it inflicts upon España, and which must be repaired and corrected lest greater ones be sustained. The trade always carried on with Nueva España is fully sufficient to maintain Felipinas. In this they carry gold and some of the silks which the Chinese merchants carry from China to Manila to be sold; and they might bring silks from Macao, should your Majesty now order it. In return they bring from Nueva España what they need for their own maintenance and growth (to make it unnecessary to go to Japon and China for the same). In proportion as this plan has been observed the welfare of both the Eastern and the Western Indias has been advanced; and the kingdoms of España have had great profits from them, through their carrying silver and bringing back merchandise. Now that the Hollanders are so powerful there, it is necessary that this be watched with the greatest care and vigilance, in order that what your Majesty gets from there may not be lost.
Events in the Filipinas Islands
From the Month of June, 617, Until the Present Date in 618
Last year I informed you at length of the naval battle, and of the signal victory which our Lord was pleased to give us over the enemy, the Hollanders, who came to these islands with the largest force that has ever been here. They brought ten galleons well equipped with men, artillery, ammunition, and other implements of war. Of these ten galleons they lost three in the battle—one, the admiral’s ship, was sunk, and two were burned. Four of the remaining seven fled to Maluco, badly damaged. So many of their men were killed and wounded that, although they had set out with a large number, they arrived with scarcely one hundred. These were the messengers of an event most disastrous for them but fortunate for us. The other ships fled to Japon.
Until now the natives of the Malucas Islands had greatly favored the heretics; but, loving novelty and seeing that the power of the Hollanders had declined, they began to plan a revolt. When the Hollanders learned of this, they hanged in Machien, one of their best strongholds, a chief whom, it was understood, the natives wished to place at the head of the insurrection. But in other quarters they could not so quickly effect a remedy. In the island of Siao the people killed all the Hollanders who had seized their land, except three whom they handed over alive to our governor of Maluco for galley-slaves. The natives of the island of Vanda [Banda] dealt in the same manner with the Hollanders who were there, and gained the ascendency. In Ambueno some of the natives revolted. The Hollanders tried to pacify them by force of arms, but we do not know how the affair ended. All this, however, was not what most disturbed the Hollanders, but it was rather the fact that they saw that English ships had come and formed an excellent stronghold in Pullovay.8 Thus, when the Hollanders undertook to eject the English from that port, the two nations were engaged in as bloody warfare with each other as [each was] with us. From all these circumstances it seems that the strongholds of the Hollanders were about to fall; and that, if at that time it had been possible to go with a fleet to the Malucas, a great exploit might have been performed. By this means, as wrote the governor of Ternate, Lucas de Vergara Gabiria, everything might, perhaps, have turned in our favor. But it was not possible to do this as was desired.
As I informed you in my report of last year, two other galleons, called “Leon Rojo” and “Fregelingas,” had separated from the rest of the fleet near the coast of Ilocos, a province of the island of Manila, in order to plunder, to more advantage and with less risk, the Chinese who were accustomed to steer for that coast. For this reason they took no part in the naval battle. This was very fortunate for them, since, without loss of men or of artillery, they plundered nine [many—V.d.A.9] Chinese ships, laden with very valuable silks which the Chinese were bringing here to the city of Manila. When these learned of the destruction of their fleet, they made haste to return to Japon, where they arrived on the seventh of July, 617. On the way they overtook two Chinese ships loaded with silks. They captured them, and, as their own were full of the plunder that they had taken, they put seven men as a guard on each of the Chinese ships and took them thus to Japon. When in sight of Japon the ships were driven by a storm, and one of the Chinese vessels was separated from the other and from the two of the Hollanders. It made port in the kingdom of Satsuma. But the authorities of this place, learning that the ship was a captive, and disapproving of a thing so foreign to civilized intercourse, would not consent that they should remain in the port longer than four days, at the end of which time they forced them to leave. During these four days the Chinese who came in the ships, about thirty-four in number, went ashore and secretly bought some catanas, arms peculiar to Japon and not very different from cutlasses. With these they embarked for Firando, another kingdom of Japon. One night they suddenly fell upon the Hollanders [the seven who guarded the ship], and, in spite of their resistance, they beheaded them and threw them into the sea. The Chinese then loaded all their goods upon little fishing boats that they had provided for the purpose, and setting fire to their ship, fled with their property in different directions. In all of this they were very diligent and discreet. If they had not been so, the Hollanders who reside in that kingdom undoubtedly would have taken the ship away from them by legal process, because (as we shall see later) the Hollanders have things much to their liking at the court of the emperor.
The two galleons, “Leon Rojo” and “Fregelingas,” and the other Chinese ship, of which I spoke, arrived at Cochi [Kochi], a port of the island of Firando, one league from the port and city of Firando.10 Here they began in great haste to unload the galleon, “Leon Rojo,” with the purpose of going to look out for the ship of Macan. The Portuguese who reside in Nangasaqui, learning of this design, went to the governor of that city to complain of what the Hollanders were planning. He sent them at once to the Jeno11 of Firando with an order by which the Jeno was commanded not to allow any Dutch ship to go out in search of the ship of Macan commanded by the Portuguese. This precaution, however, was unnecessary, because our Lord prevented, by other means, the accomplishment of their purpose. On the day of the blessed apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, a furious storm overtook them while they were in the port of Cochi. The “Leon Rojo” ran aground and filled with water; the “Fregelingas,” through loss of mainmast and rigging, was badly shattered. The Chinese ship also ran aground, and silks of great value were injured by water. With infinite labor and expense they hauled off the “Leon Rojo,” and, as best they could, they took it to the port of Firando. They were compelled, however, to give it up and leave it here for lost, because the leak was so great that it was impossible to stop it. They took the “Fregelingas” also to Firando, where they quickly repaired it.
There remains to be told the fate of another ship, called the “Sol Viejo” [“Old Sun”], that fled from the battle of last year and was confidently believed to have foundered in the sea. In it, however, the Dutch general, Juan Rodriguez Lam,12 escaped. With only eighty men, who remained with him, he crossed to the coast of Camboja, and went to the port of Champan [Champa V.d.A.] in order to repair the damage that the ship had sustained here in the Felipinas. They were not able to go, as they wished, from there to Patam, where they had a factory, because the vendavals, which were contrary, had now arisen. Therefore, they were forced to put into Japon at the port of Nangasaqui, where they entered with two other ships of theirs. One of these, the “Leon Negro” [“Black Lion”], carried one hundred and fifty-five men, and twenty-eight pieces of artillery, all of cast iron; the other, the “Galeaça,” carried ninety-five men and twenty-four pieces of artillery. The Dutch general had met these two ships on their way from Bantan, where the Hollanders had another factory. The “Leon Negro” and the “Galeaça” had captured three Chinese vessels that were going to Bantan to trade with the Hollanders. To save the Chinese the trouble, the Hollanders had loaded all the goods of the Chinese upon their own ships, thus taking from them the great wealth of silk they were carrying, and leaving them only the hulks of the ships. [In the margin: “Not the least compensation was made for such great injustice and injury.”] Sailing, then, by way of Hermosa Island, these two ships had sighted the “Sol Viejo;” and, thinking that it was the ship of Macan, they were much rejoiced, and prepared to seize it. When they came a little nearer, however, they discovered that it was the “Sol Viejo,” in which was their own
A small island—the name meaning “Vay Island,” Pulo being simply the Malay word for “island”—situated near the island of Banda. The English post thereon which is mentioned in the text was of little consequence, according to Richard Cocks—see his
This document is also contained in the Ventura del Arco MSS. (Ayer library), i, pp. 443–471. Certain variations occur therein from the text we follow, which is transcribed from the original MS. in the Real Academia de Historia, Madrid; and that of Ventura del Arco purports to be taken from the same MS. This apparent discrepancy probably arises from the two transcriptions being made from different copies of the same document. In the collection of the Real Academia more than one copy exists, in the case of certain documents; and there may be more than one copy of the one here presented. It should be remembered, in this connection, that in the religious houses in Europe manuscript copies of letters from distant lands were largely circulated, at that period, for the edification of their members (as we have before noted); and these copies were often not verbatim, the transcriber sometimes making slight changes, or omissions, or adding information which he had received later or by other channels. Our own text has been collated with that of Ventura del Arco, and variations or additions found in the latter are indicated as above, in brackets, followed by ”
For account of the arrival of these vessels in Japan, and various details regarding their exploits in the Philippines, see Cocks’s
This word is written Tono in the Ventura del Arco transcript. The ruler of Firando (the local form of Hirado, as it is more correctly written) was then Takanobu, who became daimio—“king,” in the English and Spanish writers; but equivalent to “baron”—of that island. The name Tono Sama, applied to the daimio, is not a personal name, but a polite form, equivalent to “your Lordship.” See Satow’s notes on
The “history of Hirado as a commercial port” up to 1611 is recounted by Satow (
This commander is mentioned by Cocks as John Derickson Lamb. The ship called “Galeaça” in our text is “Gallias” in that of Cocks.
