_Copy of a petition of Dr. Antonio de Morga to the governor, in which
he gives an account of all that happened in the expedition against
the Dutch corsair, presented as soon as he returned from it._
This is a copy well and faithfully made from a petition which it
seems was presented by Dr. Antonio de Morga, auditor of the royal
Audiencia of these islands, to Don Francisco Tello, knight of the
Order of Santiago, who is governor and captain-general of these
islands. This is in connection with a suit brought by order of the
said governor against Joan de Alcega, admiral of the royal fleet
which went against the Dutch enemy which was sailing among these
islands. The said auditor was commander-in-chief of this fleet,
and the admiral was the said Joan de Alcega, who deserted the royal
flagship in time of battle. It runs as follows:
I, Dr. Antonio de Morga, auditor of the royal Audiencia and
Chancilleria of these Philipinas Islands, say that in the month of
October just passed, in the year one thousand six hundred, there
came to these Islands for the purpose of robbery one Oliver de Nor,
corsair and a heretic, and a native of the states of Flandes, with
two men-of-war well provided with men, artillery, and munitions. One
of the two ships was large and strong, and was the flagship; the
other, smaller and of less importance and strength, was the admiral's
ship. With these he had entered the South Sea through the Strait of
Magallanes, and skirted the coast of Chile; and then came and anchored
outside the entrance to these islands, in the bay of Alvay. After
making inquiries about affairs in these islands, and finding that
there was no fleet, and no arrangement by which one that could molest
him could be created, he passed by Capul and proceeded on his way
until he reached the mouth of the bay of this city of Manila. There
he made some captures and committed some robberies on vessels which
entered, and he was hoping to commit greater ones on the ships which
are expected this year, both from China and from Nueva España, with
the money belonging to these islands. On this account your Lordship,
together with the royal Audiencia, by a decree in due form dated the
last day of the aforesaid month of October, commanded me to go to
the port of Cavite and to place it and keep it in a state of defense;
and likewise to finish some vessels which had been begun there in the
dockyard, and to prepare and put in order those which could be used
quickly for a fleet to go out and resist and punish the enemy. By
working personally day and night, without having anything given to
me for it, I put all this into operation with the greatest diligence
and care, in thirty-two days. When I came to this city to give your
Lordship an account of the good condition of the fleet--in order that
it might be immediately arranged who was to go out in it, and the
soldiers and seamen who were to embark--considering the fact that
the corsair still remained near this bay, your Lordship, influenced
by urgent causes and reasons, ordered and commanded me in writing,
in the name of our lord the king, to set out with the volunteers of
this city, who were placed at my disposal for this expedition. It was
understood that I was to conduct this expedition, and, with another
body composed of hired soldiers from this district, was to go out as
quickly as possible in search of the enemy, and was to fight with him
until I overcame him or sent him to the bottom. There were many other
conditions which are contained more fully in the letter of instructions
which your Lordship gave me, signed and sealed, to which I refer. In
fulfilment of this, and only for the service of God and of our lord
the king (which service your Lordship commended to me so strongly),
leaving my house and quiet life, leaving my wife and nine children,
I obeyed your Lordship's command. At my own cost, without having
anything supplied from the royal treasury either to myself or to the
volunteers who were with me, and who formed the larger part of all
the body, I embarked on the fleet on the twelfth day of the month of
December of the aforesaid year, taking as flagship the vessel "San
Diego," which is of about two hundred tons burden; and in its convoy
the ship "San Bartolome" as admiral's ship, of the same burden,
in command of the captain Joan de Alçega, admiral of the fleet,
and other small vessels for the service of the fleet.
That same day I set sail from the port of Cavite in search of the
enemy; and on the following Thursday, the fourteenth of December,
I came in sight of him. Both ships of his fleet were anchored near
the mouth of the bay at the point of Balagtigui, with his boats at
the stern. The flagship of the enemy, from behind, was very easily
seen to be a strong vessel, but the admiral's ship was not. When
he discovered the two ships of the royal fleet and saw that we were
keeping together, in order jointly to board and attack his flagship,
he weighed anchor; and, after sending the said admiral's ship out
to sea under all sail, in order to divide us, thinking that one of
our ships would go after it, he with his flagship luffed toward our
vessels, in order to get to windward of us, which he was not able
to accomplish. On the contrary, when I discovered the number and
excellence of his artillery, with which he began to cannonade me, I
saw that success must consist in coming hand to hand with him as soon
as possible, with both of our vessels, according to the arrangement
which I had made on the day before, the thirteenth of December, when
I had given orders and instructions to that effect in writing to the
said admiral. So with my flagship I boarded the corsair's flagship,
and grappled with it side to side, on the port quarter of the enemy,
in the expectation that my admiral would do the same on the other
side, as he was perfectly able to do. At the first volley from the
artillery and arquebuses I swept the deck of the enemy, unrigged
his main and mizzen masts, sent his yards and shrouds into the sea,
burned his sails, and won and took into my power the flag at the
topmast, the standard and flag at the stern, and the others which the
ship bore. Then I sent on board of him a band of men with arms and a
banner of infantry, who captured the poop and the cabin and took the
shallop or long-boat which it had at the stern. All the enemy retired
below the harpings and coverings at the bow. Seeing from there that my
admiral was already coming upon them, and that they could not defend
themselves, they sent to ask protection for their lives, and to say
that they would surrender; and I granted their request, in order to end
the battle with the least possible loss and with the greatest safety.
At this time the admiral's ship of my fleet ought to have boarded the
enemy as I had done, according to his duty, and to the order which he
had from me; and, without orders from me, ought not to have passed by,
and still less to have gone in pursuit of, the opposing admiral's
ship which was going out to sea. These orders, for many reasons,
I could not be expected to give him, especially at that time, until
the flagship had completely surrendered and a guard had been placed
over it and over the people on it, which would be impossible with my
ship alone. Nevertheless our admiral aforesaid, for some reasons of
his own which he had, passed by, and with all sail started to pursue
and overtake the admiral's ship of the corsair. When the enemy on the
flagship saw this, and that they were alone, and that, on account of
the superiority of his ship and artillery, he might hope to defend
himself, he turned a deaf ear to the terms which I sent him; and he
not only did not surrender, but he put himself on the defensive, and
fought with me with all the fury of his artillery and of his musketry,
from both sides of the ship, and with fire contrivances, with which
he was well supplied. The battle lasted six hours, with both ships
lashed side to side, but in all this time my admiral aforesaid did not
leave his course, or return to succor or help me. On the contrary he
began, in our sight, to fight with the admiral's ship of the enemy,
which he had overtaken, and he easily captured it because it was
a very small ship, with about twenty-two men, including boys and
the sick; and after it had surrendered he remained there, instead
of returning to help me in time of battle. The enemy killed ten or
twelve Spaniards of my men, and some Indians of the service, and on
his side most of his men died; so that, being still so hard pressed,
he himself set fire to his ship of his own accord, at the stern,
where our men were on the poop with the banner. The fire so increased
there that we feared that both ships were going to be consumed.
Furthermore, my flagship, which was not a strong one, having been made
especially for the merchant trade, sprang a leak at the bow with the
force of the artillery which had been fired in this long combat; and it
made water so fast that nothing could be done, because we had no pumps,
as they had been knocked to pieces by one of the enemy's shot. On this
account, by the advice and counsel of the chief pilot and of the seamen
who understood the situation, I was asked to loosen myself from the
enemy and to go to save my ship (or at least the artillery and men
on it) at the island of Fortun, which was to leeward of us a legua
and a half away, and which they said we could reach quickly. When
I saw the opinion of the aforesaid men and the danger which my ship
was in, both from the fire on the enemy and from the risk of sinking,
I followed the advice; and, having withdrawn the men and the banner
that I had on the poop-castle of the corsair's ship, which was left,
as I have said, so broken and disabled, I started for the aforesaid
island of Fortun to make repairs; but the water which the ship was
taking in increased so that all at once the ship sank.
When the enemy saw himself alone, with the few men that he had, he
hastily began to put out the fire on his ship; and with the foresail,
which he had had up all the time, he took flight toward the island
of Luban, where he has not appeared since that day, nor in any other
of the adjacent islands. From this and from the fact that he was so
broken and so stripped of men and without any long-boat, it may be
inferred that he went to the bottom. Some indications of this have
been seen since in the shape of yards and sails, and bodies of the
enemy's men, so that we may presume that it is so.
When the flagship of the fleet on which I was went to the bottom,
there was no shallop or boat to saye the men, because the boats had
been taken by some sailors and soldiers, who to escape the danger, had
gone with them to the aforesaid island of Fortun. Consequently when the
ship sank I was left in the water, and saved myself at the end of four
hours by swimming with great exertion to the island of Fortun, which
was a legua and a half away, against many waves and a high wind. The
same thing was done by two hundred other persons, including Spaniards
and slaves, but the rest drowned and perished, with what was left in
the ship. Then I made haste to take all the people from that island,
because it was without inhabitants and without water, and I started
them on the way to this city. After that I went along the coast to
get information about the enemy which had fled, and in search of the
admiral's ship and of the captured vessel; but I could not find them,
nor could I in the islands of that district, although I searched among
them in light vessels, for they had departed thence. At last, having
heard that they were near Mariveles, I came to claim them, but did
not enter them because your Lordship wrote to me, at just that time,
to come to this city on other business in the service of his Majesty.
Thus that expedition ended. It is true that the desired end was
accomplished--namely, to destroy the aforesaid corsair so that he
should not be able to do the damage which he was doing in this sea,
and to conquer him, which was done. Nevertheless it could have been
accomplished fully without the loss which there was, if my orders
had been followed in the aforesaid fleet, and if there had not been
other transgressions and irregularities--which I should have proceeded
against and executed justice upon if I had had opportunity to return
to the aforesaid fleet, as I tried to do. Since on my part this is
all ended, it remains for your Lordship, as captain-general of this
realm, to take action in this cause--not only to execute whatever
may be just in the matter, but also in order to give an account to
our lord the king of what has happened. I have had this in mind in
giving to your Lordship so faithful and exact an account of the case,
and of the aforesaid irregularities, of which the ones that need
particular attention are the following.
First. When the fleet was on the point of setting out from the port
of Cavite, although it was already scantily equipped with seamen
and artillerymen (which was a matter of the greatest importance),
the majority of those who had been provided and supplied absented
themselves and fled from the aforesaid fleet at the time of setting
out, so that they could not be reached; and the fleet had to go
without them, which was the cause of a great deal of suffering and
loss. It can be determined who were guilty of this through the lists
of allowances and apportionment which are in the possession of the
factor of the royal treasury, and through the register which the
accountant afterwards made of both fleets at Mariveles.
_Item_: Although your Lordship, at my request, had some seamen sought
out in this city, and had them sent to me with the sergeant Pedro Lopez
to Mariveles (where the fleet was anchored) on Wednesday, December
thirteenth, and although the aforesaid men arrived on Wednesday,
they refused to go on the expedition because they were men of wealth
and property; and they did not go to the fleet that night, but went
to the settlement on the island. There they remained until the fleet
had gone in pursuit of the enemy in the early morning, when they left
the village and returned to this city.
Third. The Sangley nation of this city offered themselves, with three
ships, according to their custom, to go in the service and convoy of
the aforesaid fleet. They were armed and set out after it from Cavite
for that purpose, but when they reached the station at Mariveles,
where the fleet was anchored, they left it; and it was necessary to
send to them and order that on the following day they should join the
fleet and follow it without moving off, under pain of their lives. Not
only did they not comply with this, but on the following day, when
they saw the battle, they remained more than three leguas behind,
looking at it; and although they could have been of great assistance,
when they saw my flagship founder, they returned toward the bay,
ringing bells and beating drums, as is their custom.
Fourth. The aforesaid captain Joan de Alcega, admiral of the fleet, did
not obey the orders and instructions which on the day before the battle
I gave to him in writing, signed with my name, according to which
both ships, flagship and admiral's ship, were to board and fight with
the enemy's flagship, because it was a strong vessel. Nevertheless,
though he had seen me board, he passed by without having an order
from me to do so, and still less having any order to follow and to
fight with the opposing admiral's ship, and thus abandon me. If he
had done as he was under obligation to do, the flagship would have
been made to surrender completely without the loss of one of our
men; and we could have captured for his Majesty a beautiful ship
and twenty-six pieces of artillery, and many other things of price
and value for all, and my flagship would not have been lost, and the
people of worth who died in it would not have perished. After that,
it would have been a sure and easy thing to capture the admiral's
ship, which was a small boat, of no strength. Your Lordship should
send promptly to the admiral to write the instructions which I gave
him originally in Mariveles on the thirteenth of December by the hand
of the captain Joan Tello y Aguirre, who came for them--signed with
my name, without any erasures or changes whatever--because through
them the above matter will be verified, without any fraud or deceit.
Fifth. After my flagship had foundered, the enemy in his, as broken
as it was, took to flight with only the foresail up, and passed
within sight of the admiral's ship of my convoy, and although the
admiral was aware of my loss, and that that was the enemy's ship,
and made sail after her, he did not try to follow her; and so he let
her go, although he could easily have overtaken her, as she bore only
the foresail, and could have captured her, as she was so broken and
without men. Most of us who were on the island of Fortun saw this
from there; and the captive Flamenco admiral will say the same thing,
as well as those who came in our admiral's ship and remained in it.
_Item_: Although our admiral's ship ought to have come in search of its
flagship, which it saw sinking in the sea from its companion ship--or
at least in aid of its men who had escaped to the island of Fortun,
which was near, in order to rescue us from that island, uninhabited
and without water, where we were in evident risk of our lives--yet
he did not do it. On the contrary, he went away with all speed, and
returned to the mainland to the station of Mareyuma; consequently
we could not find him, and he could not receive orders from me, his
commander, concerning what he was to do in such matters as following
the aforesaid enemy (in which a great opportunity was lost), as well
as in other things in the service of his Majesty which ought to have
been done.
Seventh and last. Although the aforesaid admiral ought not to have
allowed out of his convoy the vessel which he had captured and taken
from the enemy, so that it might not be lost again on account of
his having put very few men on it, he left it; and, under pretense
that he was sending it to be repaired, he ordered it to the island of
Luban with other intentions--where on the same day, near night-time,
there appeared the flagship of the enemy, which, if it had seen this
ship, could have seized and taken it easily, because it was without
defense. Then, without having been repaired, it left Luban and returned
to the aforesaid admiral's ship at Mareyuma.
Of all this your Lordship is sufficiently informed through the reports
which have been sent to your Lordship about the aforesaid event, and
through the investigations made by the alcalde-mayor of the province
of Balayan, in whose territory and under whose jurisdiction the event
took place. Your Lordship will also be informed by the searchings
and investigations which your Lordship ought to make concerning the
aforesaid case and every particular of it, personally and very soon,
before the guilty ones pervert them so that the truth may not be
understood. They have been preparing for this, holding investigations
before themselves in the admiral's ship, about their own affairs
and business; but opportunity ought not to be given for these,
nor any attention paid to them, for they are void and fraudulent,
and malicious.
I ask and pray your Lordship to do and perform in this matter, since
it is of such quality and importance, whatever may be proper in the
service of God and of his Majesty, so that those may be punished who
are guilty in a matter of such harm and loss, and that our lord the
king and the gentlemen of his Council of the Indias may be informed
faithfully of all that has happened and of what has been done--since,
as far as I am concerned in this matter, as there no longer remains
to me any authority or jurisdiction of commander in the fleet, I have
done my duty. For this I have, etc., and ask it for testimony.
_Doctor Antonio de Morga_
In Manila, on the fifth of the month of January in the year one
thousand six hundred and one, before the governor and captain-general
of these islands, Don Francisco Tello, appeared the doctor Antonio
de Morga, and presented this petition; and when his Lordship had
seen it, he ordered it to be joined with the investigation which
the alcalde-mayor of Balayan made, in order that the other proper
verifications may be made according to what is provided, and that
whatever is just may be done.
_Tello_
Before me:
_Gaspar de Azebo_
This copy was made, as has been said, from the aforesaid original
petition, which is in the aforesaid suit of petition and mandate by the
aforesaid auditor, and is exact and correct. In the city of Manila,
on the twentieth of the month of November in the year one thousand
six hundred and two; the witnesses being: Joan P[ablo?] Monfredo,
and Gregorio del Castillo, and Josephe de Naveda Alvarado.
In testimony of truth, I have affixed my seal.
_Joan Paez de Sotomayor_, royal notary.
We, the notaries who sign here, certify and give our word that Joan
Paez de Sotomayor, by whom this testimony is signed and sealed, is
a royal notary, as he signs himself, and commissioner of the royal
Audiencia of these islands; and, as such, complete faith and credit
has been given and is given to all acts and writings which have passed
and do pass before him, in court and out of it. And, to certify to
this, we give these presents in Manila on the twentieth of November
in the year one thousand six hundred and two. I have affixed my seal,
in witness of truth.
_Francisco de Valencia_, notary-public.