the pilots and sailors know the country or place
where they were. They ran toward the Catenduanes, and entered a bay,
called Catamban, [145] twenty leguas from the channel, where they
found themselves embayed and with so much wind and sea astern of
them, that the galleon ran upon some rocks near the land and came
very near being wrecked that night with all aboard. At daybreak,
the general went ashore with the small boat and had the ship made
fast to some rocks. As the weather did not improve, and the ship was
hourly in greater danger of being wrecked, and the cables with which
it was made fast had given way, he determined to disembark the cargo
there, and as quickly as possible, by means of the boat. They went
to work immediately and took off the people, the silver, and the
greater part of the goods and property, until, with native boats,
the Spaniards and Indians of that province carried everything to
Manila over a distance of eighty leguas, partly by sea and partly
by land. They left the ship--a new and handsome one--wrecked there,
without being able to derive any profit whatever from it.