_Relation by Captain Sebastian de Pineda, on matters relating to
the Filipinas Islands_--_both the building of galleons, pataches,
and galleys, and other means of defense; and various things regarding
the preservation and safety of the said islands_. [37]
Sire:
In those islands is found a wood called _maria_, [38] which is
used to make all the futtock-timbers of all the galleons, galleys,
and pataches; and all the knees and compass-timbers, of all sizes
required. There is much of this timber from which to select, although,
because of the ships built by Don Juan de Silva, the supply of it is
now obtained from a distance. That wood is used only for this purpose,
for the tree is short and not straight. Capstans of one piece, gears,
and some stringer-plates [_trancaniles_] for the curved parts of
the prows of vessels and the snatch-cleats for the wales, are also
made from that wood. That said wood is very durable, and is of such
quality that once a nail is hammered into it, it is impossible to
withdraw it without breaking it; and when a nail is hammered into
that wood it does not hole or chip. If a ball be fired into it of
the size of eight libras or less, it does not pierce the wood; and
if the ball is large, the wood is not splintered. On the contrary,
the hole is stopped up at its entrance and egress with the chips
forced out by the ball in its passage. That wood is very light,
and has a very poor grain for working.
There is another wood called _arguijo_, [39] which is very strong
and heavy. It is a certain very tall and very straight tree, like the
pine. From it are made the keels, beams, false keels, wales, mast heads
[_calçetes_], and pumps, of whatever size required; for that tree, as
above stated, grows very tall and straight. Gun-stocks, gun-carriages,
and wheels for the artillery are also made from that wood.
There is another wood called _laguan_. [40] From it is made all
the planking and sheathing with which the galleons and galleys are
planked. From those trees are made the masts, topmasts, and yards
of the galleons and galleys. The said tree grows very straight and
thick, so that the flagship galleon has its mainmast from one, that
is seventy-two _codos_ [41] long and fifteen palmos in circumference,
all in one piece.
The sheathing and planking hewn from the above-named trees for the
sheathing of the ships is one palmo thick and three or four wide, and
the shortest is twelve brazas long. These planks last a long time under
water, as the ship-worms do not hole them; but above water they warp
and rot, so that they do not last more than two years--and especially
on the decks, if they are not calked during the winter. The greatest
danger is that, on account of the haste used in their construction,
time is not allowed to cut the wood at the conjunction [of the moon],
and to leave it during a year to season, as is required; for if that
is done, it lasts much longer. For of all the vessels built during the
term of Don Juan de Silva, the galley which was longest in building
did not take six months; and all the timber for them was hewn and put
in place when green, for the vessels were being built while the wood
was cutting.
There is another wood from which is made planking for the galleys,
which is called _banaba_. [42] It is a certain short tree, about
four brazas in height. The galleys are sheathed with it, for the
ship-worm bores into it but little. The planks are one and one-half
palmos broad. There are but few of these trees, and consequently they
are used only for the above purpose.
There is another wood called _maria de Monteguas_, [43] which
differs from the first wood of that name. From it are made timbers
[_latas_] for the decks of the galleys, as well as oars for the said
galleys. The latter are also made from another wood called _guijo_,
[44] but these are much heavier than those made from the wood _maria_,
and last a long time.
There is another wood called _dongon_, [45] which is very strong,
and of a yellowish color. From it are made stringer-plates, chocks
of the bowsprit, coamings of the hatchways, strakes and stanchions
for the decks. If all these woods are cut at the conjunction and
decrease of the moon, and seasoned, as above stated, for one year,
the ship will last much longer; for if they are cut and not seasoned,
one must tear up the decks every two years and put down new ones, for
they are rotten. Likewise the planks along the sides must be changed,
with the exception of the futtock-timbers and top-timbers made of
the wood _maria_; for that wood, although cut and not seasoned,
never rots, because it is always durable, in one way, without rotting.
There are many other kinds of woods which are also used for the above
purposes. [46]
The shipyards of the galleons built during Don Juan de Silva's term
were thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, and eighty leguas from
the city of Manila, in different places: namely, on the island
of Marinduque, where the galleon "San Juan Bautista" was built,
which is forty leguas from Manila; in the province of Camarines at
Dalupaes were built "Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe," and the "Angel de
la Guardia" [_i.e._, "Guardian Angel"], fifty leguas from Manila;
in the province of Ybalon at Bagatan were built "San Felipe" and
"Santiago," eighty leguas from Manila; in Mindoro was built the
galleon "San Juan Bautista," fifty leguas from Manila; in Marinduque
was built the almiranta "San Marcos," forty leguas from Manila;
in Masbate was built the royal flagship "Salbador," seventy leguas
from Manila; in Cavite were built the "Espiritu Santo" and the "San
Miguel," two leguas from Manila, in the port where the fleets anchor;
in the port of Cabite, six galleys; in the city of Manila, two.
Those who cut these woods and build these ships and galleys are
Indian natives of the said islands. They are carpenters, who are
called _cagallanes_ or _pandais_ in their language. Those Indians who
are no more than woodcutters, and serve only as hewers and planers
of wood, are paid each seven or eight reals a month, and are given
daily rations of one-half celemin of rice. Those of better trades than
the latter generally earn ten or twelve reals a month. Those who are
masters--the ones who lay out, prepare, round; and make the masts,
yards, and topmasts are each paid three or four pesos of eight reals
a month, and double rations.
When a fleet was being prepared in Cavite there were generally one
thousand four hundred of these carpenters there. Just now there are
very few, for when the Mindanao enemies burned one galleon and two
pataches in the past year, one thousand six hundred and seventeen,
which were being built in the shipyard of Pantao, sixty leguas from the
city of Manila, they captured more than four hundred of the workmen,
and killed more than two hundred others; while many have died through
the severe work in the building. And because, they have been paid for
five years nothing except a little aid, many have fled from the land;
and so few remain that when the last ships sailed from the city and
port of Manila last year, six hundred and eighteen, there were not
two hundred of those Indians in Cabite. [47]
The iron used in the construction of these ships and galleys is brought
from China and Japon to the city of Manila. Don Juan de Silva sent
patterns of all the nails, and excellently made ones were brought,
and cost your Majesty but eight reals per arroba. Iron is brought
in the rough and is wrought in Cabite, and costs your Majesty but
twenty-four reals per quintal of five arrobas. There all the nails and
bolts are wrought, as well as _estoperoles_, [48] tacks [_tachuelas_],
and everything else needed. The native Indians who act as smiths are
paid twelve reals per month, and the Angley [_i.e._, Sangley] Chinese
smiths twenty-eight reals per month, and their ration of rice, which is
equivalent to one-half a Spanish celemin. Each of these Chinese works
one arroba of rough iron into nails daily, and is paid only the said
twenty-eight reals per month. That does not amount to one real per day,
and they work from midnight until sunset, which is their workday.
The nails and iron shipped to the said islands from Nueva España cost
your Majesty, delivered in the city of Manila, more than twenty reals
of eight per quintal, while there they are made, as above stated. But
notwithstanding the above, I assert that it is necessary to ship
annually from Nueva España to the said islands two hundred quintals
of rough and sheet and rod iron for some necessary articles, such
as borers for the artillery cast in Manila, and rudder-pintles and
rudder-gudgeons for the ships and galleys; for the iron of Bizcaya
is more ductile than that of those regions [_i.e_., China and Japon]
because it is as strong as steel. The other iron things above mentioned
that are sent from Nueva España to the said islands are unnecessary,
for their cost per quintal, when delivered in Manila, will buy four
quintals in the said islands. The said two hundred quintals could be
shipped on your Majesty's account from Sevilla where it costs three
or four ducados per quintal, and be carried by the flagships and
almirantas; thus it would not be necessary to buy it in Bera Cruz,
at nineteen ducados per quintal.
It would be of the highest importance to cover the ships with lead
at Manila, which would obviate careening them every year. Don Juan de
Silva neglected to do that, because he was always in haste to resist
and attack the enemy.
Lead is also shipped from Nueva España to the said islands. More [than
that amount] is shipped [however], because it is brought from China and
Japon at cheaper rates. It can be worked in Cabite in order to lead the
ships, and in that way your Majesty will save many ducados every year.
The rigging in the said Filipinas Islands is of two kinds: one, which
was formerly used, is made from the palm called _gamu_, [49] today used
only to make cables, stays, and shrouds; the other is called _abacá_,
and is a kind of hemp, which is sowed and reaped like a plant in Piru
and Tierra Firme called _bihau_. Abaca is much stronger than hemp and
is used white and unpitched. This abaca costs twenty-four reals per
quintal, and is made into rigging in Cabite by the Indian natives, in
the sizes and diameter required. These Indian ropemakers are furnished,
in repartimiento [50] in neighboring villages, and your Majesty pays
them eight reals per month and a ration of one-half celemín of rice
daily. A task is assigned to them, for they work from midnight and
until the close of the next day.
The total cost per quintal of this native rigging is about fifty
reals. That shipped from Nueva España, which is bought in Beta Cruz and
delivered in the port of Acapulco, costs your Majesty two hundred reals
per quintal. It generally reaches the said Filipinas Islands rotten,
and is of no use. If your Majesty will order the ships to sail from
Manila furnished [with rigging] for the return voyage, that would,
in the first year, put a stop to shipping any [rigging to Manila].
The canvas [_lienço_] from which the sails are made in the said
islands is excellent, and much better than what is shipped from España,
because it is made from cotton. They are certain cloths [_lienços_]
which are called _mantas_ [_i.e._, literally blankets or strips of
cotton cloth] from the province of Ylocos, for the natives of that
province manufacture nothing else, and pay your Majesty their tribute
in them. They are one tercia [_i.e._, one-third of a vara] wide, and as
thick as canvas [_angeo_]. They are doubled, and quilted with thread of
the same cotton. They last much longer than those of España. One vara
of this cloth [_lienço_] costs less than one-half real. The thread
of the same cotton with which they are sewed costs twenty reals per
arroba. The cloth brought from Nueva España costs your Majesty, when
set down in the city of Manila, six reals per vara. Also the thread
shipped from Nueva España to sew the sails costs, set down there, six
reals per libra. The thread made of hemp when used with cotton canvas
[_lienço_] is of no use, and does not well endure transportation. The
ships sailing from Manila to Nueva España carry sails for the return
voyage and nevertheless have to make others in the port of Acapulco.
It is also the custom to ship pikes with their iron heads from Nueva
España to the said Filipinas Islands. Delivered in the city of Manila,
they cost your Majesty more than thirty-two reals apiece; but, with
thirty-two reals, they can make forty pikes in the city of Manila. It
is a weapon that is worthless in those islands, and it is not used
in them. And even if they were used, there are shafts in the forests
of those islands, and the native Indian smiths can make the heads.
A number of old pipe-staves and iron hoops are also shipped from
Nueva España to the said Filipinas Islands. Delivered in the city
of Manila they cost your Majesty a considerable sum of ducados. That
expense can be avoided; for, when those staves arrive there, they are
full of holes and rotten, and quite useless. The hoops alone serve
in Manila to make nails and bolts from them, which thus come to cost
fifty ducados per quintal. They can be made there for thirty-three
reals. It is sufficient to carry those pipes that hold the water and
wine in the ships.
For the ships' supply of water, they generally make vats when the ships
leave there [_i.e.,_ Manila], each of which carries thirty pipes of
water. Further, there are many earthen jars, which are brought from
China and Japon. Consequently, one can make the above articles there,
and more cheaply, for much less money than what is paid there.
Flour is also shipped in pipes from Nueva España to the said Filipinas
Islands, which they say is for making hosts. That is unnecessary,
for the said islands have an abundance of flour, which is shipped
from Japon and China so cheaply, that it costs sixteen reals per
quintal in the city of Manila. That shipped from Nueva España costs
your Majesty, delivered in the said city of Manila, more than eighty
reals per quintal.
From Nueva España to the said Filipinas Islands are also transported
in the [ships], _habas, garbanzos,_" [51] and lentils, which are for
the provision of hospitals, fleets, and convents. It serves no other
purpose than to arrive at Manila rotten; and if any arrives in good
condition, it does not seem so. For the provision of the fleets,
a grain [_semilla_] is grown in that land [_i.e._, Filipinas] which
resembles beans, and is very cheap. Consequently it is unnecessary
for the ships to carry more than what they need for their voyage when
they leave Acapulco.
A quantity of _gerguetas_ [52] are also shipped from Nueva España to
the said Filipinas Islands. They are said to be for the use of the
soldiers, but that is unnecessary, for that land has other kinds of
cloth--both those that are produced there, and others that come from
China--which are better and cheaper. If your Majesty will order that
to be stopped, it will be of much importance to your royal treasury,
and will increase it by many ducados; while it will benefit greatly
the soldiers who serve your Majesty in those islands, for, when this
cloth is delivered there, they are obliged to take it.
In the former year of six hundred and sixteen, seven galleons were
stationed at the city of Manila and the port of Cabite, one of which
[53] came built from Yndia, and was bought in Pinacan for the service
of your Majesty. The other six were built in the time of Don Juan de
Silva, and Don Juan Ronquillo [54] took them all when he sailed in
pursuit of the enemy at Playa Honda. These said galleys were in the
greatest need of being repaired--one because it was very badly used
up in the fight, and another because its decks had not been changed
for two years; while most of them were holed along the sides by
seaworms and leaked badly, and all their masts, yards, and topmasts
were rotten. Consequently, Don Geronimo de Silva, captain-general of
those islands, was preparing to send them to be repaired (except three)
to the island of Marinduque, forty leguas from Manila, in order to
avoid the expense of hauling the wood, while awaiting the arrival of
the ships from Nueva España in which Don Alonso Fajardo came last year
(one thousand six hundred and eighteen), in order to repair the said
galleys with that money [brought by those ships]. He also intended
to hold them in readiness, in order to comply with your Majesty's
orders, sent by a despatch-boat, to keep them so prepared that they
might join the fleet that was about to sail with reënforcements by
way of the cape of Buena Esperança, to make the journey to the Malucas
Islands and drive the enemy from them.
It was necessary to equip two of the said seven galleys so that they
could come to Nueba España last year, six hundred and eighteen, with
the usual merchandise. Consequently only five were left--or rather
six, with that in which Don Alonso Fajardo arrived. Since the said
Don Alonso Fajardo has reached Manila and finds himselt with only
six galleons, it becomes necessary to build some more; for, if the
fleet from España has not sailed and the enemy learn that Manila has
but six galleons, they will go to the mouth of the port and repeat
their performance of last year, unless they go to El Embocadero
[55] to await the ships from Nueva España with the reënforcements,
for, in order that the loss of Manila and Maluco may be completed,
nothing else is wanting.
As above stated, it will be necessary for Governor Don Alonso Fajardo
to devise immediate means for building galleons and to repair the six
at Manila. I regard the present building of ships in that country
as impossible. For with the former ships and fleets, and with the
depredations and deaths caused by the enemy in those districts the
natives are quite exhausted; for, as I said above, in the former
year of six hundred and seventeen the Mindanao enemy captured four
hundred native carpenters and killed more than two hundred others. The
year before that, six hundred and sixteen, in the expedition made by
Don Juan de Silva to the strait of Cincapura, where he died, it was
found from lists that more than seven hundred Indians, of those taken
as common seamen (of whom more than two hundred were carpenters),
died on that expedition. Before that, in the year six hundred and
fourteen, the said Mindanao enemy captured in the islands of Pintados
nine hundred odd Indians, of whom but few have been ransomed. In the
shipbuilding and in the hauling of wood many have died. Consequently,
on account of all combined, there is a lack of natives for the above
works. Therefore your Majesty must order the said Don Alonso Fajardo,
governor and captain-general of the said islands, that in case galleons
are to be built, it should not be in the islands--on the one hand,
on account of the short time that those woods last, and on the other
because of the lack in that land of natives (occurring through the
above-mentioned causes, and because those natives in the islands are
serving in the fleets as common seamen and carpenters).
In order that, those islands might have and keep ships that last thirty
years and cost the same as in Manila, or less, your Majesty must
order the governor to order them built in Yndia in Cochim; for they
can be built there very strong, and at less cost if the said governor
sends men for it from Manila--both masters and other persons, who know
the art of having them built. When built, they can bring a cargo of
military supplies, lumber, and slaves from Cochin to Manila for the
galleys of Manila, for the said slaves are valued at very little in
Cochin. As common seamen the men used in navigating in those regions
will serve, namely, the Lascars; and a ship of six hundred toneladas
does not carry sixteen Spanish sailors, but negroes and Lascars (who
are a Mahometan race), with whom navigation is performed throughout
those islands and kingdoms.
Those islands have so few natives, that if your Majesty does not
expressly order no vessels to be constructed in them, not any of their
people will be left, for as a result the events that have happened in
those islands for the last eight years, both murders and captivities,
many of those who have been left, who are constantly coming to Nueva
España, every year as common seamen in the vessels that regularly sail,
remain in Nueva España. In the galleon "Espiritu Santo" which came last
year, six hundred and eighteen, were seventy-five native Indians as
common seamen, but not more than five of the entire number returned
in the said galley. If your Majesty does not have that corrected,
the same thing will occur every year, and should your Majesty not
correct it, the following things will occur. The first is the great
offense committed against our Lord, for many (indeed most) of those
native Indians of the Filipinas Islands who come as common seamen
are married in those said islands; and, inasmuch as they are unknown
in Nueva España, they remarry here. Another wrong follows which is
very much to the disservice of your Majesty and your royal treasury,
which is caused by the said Indian natives of the Filipinas Islands
who come as common seamen and remain in Nueva España; and if it
is not checked in time, it will cause considerable injury to these
kingdoms. This consists in the fact that there are in Nueva España
so many of those Indians who come from the Filipinas Islands who
have engaged in making palm wine along the other seacoast, that of
the South Sea, and which they make with stills, as in Filipinas,
that it will in time become a part reason for the natives of Nueva
España, who now use the wine that comes from Castilla, to drink none
except what the Filipinos make. For since the natives of Nueva España
are a race inclined to drink and intoxication, and the wine made by
the Filipinos is distilled and as strong as brandy, they crave it
rather than the wine from España. Consequently, it will happen that
the trading fleets [from Spain] will bring less wine every year,
and what is brought will be more valuable every year. So great is
the traffic in this [palm wine] at present on the coast at Navidad,
among the Apusabalcos, and throughout Colima, that they load beasts
of burden with this wine in the same way as in España. By postponing
the speedy remedy that this demands, the same thing might also happen
to the vineyards of Piru. It can be averted, provided all the Indian
natives of the said Filipinas Islands are shipped and returned to
them, that the palm groves and vessels with which that wine is made
be burnt, the palm-trees felled, and severe penalties imposed on
whomever remains or returns to make that wine.
Incited by their greed in that traffic, all the Indians who have charge
of making that wine go to the port of Acapulco when the ships reach
there from Manila, and lead away with them all the Indians who come
as common seamen. For that reason, and the others above mentioned,
scarcely any of them return to the said Filipinas Islands. From that it
also results that your Majesty loses the royal revenues derived from
those islands, inasmuch as all those Indians are tributarios there,
and when absent pay nothing.
Among those Filipinas Islands is one called Mindanao which is more than
one hundred leguas long. It is very densely populated by its natives,
who are exceeding great pirates and hostile to all the other natives
of all those islands subject to your Majesty. and chiefly to the
Spaniards. They generally go in a certain kind of boat called caracoa
on piratical expeditions, in which they commit signal depredations in
all the ports and along all the coasts of those islands, killing and
capturing the people of them, and burning and ruining the country. They
have done that on many occasions, particularly in the former year
six hundred and seventeen, when they allied themselves with the Dutch
enemy, who came that said year with ten galleons to attack the city
and port of Manila. The said Mindanao enemy came at the same time
with ninety caracoas to the aid of the Dutch, and destroyed and
burned many places along those coasts, and took many of their people
captives. Among other things they arrived at the shipyard of Pantao
with their fleet, where at your Majesty's orders a galleon and two
pataches were being built. These were more than half built, and the
Mindanaos burned them and captured more than four hundred persons,
besides killing more than two hundred others. After burning all the
military stores, they proceeded on their voyage toward Manila, and
went to within ten leguas of the port of Cavite, whence they returned
upon learning that the Dutch fleet had gone on ahead.
Consequently, not only for the said reasons, but because of the lack
of men among the natives in the said Filipinas Islands, it will
be highly important for the conservation of the islands for your
Majesty to order that no ships be built in them, since there are so
many places, so well provided in everything, as have been proposed,
to enable them to be built in Yndia.
On the route between Manila and the Malucas Islands is a port of the
above-mentioned island [i.e., Mindanao], called La Caldera. There the
boats put in to get water and wood. Formerly, before the alliance
between the natives there and the Dutch enemy, the vessels, ships,
and galleys put in there and went to get fresh supplies, both going
and coming. Now not only are they not permitted to obtain the said
supplies, but the vessel, galley, or patache, that puts in there
to get water, is surrounded by their caracoas, and its crew killed
and captured.
On the contrary, they give the Dutch enemy so friendly a reception that
the latter always keep their ships there, lying there in wait until
those of his Majesty, that carry the aid to the said Malucas, pass by.
In order to destroy that said island of Mindanao and its pirates,
without the necessity of spending for it anything from your Majesty's
royal treasury, it needs only your Majesty's orders to make slaves of
the said Mindanao natives of that island--since they are infidels;
and they have profaned the temples and committed many cruelties in
your Majesty's settlements along the coasts of those islands which
they have captured--and your Majesty's permission that all who desire
may take up arms against them, both the natives of the said islands,
and the Spaniards, at their own cost. Only with that will the said
island be conquered and subdued, and the so many injuries resulting
therefrom to all the said islands and to the. Malucas will be checked.
_A report on the measurements of the galleons in the Filipinas Islands
in the former year 1617 is as follows_.
The royal flagship, called "Salvador" measures 60 codos along the
keel, 12 in floor, 82 from stem to stern [i.e., length over all],
depth of hold 19, extreme breadth 26, sternpost transom 12; lower
deck 15 codos, upper deck 19, with the space between of 4 codos.
The galleon "Espiritu Santo" (the one in which Don Alonso Fajardo
came last year 1618) measures 50 codos along the keel, 10 in floor,
70 length over all, 17 depth of hold, 23 extreme breadth, 10 sternpost
transom; lower deck 13 and one-half codos, and upper deck 17.
The galleon "San Felipe," 50 codos along the keel, 10 in floor, 70
length over all, 15 depth of hold, 22 and one-half extreme breadth;
lower deck 11 and one-half codos, upper deck 15, and sternpost transom
11 codos.
The galleon "Santiago" has the same measurements of keel, floor,
over all, depth of hold, extreme breadth, and sternpost transom,
and the same space between decks.
The galleon "San Juan Bautista" has the same measurements as "San
Felipe" and "Santiago."
The galleon "San Miguel," 49 codos keel, 10 in floor, 68 over all,
18 depth of hold, 23 extreme breadth, 11 sternpost transom; the lower
deck 14 codos, upper deck 18.
"Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe," 46 codos keel, 9 in floor, 64 over all,
13 depth of hold, 21 extreme breadth; lower deck 9 and one-half codos,
upper deck 13, sternpost transom 10 codos.
The ship [_nao_] "San Laurencio," which was built in Yndia 23 years
ago, measures keel 46 codos, over all 60, 12 codos depth of hold, 19
extreme breadth; and it has three decks, quarter-deck, and forecastle
[_castillo_].
[_Endorsed_: "Captain Sebastian de Pineda. To Don Alonso Fajardo,
a duplicate, of the same remaining here. The council, May 26, 619."]