ANNO DOM. 1609.
Of the Administration of Don Juan de Silva.
When the account of the death of Acuna reached Madrid from New
Spain, the government was bestowed on Don Juan de Silva of Truxillo,
Knight of the order of Santiago, who, at that time, was serving in
Flanders. He arrived at Cavite in Easter, and took possession of
his government, bringing with him six companies of soldiers, which
addition to our force was of great importance at this period, as,
in the month of October, the Dutch squadron which has been mentioned,
appeared off the port of Yloylo. It was composed of six ships and a
considerable military force, which it was intended to disembark in
this province, but they were repulsed by the Alcalde Mayor. It then
appeared off Marivelez, with the view of preventing ships from going
to Manila, and of seizing all merchantmen. Don Juan de Silva fitted
out an armament, with which, in the month of April, he attacked and
defeated them on the day of St. Mark. He took two ships, the Captains
of which had been killed, with many of the crews; a third fled, and
the other two which had been separated the day before from the fleet,
and were returning with great booty, retired with such despatch, that
the Spanish squadron was unable to come up with them. He, however,
seized those ships which they had taken. Among others was a Japanese
vessel, in which were embarked those Spaniards, who had been wrecked
on the coast of that island in the ship St. Francis.
The Archbishop of Manila, Benavides, having died on the 26th of
July, 1605, his Majesty named as his successor, Don Diego Vasques
Mercado of Arevalo, in Old Castile. This year, 1610, he arrived at
the Philippines, and discharged his functions with great approbation,
until the year 1616, when he died, and the Bishop of Zebu succeeded
him in the Archbishopric.
The Dutch being settled in the island of Java, and possessing
fortifications in Malacca and other parts of India, our Governor
had little relish for such a neighbourhood, and as they had at
times infested our seas, and attacked our islands, he determined,
in person, to destroy the forts they had in Malacca, which being so
close in his vicinity, he was the more jealous of. He fitted out a
squadron of six ships and two galleys, and sailed for Ternate, where
he intended to take on board some linguists, and to arrange all his
other operations. He understood, in Ternate, that the Dutch hearing of
this expedition, had fortified themselves in such a manner in Malacca,
that it was impossible to make an impression upon them, and that he
might not entirely lose the benefit of the armament he had prepared,
he attempted to reduce the forts in Gilolo and Bataquina, but was
obliged to retreat to Manila, with the loss of three hundred men,
when he immediately began to make preparations of men and ships for
another expedition of the same nature. These islands, at this time,
received considerable aid in the arrival from Spain, by the way of
India, of five caravelas out of seven, which in April, 1613, had
sailed from Cadiz, commanded by Ruy Gonzalez de Segueira, having on
board three hundred and fifty soldiers, two hundred and forty seamen,
and a hundred Portuguese landsmen.
Upon the arrival of this relief, the Governor determined to
proceed to Malacca against the Dutch, whose position he ordered to
be reconnoitred, but he found them so powerful in ships, which had
arrived by the Straits both of Magellan and Sunda, that he deemed it
necessary to use his utmost exertions, to enable him to cope with
such powerful enemies. With this view he sent a despatch to the
Viceroy of India, requesting he would unite the forces of the two
kingdoms; but while he was preparing his armament at Cavite, ten Dutch
vessels arrived at Panay. They landed a number of men, and marched
for the city of Arivalo, burning the churches and the convents of
the Augustine friars, in the towns of Ogtong and Xaro. The Indians,
aware of the inadequate force the Spaniards possessed, fled to the
mountains, and although the Dutch retired immediately, it cost the
friars a great deal of labour, to bring them back to their towns,
where they could not persuade themselves they were secure.
By the end of the year 1616, Don Juan de Silva had collected the
greatest armament, that had been seen in the Philippines; it consisted
of ten galleons, four galleys, a patache, and many smaller vessels,
with all necessary supplies, and five thousand men, two thousand being
Spaniards and Portuguese. He sailed with this formidable armament,
on the last day of this year, to attack the forts of Malacca; but
as the galleons had not arrived which were expected from India,
and which he imagined had wintered in the Straits of Malacca, and
it was known that the Dutch kept some vessels in these Straits,
in expectation of the ships from China which passed by here, the
Governor thought it most adviseable, to attack these ships in the
first instance, and after he had destroyed them, he should be able
to join the galleons from India, and proceed to the Dutch forts in
Malacca. The reasoning was good, but it failed in the execution,
the galleons of India having been burnt, in an engagement they had
with the Dutch, and the latter having quitted the Straits eight days
before the Spaniards arrived, flying with all their effects, as they
had received secret intelligence of their route. At the same time that
the Spanish galleons entered the Straits, two Malay merchantmen from
China arrived very richly laden; by saving which, the inhabitants
of Malacca called Don de Silva their preserver, received him on
shore under a canopy, and expected from his valour, and the powerful
fleet he brought, that India would be freed from those freebooters,
the Dutch; but he was seized with a fever, and died in eleven days,
on the 19th of April, 1616. He had ordered his body to be embalmed,
and directed it should be carried to Xerez de los Cavalleros, to
a convent of bare-footed carmelites, and buried there. Before he
died, he gave the command of the armament to Don Alonzo Henriquez,
who brought it back to Manila, without effecting any thing else.
By the death of the Governor, the command devolved on Don Andres
Alcaraz, the oldest Oidor, who had been left in charge of the
government by Don Juan de Silva, when he sailed with the armament
for Malacca. About the same time our squadron sailed from the bay,
another Dutch squadron, which had lately arrived by the Straits of
Magellan, entered the mouth of the harbour, and lay a month close to
Marivelez. There were only four ships and two pataches laying before
Manila, and it was without artillery, ammunition, or soldiers. The
Governor ad interim was not dismayed at this; he armed those few ships
he possessed, fortified certain positions, and was encouraged in the
undertaking by the people, who took up arms, not only the laity, but
even the ecclesiastics also. The Dutch commander wrote two letters
to the Royal Audience, and one to General Pablo Blancardo, whom the
Spaniards had carried prisoner to Manila; but as soon as he learned
that Blancardo had died in prison, he made sail to the Moluccas.
Upon the death of Silva, the Dutch came with ten ships against Oton,
where they were gallantly repulsed by the commandant of the Pintados,
Don Diego de Quinones, who, in a wooden fort, sustained a siege of
ten days, during which time the Dutch made four assaults, in which
many were killed, but at last they were compelled to re-embark, and
they retired to Malacca. The following year the same armament of ten
ships came against Playa Honda. The Governor despatched against them,
the Colonel Don Juan Ronquillo, with six galleons and two galleys; they
came to an action on the 14th of April, 1617, and the two commodores
being engaged, Don Juan Ronquillo sunk his adversary's ship, called
the Sun of Holland; two other ships were burnt, and the rest fled
with precipitation. The Spaniards, however, were not able to pursue
them, as they had suffered much in the engagement, and had lost the
galleon St. Mark. After this action, Don Geronimo de Silva returned
from Molucca, and the Oidor Alcarez resigned to him his office, the
duties of which he had discharged with great applause. In October,
Don Geronimo ordered the seven galleons that had been so severely
handled in the last engagement, to be laid up in Marinduque. The two
ships for Acapulco were despatched in the worst season of the year,
during the hurricane months, and they were both lost, one on the
coast of Lobo, and the other on that of Galban. This reflected no
great credit on the wisdom and prudence of the Governor.