After the Dutch pirates began to sail the seas of Eastern India
and the archipelago of Filipinas, and to carry cloves from Maluco,
silks from China, and drugs from the adjacent islands, they began
also to cripple the cities that were sustained by the trade, which
are the principal cities; because the seas were infested, and there
was little security on them from those pirates. They, from the first
year of their entrance into the Orient, coasted the shores, sounded
the ports, and established trading-posts in the chief places, which
they filled with people whom they brought from Holanda. Consequently,
by the year 1614, the Dutch had eighteen armed galleons in the South
Sea, and they burned the city of Arevalo, where the food for Maluco was
stored, and committed many other depredations, which obliged Don Juan
de Silva, governor and captain-general of the Filipinas Islands, to
prepare a large fleet to attack them and drive them from our seas. But,
thinking that the forces of the Filipinas were insufficient to attend
to so many things at once--the support of the camp in Maluco; the
defense of the city of Manila, which is in sight of twenty thousand
Chinese (who had already, in 1603, risen against it and incited a
war); and sallies to fight the enemy--it was determined to ask help
from the viceroy of India and to join the two forces, Castilian and
Lusitanian, who are especially being attacked by the Dutch. Indeed,
the letters-patent given to them by Count Mauricio read that they are
to make war on the Castilians and Portuguese. Besides this argument,
it is evident that Yndia is not less interested in driving out those
enemies than are the Filipinas.
Father Juan de Rivera, [72] then rector of the residence of the
Society of Jesus at Manila, was appointed to negotiate this league and
reenforcement. He prepared himself in a few days and left for Yndia on
November 21 of the year 1615. He reached Malaca on Tuesday, December 9,
by Manila reckoning, but Wednesday by that of Malaca; for the date for
those sailing west is later, and earlier for those sailing east. [73]
From Malaca he journeyed to Cochin, and from Cochin to Goa, at the
time when Yndia was engaged in the wars of the north; because peace
with the great Mogor [74] had been broken. The viceroy had gone with
a powerful fleet to capture, if possible, four English ships anchored
at Surate, where he received the letters belonging to our voyage and
embassy. Considering the importance of the matter, he hastened his
return and went to Goa. There he furnished four galleons for the said
help, and three hundred or more soldiers, appointing as commander of
the latter Don Francisco de Miranda Enrriquez. [75]
The latter left Goa May 12. The voyage, which is generally
thirty days, lasted three and one-half months. We ran short of
water in the middle of the open stretch, and thought that we were
lost, on account of having been despatched with broken tanks and
hogsheads. Together with this was the disorder among the soldiers of
Yndia, who surreptitiously took with them many servants of their own
and of other people, so that it was necessary to support these people
aboard the vessel. These afterward consumed the food, and then caught
and spread a pestilence. Although there were only one hundred and
ten soldiers in our galleon, there were about seven hundred persons,
mostly negroes and Cafres; of these many were free, although nominally
slaves, as Don Gonzalo de Silva, bishop of Malaca, who was aboard
the same galleon, testified. He declared that many lads were free,
even some whom they were taking as captives. This is a general sin,
wherefore some Portuguese authors say, with Father Hernando Rabelo,
that God is punishing Yndia and the Portuguese nation, which alone
has more slaves than any other nation of the world.
July 30 we met two Dutch ships, which were apparently going from
Palliacate [_i.e._, Palicat] to carry aid to Maluco. Our galleon fought
singlehanded with those two ships, because the other galleons were
far to leeward. The enemy had waited two days between us, without our
knowing it, in order to show themselves at a favorable opportunity. So
great is the confidence of the Portuguese that they did not fear
them. They said that they were ships from Cochin, and that, had they
known in time that they were enemies, they could have captured them
easily. In short they remained a cannon-shot from the flagship, and so
fought until night, when they made off badly battered--as we learned
later from the people of Achen, on whose coast one of the ships was
immediately wrecked, having sprung a leak through the effect of our
balls and their own firing. They only killed two of our men. After the
battle, our galleon ran aground on a shoal, on the eve of our Lady of
the Assumption, near Pulo Parcelar. At the first shock, the helm was
shifted seaward, and all that night we tossed up and down dreadfully
until, next morning, we miraculously got off the shoal. We reached
the strait of Sincapura on August 10, where, as the pilots said the
Manila monsoon was over, we determined to run to Malaca.
In Malaca the ships were very inhospitably received, for soldiers are
wont to commit depredations. But within a few days they were made to
see that the landing there of the galleons was for their relief and
the salvation of their city; for a month after their arrival the king
of Achen came with sixty thousand men to besiege it. Information of
this number and of the other things that will be related, was given by
the Portuguese who were captives in Achen and returned to Malaca. They
had three hundred and fifty sail--among them sixty galleys, each with
three pieces in the bows; the piece in the midship gangway fired balls
of sixty libras, as we saw in those found in the galleons after the
war. Along the sides they carried five falcons, firing balls of six
libras. In the royal galley, called "Espanto del mundo" [_i.e._, Fear
of the world] by the people of Achen, were sixteen hundred soldiers
and one hundred and fifty falcons and half-sized falcons. That king of
Achen, the most powerful on the sea of all this Orient, had concerted
with the Dutch that both should take Malaca. Consequently they took a
few days in arriving. The king of Achen arrived first at the bay of
Malaca with a squadron of eighteen galleys, in order to reconnoiter
the place. Finding our four galleys anchored in the port, and learning
that they were war-vessels, they put to sea to await the Dutch. When
our men saw them depart and go toward the strait, where they might
capture the boats from China and unite with the Dutch, they resolved
to set sail and give battle. They did so with the four galleons and
six galliots--ten small vessels. They encountered the Achen boats on
November 15, and fought for two and one-half days. The enemy carried
a considerable force. They burned one galliot, so that the soldiers
abandoned it and went to the galleons. The flagship grappled eleven
galleys. Fire was set to it many times, but our men extinguished
it. The enemy grappled the galleon of Don Juan de Silveira, which
carried twenty-two pieces of artillery, and set fire to it. They were
unable to extinguish the fire, and so it was entirely burned.
Don Juan de Silvera and Antonio Rodriguez de Gamboa, son of the
commander-in-chief of that fortress of Malaca, and forty other
Portuguese, took to the water; but all were captured by the king
of Achen and placed aboard his galley. A fresh wind began to blow,
wherewith the vessels separated and the men of Achen went to their
country with something less than thirty craft, counting large and
small boats, and with two thousand men killed. Although we did them
damage, it was not so great as that which we received. Accordingly they
regarded it as a victory and entered their kingdom in triumph--where
they feasted the captains, whom they treated courteously, and then
loosed them and gave them liberty.
On December 7 of the same year of 1615, the Dutch reached the bay of
Malaca with seven ships and one patache, coming to join the king of
Achen. They found our three galleons, which, for greater security,
had been anchored between a sandbank made by the sea and a small
island near Malaca. There they said that they were invincible, for
entrance could be had only by a channel near the rampart, which,
by means of its pieces of artillery, would refuse entrance. On the
sea side they were defended by the sandbank and shoals. But the enemy
sounded the port that night with its lanchas and found a new channel,
where they entered without being hindered by the rampart. This was
attributed to the fault and negligence of those who could and ought
to have prevented the lanchas from making soundings, because of the
many galliots in the port.
The enemy having entered and coming within cannon range, opened
a fierce bombardment, which lasted two and one-half days. At this
time our vessels defended themselves with three pieces that could
be fired, and no more, because they were anchored, and the current
threw them in a line toward the Dutch; although had the people on
shore been diligent, they could have brought the vessels about with
cables. The enemy tacked at will and played the majority of their
pieces. We discovered that our galleons were stronger than their
ships, for their balls did not pass through the sides of the galleons,
especially of the almiranta and flagship. The damage inflicted by them
was through the open ports; while we saw that our balls passed through
the Dutch ships from side to side, and then went bounding through
the water. Nevertheless, distrusting the Dutch and their battery,
the men of the galleons began to edge away and to leave them at the
approach of night, especially when they saw Captain Juan Pinto and
Admiral Alfonso Vaez fall; they were killed with four others, by a
ball that entered through a port.
First they abandoned the galleon called "Plata," without taking the
precaution to set it afire when they left, so that the enemy could
not approach with their artillery. This the enemy did, entering and
capturing it, as was well seen; and afterward they set it afire.
When the enemy saw that the soldiers were deserting the almiranta,
they lowered their lanchas and entered it. One Dutchman, climbing up to
the maintopsail, lowered the banner of Christ and ran up that of Count
Mauricio, the sight of which caused us great anguish. Throughout that
battle our men did not fire a musket or espingarda, [76] and they had
none on the second day, for they tried to escape by swimming. Our men
set fire to this galleon, the almiranta; and when the Dutch saw that it
was burning, they left it, and the fire did its duty until it converted
the vessel into ashes. The flagship held out longer, but the soldiers
did not wait for the Dutch to board, for some of them escaped from
the galleon by swimming. Thirteen or fourteen of them were drowned,
among them Christobal de Fegueredo. Some jumped into a small skiff
belonging to the galleon, for they had taken all the boats from the
city, so that they had none in which to come thence. The galleon was
left with a few men, who were no longer firing and were silent. At this
juncture, the general left by a port, as best he could. Reaching shore,
he ordered the galleon to be set afire, which was done. It began to
burn, to our very great sorrow and to the exultation of the enemy,
for it was an unusually fine vessel; it carried thirty-six pieces
of artillery and a quantity of ammunition. When the fire reached the
powder-magazine, so great was the noise made, that the island of Malaca
trembled and the houses shook. A cloud of smoke arose to the heavens
which hid the clouds, and in that instant we lost sight of the galleon.
In the four galleons ninety-two pieces of artillery were lost. The
wounded and dead reached one hundred. The enemy were insolent
and victorious, and, although we had done them some damage, they
nevertheless attained their purpose, not only of preventing the
relief of Maluco, but of destroying the Portuguese squadron--and that
without the necessity of boarding any galleon, for which there was
no such need; because, before they could reach the galleys, these
were abandoned.
As soon as the enemy were discovered, many said that it would be
advisable to mount some pieces on the island, with some gabions, in
order to attack the enemy, and defend the galleons, which would have
been an admirable relief. But it did not have the desired effect,
for only one piece was mounted, and that late; and no one cared to
guard it, until Antonio Pinto de Fonseca, inspector of forts and one
who insisted urgently that the pieces be mounted, found a homicide,
who with other criminals, guarded the piece. He did considerable
injury to the enemy, for he fired from a short distance and with
safety. Had there been six guns, they would have sunk the enemy;
but that was not the first or the last act of carelessness.
On the twelfth of the month, the galleons were converted into ashes,
and the Maluco relief expedition was destroyed. After the battle and
disaster many quarrels arose among the nobles by land and sea, over
the question who was to blame. Each one blamed the other, attributing
the loss to many excesses that they mentioned. The truth is that such
excesses existed, and they and our sins were the cause of so great
a chastisement.
On February 25, Don Juan de Silva, governor and captain-general of
the Filipinas, reached the strait with ten galleons, four galleys,
and one patache. The Dutch were informed of his coming, for having
captured Juan Gallegos, a pilot who came from Macao in a patache, he
told them the plans of the governor. Thereupon the enemy took refuge a
week beforehand. They had been awaiting two vessels that were coming
from China with all the wealth of Yndia; and the Portuguese considered
it a foregone conclusion that these would fall into the hands of the
enemy. They had resolved to land on the island of Bintan or Pulo
Timón and burn the galleons, so that the enemy should not benefit
therefrom. For that purpose they sent Captain Fernando Acosta to
Malaca. But at the news of the governor's coming, the enemy abandoned
their station and left a free passage to the ships, which arrived one
day after the governor. It is reported that the two vessels had ten
days of contrary southeast winds which prevented them from reaching the
strait sooner, where their danger was. But God our Lord did better,
and He deprived the enemy of the prize, which would have enriched
them enormously, and allowed them to make war on Europe.
For that good result and benefit given to all Yndia by Don Juan de
Silva, the Portuguese were extremely thankful, and accordingly received
him in Malaca under a pall and with great acclamation. On March 26
all confessed that God had delivered them from the Dutch by his means;
and they hoped that he would drive the enemy from these seas later. But
death, which comes when God pleases, finished all their hopes; for it
brought him to his bed, and from that to a grave on April 19, 1616,
of a fever that carried him off in eleven days. During the course of
his sickness, the city made a procession from the _asse_ or cathedral
to [the church of] La Misericordia, [77] praying our Lord for his
health. At his death, they bewailed him with extreme sorrow.
Before dying he saw that his end was near, and accordingly prepared
himself by acts of faith and penitence, receiving the sacraments. He
ordered his body to be embalmed, and taken on the royal galley to
Manila, and thence to Jerez de los Caballeros, [78] where he founded
a convent of discalced Carmelite nuns. In the meanwhile the body
should be deposited in the residence or houses of the Society of
Jesus. Accordingly, in the residence of Malaca they celebrated the
church services for him. At the end of nine days, the body was taken to
the galleys anchored in the strait of Sincapura. There it was received
with a salute on May 2. On the fourth, sail was set toward Manila.
The fleet was composed of ten galleons, four galleys, one patache, and
three frigates. It carried three hundred pieces of artillery, eight
companies of Spanish soldiers, five hundred Japanese, two hundred
volunteers, sixty artillerymen, and two hundred sailors. [Without
signature. [79]]
_Letter from Father Juan de Ribera, [80] rector of the residence of
the Society of Jesus at Manila, in which he gives account of his
voyage to and from India, and of the unfortunate fate of the four
galleons that he took thence._
We set sail at Cabite November twenty-one, the day of the Virgin. In
a fortnight we entered the strait of Sincapura, having followed
the new route, which is called that of China. It is a very wide
channel, some forty or fifty brazas deep. We anchored at Malaca on
Tuesday, December nine, by our account, but on Wednesday by that of
Malaca. We left there on Christmas eve, with favorable weather. In
the neighborhood of Punta de Gale [or Galle], which is located in
Ceylan, we experienced a heavy storm. When that had subsided, the
currents carried us to the islands of Mal-Divar [_i.e._, Maldives],
a voyage from which few emerge in safety. We lost our reckoning,
and were in great need of wood and water. But by God's help, after
having approached one of those islands, our necessity was relieved
by some Malabar pirates for money. We were sailing among that great
forest of islands when we became becalmed, the peril most feared by
pilots. When we were all grieving over that, the chief of the Lascars,
a Moro by nation, and religion, arose. Taking a dish in his hand,
he begged us all for an alms for our Lady of Guadalupe of the city
of Cochin, [81] assuring us that she would give us wind. He pledged
himself to give double the alms collected, even if she did not give
the wind. Much surprised in so great confidence in a Moro, and all
of us being encouraged, he collected in a short time eighteen pesos,
and after folding them in a cloth, he tied them to the mizzen-masthead
begging the Virgin to fulfil her promise. The fact was that from that
day the wind to navigate (little or much) never failed us, until we
reached Cochin. That was on January twenty-three, and on entering the
bar there, we met a fleet of Malabar pirates who were sufficiently
powerful to oppose us. But God so disposed that we came upon them
when they were tired out, as we afterward learned, by a battle that
they had waged for the space of two days with another pirate, also a
Malabar--who, conquered by them at last, scuttled his ship and went
down with all on board, in order not to fall into their hands. For
that reason they did not attack us so quickly, and we had time to
enter Cochin.
The fathers provincial received us on the beach--the present father
Francisco, [82] and the past Alberto Laercio [83]--accompanied by
the most grave fathers with music and other kindnesses. We stayed
two months in Cochin, where we received singular kindness and
entertainment from all. They took me to Caranganor, five leguas from
there, along very pleasant rivers, in a boat like a house, belonging to
the archbishop of Sierra, Father Don Francisco Ros [84] of our Society,
a native of the city of Girona in the principality of Cataluña, whose
hand I desired to kiss. We found him at Peru. He seemed a saint to
me. When I remarked to him, à propos of the retirement and poverty
in which I found him, at the first salutation, "_Qui Episcopatum
desiderat, bonum opus desiderat_," he replied, "Our Chaldean answers,
_Bonam servitulem querit_." [85] He is learned in that language,
in which his priests pray and celebrate the mass with peculiar
ceremonies. We found him living so apostolic a life that he did not
have room to entertain the eight of our Society who were there--among
whom was the rector of Cochin, Father Gaspar Fernandez [86]--nor did
he have any food to give us. Consequently we returned to the boat,
which was more comfortable than the house. We went to Caranganor, a
Portuguese fortress, and a residence of ours, just opposite Samorin. I
saw some doors and windows that had been broken with volleys, and
they told me that a father who was praying in the window had been
killed. The father rector of the residence there had a carved image
of the child Jesus asleep in a little gilded bed, which had been
sent him by a pagan Malabar pirate, who stole it from a Portuguese,
believing it to be gold. But when he had carried it to his house,
he found that it was only gilded wood, and gave it to his children
for a toy. The sleeping Child, however, did not allow his owner to
sleep, for according to his account, He kept him awake every night,
and placing Himself in front of him, said to him, "Take me to the
land of the Christians." He communicated the matter to his wife,
and by her counsel sent Him to the father rector of Caranganor. We
went to Vaypicota, a residence of our Society, which formerly had a
greater number of our members. That field of Christendom has become
lessened through the little favor [shown to the Christians by] the
pagan king to whom it is subject. It is a wonder to me that within
a stone's throw of our church is a Moro mosque, a pagan temple, and
a Jewish synagogue, without one harming another, although they annoy
us greatly by their shouting, when they invoke the devil.
From Cochin we went to Goa on April three of this year, one thousand
six hundred and fifteen, in a galley of the fleet. We coasted along
the shore and visited the fortresses of Malabar. We spent Holy Week
in Mangalor. We lodged in the convent of St. Francis, and helped
confess the soldiers. We spent forty days in the voyage, until we
reached Goa, where Father Francisco Vergara, rector of the college,
and all the others received us with great charity. Four of them
took me to visit the viceroy, who showed us great courtesy. After I
had been talking with him for almost an hour, the chief chancellor
entered, who is at the same time auditor for the reports in causes,
and is a knight of the habit. Having given him a seat of honor, such
as we were occupying, the viceroy said to him: "I am surprised, sir,
that all the fathers of the Society are all so much alike; for the
father rector of Manila, whom we have here, is just like the fathers
here, even in speech." He determined immediately what could be done in
accordance with the present state of India, in respect to the aid that
I was come to request--namely, to give four well-equipped galleons,
with as many as four hundred soldiers and ninety pieces of artillery
among them all. As commander of this fleet, he assigned Francisco de
Miranda Enriquez, a gentleman who has had good fortune in war; and,
as admiral, Alfonso Vaez Coutiño.
We left Goa on the twelfth of May. We were one hundred and two days
on the voyage for the lack of good weather, and on account of the
poor route chosen by the pilot, who took us to the land of Achan; and
as its inhabitants are hostile to the Portuguese, the latter did not
dare land there. The men were dying with thirst, and had it not been
for some showers, and the final resolution to get water on a desert
island, we would have suffered even death. We had many _samatras_,
or hurricanes, on the coast of that great land, which broke topmasts,
tore sails, and broke moorings, causing us to lose anchors and other
necessary articles.
On July thirty, on the eve of our Father St. Ignatius, in the district
of Pulu Parcelar, our capitana galleon fought two Dutch vessels,
without the other galleons being able to render aid, as they were to
leeward. Our galleon made two vain attempts to grapple--one because
of too much wind, and the other for lack of wind--for the one was
a samatra or hurricane, and the other so great a calm, that neither
we nor the Dutch could manage our ships. But inasmuch as we remained
within cannon-shot of one another, we fought until night deepened,
and they fled battered to pieces; for our balls had gone clear through
them, while theirs made scarcely any impression on us. Accordingly
we only lost two men in the fight.
On the eve of the Assumption [87] we ran upon a shoal three brazas
under water, where the galleon remained all night, tossing up and down
frightfully. In the morning a boat came from one of our other ships
in response to the numerous pieces that we discharged, and helped us
get off the shoal; but we were in so bad condition that from then on
the boat made thirty palmos of water every twenty-four hours.
We finally reached Malaca August twenty-two. Although it was thought
that the monsoon or favorable wind was already ended, we attempted
to make the voyage to Manila. We passed the strait of Sincapura,
and on the fifth of September, because of the little progress that
we made, called a council, in which we all resolved to winter at
Malaca. However, on the next day, the commander attempted to continue
the voyage to Manila, until the soldiers and sailors mutinied and
forced him to put in at Malaca, on the nineteenth of the same month.
The fleet was very ill received by the inhabitants there, because
of the harm that soldiers generally do. But our going there was soon
seen to have been a providence of God; for within one month the king
of Achen came to attack that city with a fleet of one hundred and
fifty sail and forty thousand men, and had not he found our galleys
there would surely have captured it. And further, according to rumors
(and as was shown in the result), he had agreed with the Dutch to join
them, since they came only twenty days apart, as I shall immediately
relate. In my opinion the same thing that had happened to the prophet
Abacuc [_i.e._, Habakkuk] happened to me. For he having prepared
the food for his reapers, the angel bore him by the hair to Babylon,
to relieve the necessity of Daniel, who had been locked in the den
of lions. I took that aid from Goa for Manila, and the Lord took us
to Malaca, and conveyed us as if by the hair, since we put in with
great repugnance; and at last all that reinforcement was consumed in
helping Malaca.
A squadron of galleys came ahead to reconnoiter. Finding our galleons
anchored, and taking note of the soldiers in them and in the city,
it went ahead to the strait to await (as was heard) the Dutch. Our
men feared lest they should attack the trading ships which generally
come at that time from China. Accordingly it was resolved that four
galleons, six galliots, and other oared craft should sail out to drive
the enemy from the coast. They engaged on the fifteenth of November,
and fought all that day, and the one following. The enemy's force
was large. They burned one galliot and forced the men to desert the
others and enter the galleons, which now were in need of men. The enemy
attacked our flagship and surrounded it with twelve large galleys. It
caught fire many times, but our men always extinguished the fire
and defended themselves valiantly. They attacked the galleon of Don
Juan de Silveyra, which was a fine vessel, and a fort of twenty-two
cannons. It caught fire and burned so furiously that the flames could
not be extinguished; and it was accordingly burned to ashes. The said
Don Juan de Silveyra and Antonio Rodriguez Gamboa--his brother-in-law,
and son of Juan Cayado de Gamboa, commandant of that fortress of
Malaca--leaped overboard. They and thirty or forty other Portuguese
were captured by the people of Achen and taken to their king, who
treated them courteously and gave them liberty. Those gentlemen
declared to me, in writing, in Malaca that the fleet of the people
of Achen consisted of three hundred and fifty craft, among which were
sixty large galleys, each with three pieces of artillery at the bow,
while that of the midship gangway had the caliber of sixty libras;
that the royal galley carried one thousand six hundred men, with one
hundred and twenty falcons and half-falcons; and that they lost ten
large galleys in the fight, besides twenty other lesser craft. They
also stated that after returning to his country the king punished
certain of his captains because they had not burned all the galleys;
and that having given liberty to the captives he sent them to Malaca,
with che message that he desired peace with his brother, the king of
Castilla and Portugal.
Our good fortune resulted in his not having effected a meeting with the
Dutch, who arrived the next month, on the seventh of December, with
seven ships and one patache. Our three galleons had been stationed
in a cove between the small island of Malaca and a sandbank--a
place that seemed impregnable, as it was defended on the sea side
by the sandbank and shoals, and on the land side by the artillery
of its ramparts. But the enemy, having thoroughly reconnoitered the
sandbank and shoals, discovered a channel where they could enter,
and thereupon entered on the morning of the next day, flying their
red rear-admiral's banners. The flagship remained outside, although
within cannon-shot. Then began a cruel bombardardment that lasted
three days. Our galleons could not play all their artillery, for they
were anchored, and the currents were dragging them toward the Dutch,
who were free, and maneuvered at will. Our artillery was heavier than
theirs, consequently the few pieces that we fired did them great
damage. The building of a protection for the cannon was discussed,
and the planting of some pieces on the island, in order to defend
the galleons. That would doubtless have been of great importance
for they would have fired from a covered battery and at very close
range, as was seen by the effect produced by only one piece that
was mounted there. It was fired by a man who had been condemned to
death, and who was awaiting justice for having pillaged two Chinese
vessels. He was promised pardon if he would take charge of that piece,
as he did, to the damage of the enemy. But as he was alone and the
enemy were bringing to bear all the artillery of their ships, they
finally prevailed. On the first day, Juan Pinto, captain of a galley,
being killed, and his uncle, a valiant soldier, having broken his leg,
his men were disheartened, and deserted the galleon; but they did not
take the precaution to burn it, so that the enemy could not profit,
as they did, by its artillery, food, and other things that it was
carrying; afterward the enemy set it on fire.
At dawn of the next day, December ten, the heretics began to attack
the almiranta. At the first volleys the admiral and five other men
were killed. The men were so disheartened by that event that they
began to jump overboard, and it was impossible for certain commanders
and brave soldiers, who were trying to defend the galleon, to prevent
them. But, as the enemy perceived them deserting the vessel, they
sent their lanchac and entered it; they first lowered the flag of
Christ from the masthead and placed it on their ship below that of
Count Mauricio. The vessel was already burning from the fire set by
our men, and accordingly the enemy deserted it quickly.
Our flagship kept up the fight longer, but at last men were lacking;
for, as the land was near, they tried to reach it in boats or by
swimming. The commander Francisco de Miranda Enriquez was left
with very few men; and they even, seeing that it was impossible to
defend themselves, were forced to land, after having set fire to the
galleon. It was a very fine and strong boat. It earned thirty-six
cannon, and had so much ammunition that when the fire reached the
powder magazine, the vessel blew up with so great a din, that it made
the entire city and the island of Malaca shake, and the vessel was
seen no more. This was different from the almiranta, which, when its
powder had been spent, was two days in burning. The dead and wounded on
our side number about one hundred. The enemy lost one of its vessels,
but was at last victorious. Then they went to the strait to await the
ships expected from China. In the city was little harmony, those of
the fleet and those of the city accusing one another of the fault [of
the defeat]. I reverenced the judgments of God, and considered that,
although there was some excess on both sides, the chief cause of so
great a loss was our sins. _Quia peccavimus tibi Domini_, etc. [88]
The largest fleet ever seen in these islands or perchance in the
Indias was prepared that year of 1615 in the port of Cabite. [89]
It seems a miraculous circumstance that so large a number of ships
could be gathered together in a land so recently conquered and peopled
with Spaniards, and the most remote and distant in all the Spanish
monarchy. It was the peculiar offspring of the magnanimous courage,
valor, and energy (never sufficiently praised) of Governor Don Juan
de Silva. It consisted of ten galleons, four galleys, one patache,
and other smaller craft: the flagship of the galleons, called "La
Salvadora," of two thousand tons burden; the almiranta, by name
"San Marcos," of one thousand seven hundred; "San Juan Bautista,"
and the "Espiritu Santo," of one thousand three hundred; "San Miguel"
and "San Felipe," of eight hundred; "Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe,"
and "Santiago," one hundred less; "San Andres," five hundred; and
"San Lorenco" (the smallest one), four hundred. The galleys were all
under the advocacy and name of the Virgin Mary, our Lady. Those craft
were armed and equipped with five thousand men, two thousand, or a
few less, being Spaniards; three hundred pieces of artillery--the
flagship alone carrying forty-six (the smallest of eighteen, while
the majority of them were twenty-two libras' caliber, and some were
thirty), and all were bronze, and it carried nine hundred men;
the almiranta seven hundred men, and thirty-two pieces; and the
other vessels in proportion. Of powder, they carried four thousand
five hundred arrobas; of biscuits, five thousand; of clean rice,
three thousand fanegas; and so on, in all the other war-supplies,
ammunition, and food. All this was at the king's account, not to
mention the private persons who embarked.
Among the other precautions that the governor took in order to
accomplish a successful result was one, namely, to ask the provincials
of the orders and their religious to aid--the one with their prayers
and continual sacrifices in their convents; and the other by religious
who were priests, to act as chaplains of the vessels. Six fell to
the share of the Society, two of whom embarked in the flagship,
in which were the chief Japanese of a company of that nation which
had been raised to serve as volunteers on that expedition, through
the vigilance of Father Garcia Garces, [90] a Castilian, one of the
exiles, whom the governor esteemed highly. Accordingly, the latter
ordered that the father should embark on the flagship, and with
him another religious of the Japanese nation, a person respected
because of his worth. In the galleon "San Juan Bautista" was Father
Pedro Gomez, rector of Maluco. He had gone to India, and returned
with the news of the four Portuguese galleons which were coming to
unite with our ten. As his associate went Father Manuel Ribeyro of
the province of Cochin and its subject. In the ship "San Felipe" was
Father Miguel Ignacio, at present rector of the residence of Zebu,
who, without urging the obligation of his office or the ill-health
that he was enjoying _[la poca salud, que gozaua]_, offered himself
so fervently to the superiors for that perilous mission, that they
had to yield to him. The commander of that ship has declared in his
many letters the talent of the said father as a preacher, and his
opinion of his sanctity; and how great was the esteem of the soldiers
and sailors for the abundant fruit that he had gathered in Cabite by
his apostolic preaching. His associate was Father Melchor de Vera,
[91] who had been in the expedition and victory of the year 10. Of
the other religious orders there were also some prominent members,
divided among the other boats.
That noble fleet could not set sail until the last day of that year of
1615. It had been collected with the intention of going straightway
in search of the enemy in their own forts and the chief stronghold
of Malayo. But as the galleons from India did not arrive, which they
had heard were wintering in Malaca; and knowing that at that time
some ships were generally awaiting in its strait the trading-ships
from China which pass that way, and that some good fortune could be
secured from them: the governor considered it advisable to lay his
course toward Malaca--whence he supposed that after the destruction
of the enemy that he would cause there, and after having joined the
Portuguese galleons, he would go straight to Malayo. It was a well
founded idea, but founded on an uncertain end as are all human ideas
and considerations. For besides that there were then no galleons in
Malaca, because they had been burned in the manner above related,
if the governor had not left these coasts, or at least had he sailed
directly to those of Maluco, and even without leaving the bay of
Manila, he would have had in a short time a victory equal to the
past, and would have destroyed the help that came, because of his
preparations, from Olanda by way of the coasts of Pirú and Nueva-España
to these islands. For it happened that at the same time that Don Juan
de Silva was going out by way of Miriveles with his fleet, one of the
four governors of the state of Olanda was entering by way of Capulco
[i.e., Capul] with four large ships--his flagship being one called "Sol
de Olando" [i.e., "The sun of Holland"]--and two pataches. Those ships
were coming straight to anchor at the same entrance of Mariveles, by
which the fleet that we had fitted out had sailed one month previously.
That unlooked-for event caused great confusion in this city of Manila
and the port of Cabite. Licentiate Andres de Alcaraz and the gentlemen
of the royal Audiencia were governing. They put aside their togas and
girded on their swords. They divided the most dangerous and important
posts. One of them was charged with the fortification of Cabite, and
the repair of three galleys and other boats that had been going to
rack and ruin there; another with the casting of new pieces from the
little metal remaining in the royal magazines, and he, because by its
scarcity the sudden need for artillery could not be supplied, tried
to use the waste left from former castings, by digging and sifting the
earth around the ancient foundry. That was so excellent a scheme that
three thousand arrobas of metal were collected in a few days. It is
a cause for wonderment, and could not have been accomplished except
by Spanish activity, stimulated by necessity and the energy of the
Chinese, sharpened by the reward of three reals given them for each
arroba. More than one thousand five hundred persons worked at the
sifting, and at the casting of new pieces. As a result the necessary
cannon for the defense of Cabite and Manila were manufactured in a
short time.
To that and other temporal precautions and efforts, were added
at the same time the spiritual--acts of prayer and supplications,
the most holy host being exposed in the cathedral, the convents,
and the parochial churches, with the effect and devotion that
exigency and need are wont to stimulate. The image of our Lady of
Guidance was carried in solemn and devout procession from her church
(which is located in the suburbs of this city) to the cathedral,
where it was visited continually by the inhabitants, who could not
tear themselves from it. In our residence the most holy host was also
exposed to all the town; with the solemnity of service and sermon on
the day that belonged to it; while on all other days it was especially
exposed by Ours at the hour of prayer and devotion. Each priest was
ordered to say a novena of masses, and those who were not priests
a novena of rosaries, penitences, and other devotions. Similar and
even advantageous action was taken in the other convents, churches,
and communities of the city and surrounding villages.
The Lord, whose providence is always most notable in the greatest
exigencies, was pleased to hear the united voice of this community,
and induced our enemy, after they had lain at anchor for a fortnight
in the bay in sight of Manila, to hoist their sails; and without doing
more than seize one champan and send two letters by a prisoner--one
to the commander of their nation [i.e., van Caerden] who was a
prisoner here, and the other to the royal Audiencia, asking for his
ransom. But that could have no effect, for the miserable man had
died a short time before in his perfidy, exchanging his temporal
for the eternal prison. [After sending these letters] the enemy
returned to Terrenate, ridding this city of its great anxiety. On
that occasion the religious served not only with spiritual weapons,
but also with what temporal arms they could use and those that they
knew how to manage. Among others was one of our brethren, whom the
royal Audiencia charged with the management of the artillery of the
port of Cabite, because of his skill in the art and of his bravery,
which the occasion required. Another religious, also ours, by his
good management prevented the soldiers of Cabite from burning that
settlement, for they had already commenced at one of the houses,
where were collected the goods of the Portuguese commander, who had
come from España the year before as commander of certain caravels with
reenforcements from the kingdoms of España. They considered it less
wrong for us to burn them ourselves than to let the enemy make use
of them. But that religious with his arguments and good management
hindered it, and inspired them all to extinguish the fire. That was
a cause of rejoicing afterward, when they saw the enemy go away and
leave us, without forcing us to so costly a precaution.
While the above was passing in Manila, our fleet reached Malaca,
and entered the strait February twenty-five. The enemy had left
it one week previous, fleeing with all sails set, because of the
secret advice that they had received that our fleet was going in
search of them. The day following the arrival of our galleons,
the two Chinese trading-ships entered the same strait, bearing all
the wealth of India It was a most fortunate event and was worthily
celebrated by the public acclamations of the inhabitants of Malaca,
who called Governor Don Juan de Silva their redeemer. They received
him in their city under the pall, with demonstrations of joy and
honors as if he were a viceroy, for as such did they regard him;
and they assured themselves that with his valor and powerful fleet,
they were to deliver India from the inopportune war and the continuous
pillaging of the Dutch. But (O human misery!) fortune changed within a
few days, and all those hopes were frustrated; it brought the governor
to his bed with a mortal burning fever, which killed him in eleven
days. During the course of those eleven days the city made a public
procession from the cathedral church to the Misericordia, praying
God for his health. On the day of his death--namely, April nineteen,
1616--there were general mourning and tears from men, women, and even
children, as if each one of them had lost a father.
Recognizing the approach of death, he received the holy sacraments,
and performed many acts of faith and penitence, protesting that he was
dying in the service of his king, and, as he hoped, in that of God,
for his intent had been none but the conservation and increase of the
Catholic faith and the destruction of heresy in those districts. And
he said that if the natives had been harassed any, those molestations
had not been intended and were unavoidable, for war brings them. He
ordered his body to be embalmed and carried to this city of Manila
in the flagship galley. From here he ordered his body to be carried
to Xerez de los Cavalleros, where he ordered a convent of discalced
Carmelites to be founded; and that his remains should be deposited
in the residences of the Society. Thus was it done in Malaca, and
afterward here in Manila, where all that fleet arrived in the first
part of June, on the eve of Corpus Christi, in the year of 1616. The
mission and ministry of Ours and of the other religious who took
part in the campaign had lasted for four months, in which they had a
very abundant harvest of souls, discomforts and hardships; for they
had been two months below the equator itself, where they suffered
incomparable heat and drank poor water, which was the cause of the
men catching the plague. And hence there was considerable to do,
and in which to employ their fervor, particularly during Lent and
Holy Week, which they spent at sea. [92]