Galleons, 1577
Conclusions:
Arrival, Manila, ?24 June 1577;[1] 2 August 1577
Departure, Manila, the San Juan is to sail 8 June 1577 (BRPI, v. 4, p. 109, cited
by Dahlgren).
Arrival, Acapulco
Departure, Acapulco, ?15 March 1577
Data drawn upon:
BRPI, v. 34, p. 317, from “Letter from Pablo de Jesus to Gregory XIII,” Manila, 14 Kalends of July, 1580: “… we set sail on the Ides of March in the year 1578, and … we fifteen brethren landed at the islands known as the Philippines.” Footnote 40 [mis]corrects the date, reading “This should be March 15, 1577, for the first Franciscan mission arrived at Manila June 24, 1577.” Also, p. 325n43 indicates that “the first Dominican mission for the Philippines … arrived June 24, 1577.” BRPI, v. 35, p. 278, from “Early Franciscan Missions,” notes that after arrival “they entered Manila August 2, 1577.”
Cano, O.S.A.: Mission arrived Manila 2 August 1577.
Dahlgren, 44.
Gómez Platero, O.F.M., first Mission arrived Manila 24 June 1577.
[1] Many sources, including major Franciscan ones, give the arrival date of the Spanish Franciscans in the
Philippines as 1577. This has been definitively dismissed and 1578 (2 July in the Philippines)
established as the correct date by P. Fr. Lorenzo Pérez, O.F.M. See his Origen de las Misiones
Franciscanas en el Extremo Oriente (Madrid: Imp. de G. López del Horno, 1916), 12n2 & 173-92.
Galleons, 1578
Conclusions:
Arrival, Manila, 2 July 1578[1]
Departure, Manila, San Juanillo, lost en route to Acapulco
Arrival, Acapulco
Departure, Acapulco
Data drawn upon:
BRPI, v. 15, p. 54, taken from Antonio de Morga, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, undated reference: “The governor [Governor-General Doctor Francisco de Sande] dispatched the ship ‘San Juanillo’ to Nueva España, under command of Captain Juan de Ribera, but it was lost at sea and never heard of again.”
BRPI, v. 27, p. 187, from “Grau y Monfalcon’s Informatory Memorial of 1637:” “In the year 578, while Guido de Labacarris was governor, the ship ‘San Juanillo’ sailed for Nueva España, in command of Captain de Ribera, in which it was thought to recover the loss inflicted by the pirate [Limahon]; but the loss became greater, for that ship was lost, and it was never known how or where.”
Cano, O.S.A.: Mission arrived 1578.
Dahlgren, 44, cites Morga and BRPI for the loss of the San Juanillo.
Schurz, 258. The San Juanillo “left Manila and was never heard of again.”
[1] Many sources, including major Franciscan ones, give the arrival date of the Spanish Franciscans in the
Philippines as 1577. This has been definitively dismissed and 1578 (2 July in the Philippines)
established as the correct date by P. Fr. Lorenzo Pérez, O.F.M. See his Origen de las Misiones
Franciscanas en el Extremo Oriente (Madrid: Imp. de G. López del Horno, 1916), 12n2 & 173-92.
Galleons, 1579*
Conclusions:
Arrival, Manila
Departure, Manila, the Trinidad
Arrival, Acapulco, [2 November 1579].
Departure, Acapulco
Data drawn upon:
BRPI, v. 34, p. 313, from “Letter from Miguel Loarca to Martin Enriquez,” Manila, 15 June 1580: “… last year by the ship ‘Trinidad’ which left this port of Manilla.”
Dahlgren, 44.
Gerhard, 74 and 74n17: citing legajo 20 in the México section of the AGI, he says the “annual Manila galleon” arrived in Acapulco on 2 November 1579.
* Warren L. Cook [Flood Tide of Empire. Spain and the Pacific Northwest, 1543-1819 (New Haven,
Conn.: Yale University Press, 1973)], 7, has reference to Francis Drake’s capture off of
Costa Rica of individuals and charts with information on the Acapulco-Manila run. Gerhard,
66, tells of how Drake captured on 20 March 1579 off of Costa Rica a vessel which had on board
two pilots who had sailed the Manila/Acapulco galleons along with “charts and sailing directions”
for the trip across the Pacific. Henry R. Wagner, Spanish Voyages to the Northwest Coast of
America in the Sixteenth Century, 345, also has some information on this incident.
Galleons, 1580
Conclusions:
Arrival, Manila, April 1580
Departure, Manila, 1580, but put back to port
Arrival, Acapulco
Departure, Acapulco
Data drawn upon:
BRPI, v. 17, p. 286, from “List of Philippine Governors:” Gonzalo Ronquillo de Peñalosa, “arrives at Manila, April, 1580.”
BRPI, v. 27, p. 187, from “Grau y Monfalcon’s Informatory Memorial of 1637:” “In the year 580, Captain Don Juan Ronquillo del Castillo sailed for Nueva España, in a ship that carried no small cargo. After having sailed for many days, and having found himself in the neighborhood of Nueva Guinea, he put back in distress in a very bad condition.” Dahlgren, 44-45, refers to this as well, but it is misleadingly under the information for 1581 for a subsequent attempt to sail from the Philippines to Peru. Dahlgren, 44, makes reference to Don Gonzalo Ronquillo de Peñalosa’s ill-fated attempt to convey 600 persons from Spain to the Philippines in return for the position as governor for life of the Philippines. It sailed from Spain for Cartagena and Nombre de Dios and was ready with diminished crews to sail from Panama in February 1580 but his plans were dramatically curtailed by the piratical raids of Francis Drake.
Galleons, 1581
Conclusions:
Arrival, Manila, March 1581; 17 September 1581, the San Martín, which
had put into Sorsogon two months earlier
Departure, Manila
Arrival, Acapulco
Departure, Acapulco, 29 March 1581, the San Martín
Data drawn upon:
Cano, O.S.A.: Mission arrived Manila, March 1581.
Dahlgren, 44-45.
“In January 1581 the little band took the road that dipped down from Mexico City to the little seaport of Acapulco, where the galleon San Martín, 400 tons, Captain Luís de Sahagosa, waited to take them across the Pacific. On 29 March the San Martín weighed anchor and stood out to sea, carrying besides her complement of ninety-six officers and men a little over a hundred passengers and a subsidy for the Philippine government ….” “After a brief stop at Guam for fresh water and provisions they resumed their westward course and made their first Philippine landfall early in July. … the San Martín had made a late start and arrived well into the season of the southeast winds or vendabales. Unable to make headway, the put into a sheltered harbor just inside the embocadero, in the province of Ibalon (now Sorsogon). After eighteen days of waiting for the wind to change quarter, Bishop Salazar decided to complete the journey overland. … two months later, on 17 September 1581, they made their entry into Manila ….” (de la Costa, 9-10)
Gómez Platero, O.F.M., Mission arrived Manila, 1581.
Galleons, 1581
Conclusions:
Arrival, Manila, March 1581; 17 September 1581, the San Martín, which
had put into Sorsogon two months earlier
Departure, Manila
Arrival, Acapulco
Departure, Acapulco, 29 March 1581, the San Martín
Data drawn upon:
Cano, O.S.A.: Mission arrived Manila, March 1581.
Dahlgren, 44-45.
“In January 1581 the little band took the road that dipped down from Mexico City to the little seaport of Acapulco, where the galleon San Martín, 400 tons, Captain Luís de Sahagosa, waited to take them across the Pacific. On 29 March the San Martín weighed anchor and stood out to sea, carrying besides her complement of ninety-six officers and men a little over a hundred passengers and a subsidy for the Philippine government ….” “After a brief stop at Guam for fresh water and provisions they resumed their westward course and made their first Philippine landfall early in July. … the San Martín had made a late start and arrived well into the season of the southeast winds or vendabales. Unable to make headway, the put into a sheltered harbor just inside the embocadero, in the province of Ibalon (now Sorsogon). After eighteen days of waiting for the wind to change quarter, Bishop Salazar decided to complete the journey overland. … two months later, on 17 September 1581, they made their entry into Manila ….” (de la Costa, 9-10)
Gómez Platero, O.F.M., Mission arrived Manila, 1581.
Galleons, 1582
Conclusions:
Arrival, Manila, [24 May] 1582
Departure, Manila
Arrival, Acapulco
Departure, Acapulco, 10 March 1582.
Data drawn upon:
Cano, O.S.A.: Mission arrived Manila, 1582.
Dahlgren, 45: “Francisco Gali starts, on 10 March, from Acapulco and sails, first WSW, and then W. and then W by S., until after having 1800 leagues, he reaches Isla de Engaño (Guam) ... After a further distance of 280 leagues they reach Cape Espiritu Santo, and finally Manila. His source is Linschoten, Reysgheschrift, Amst. 1595, p. 101.
Gómez Platero, O.F.M., Mission arrived Manila, 1582.
Wagner, Spanish Voyages to the Northwest Coast of America in the Sixteenth Century, 133, says that Francisco Gali reported that “he sailed from Acapulco for Manila March 10, 1582.” In the note to that sentence, p. 363n52, Wagner adds that “Aside from this statement there is no record of any ship sailing from Acapulco to Manila in 1582 beyond one in a biographical notice in Retana-Morga that a Franciscan named Francisco de Montilla arrived at Manila that year, and another by Ronquillo in a letter of June 15, 67-6-6,[1] that a ship reached there May 24.
W. Michael Mathes, in his Vizcíno and Spanish Expansion in the Pacific Ocean 1580-1630 (San Francisco: California Historical Society, 1968), 13-14, says that Gali left Acapulco a year later, 10 March 1583, arriving in Manila in June of that year.
[1] “The numbers standing alone represent those of legajos, or bundles of documents, in the Archivo General
de Indias in Seville.” Wagner, 288.
Galleons, 1583
Conclusions:
Arrival, Manila ***
Departure, Manila, [the Santa Maria de Jesus; the San Martin]
Arrival, Acapulco
Departure, Acapulco ******
Data drawn upon:
no source reports voyages in this year
However, Wagner, Spanish Voyages to the Northwest Coast of America in the Sixteenth Century, 131, says that on “February 29, 1584, the Santa Maria de Jesus reached Acapulco dismasted, after a seven months’ voyage, having lost her captain, master, pilot, and fifty-six sailors and passengers, almost all from scurvy, that dread disease which attacked so many on these long voyages.”[1] An arrival at Acapulco in February 1584 inescapably suggests a departure from Manila in 1583. On page 132, Wagner said that the San Martin had left the Islands with the Santa Maria de Jesus, suggesting that indeed two ships left Manila in 1583.
Moreover, Wagner (133-34) tells of the San Juan Bautista’s departure from Manila at the end of June 1583 “with the dispatches destined for New Spain.” The ship detoured to Macao ostensibly due to contrary winds but more likely to sell some goods there. The ship was in due course tracked by the Manila authorities who sent “the factor, Juan Bautista Roman, from Manila in March with Francisco Gali and Alonzo Gomez as pilot in a small vessel which reached Macao May 1, 1584. Roman demanded the surrender of the ship from the Portuguese authorities, but met with difficulties, as most of the Portuguese merchants there were interested in the proposed goods. Roman finally secured the vessel, took her outside the port, executed the master and pilot, and then dispatched her for Acapulco under the command of Gali.” The sources for this remarkable tale are given on p. 363n54. Technically, then, this voyage should be placed under 1584.
*** W. Michael Mathes, in his Vizcíno and Spanish Expansion in the Pacific Ocean 1580-1630 (San
Francisco: California Historical Society, 1968), 13-14, says that Gali left Acapulco a year later
than I indicated on the previous year’s entry, 10 March 1583 and not 10 March 1582, arriving in
Manila in June of 1583. Dahlgren and Wagner indicate the year was 1582 for this voyage, not
1583, and for the nonce I will defer to their judgment.
[1] One of the two end notes referenced by him tell us (p. 362) in addition that the ship’s nickname was the
Mora and the other gives the source for this information while making some collateral points.
Galleons, 1584
Conclusions:
Arrival, Manila, 9 March 1584; 16 or 26 May 1584; June 1584
Departure, not from Manila but from Macao, 24 or 29 July 1584, the
San Juan Bautista
Arrival, Acapulco, the Santa Maria de Jesus, 29 February 1584;
and the San Martin, 15 December 1584.
Departure, Acapulco
Data drawn upon:
BRPI, v. 15, p. 60, taken from Antonio de Morga, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, “The president and auditors arrived at the Filipinas in the month of May, in the year 1584, while Diego Ronquillo was governing.”
BRPI, v. 17, p. 286, from “List of Philippine Governors:” Doctore Santiago de Vera, “arrives at Manila, May 16, 1584.”
Cano, O.S.A.: Mission arrived Manila, June 1584.
Dahlgren, 45-46: “Francisco Gali, who, after his arrival at Manila in 1582, had continued his voyage to Macao, sailed from there in order to explore the Japanese waters, as commanded by the King. It was certainly contrary to orders that he went to China, and, instead of searching for a new route, followed the old one which had long been known through the voyages of the Portuguese to Japan.” From there he sailed back to Mexico.
In de la Costa’s Appendix C, pp. 608-619, “Catalogue of Members of the Mission … Mentioned in the Text,” there is reference to Jesuits arriving 26 May 1584, e.g. P. Francesco Almerici. There is also at least one reference to arrival on 9 March 1584, Brother Gaspar Gómez.
Wagner, Spanish Voyages to the Northwest Coast of America in the Sixteenth Century, 131, says that on “February 29, 1584, the Santa Maria de Jesus reached Acapulco dismasted, after a seven months’ voyage, having lost her captain, master, pilot, and fifty-six sailors and passengers, almost all from scurvy, that dread disease which attacked so many on these long voyages.”[1] An arrival at Acapulco in February 1584 inescapably suggests a departure from Manila in 1583. On page 132, Wagner said that the San Martin (which he said arrived in Acapulco 15 December 1584) had left the Islands with the Santa Maria de Jesus, suggesting that indeed two ships left Manila for Acapulco in 1583.
Moreover, Wagner (133-34) tells of the San Juan Bautista’s departure from Manila at the end of June 1583 “with the dispatches destined for New Spain.” The ship detoured to Macao ostensibly due to contrary winds but more likely to sell some goods there. The ship was in due course tracked by the Manila authorities who sent “the factor, Juan Bautista Roman, from Manila in March with Francisco Gali and Alonzo Gomez as pilot in a small vessel which reached Macao May 1, 1584. Roman demanded the surrender of the ship from the Portuguese authorities, but met with difficulties, as most of the Portuguese merchants there were interested in the proposed goods. Roman finally secured the vessel, took her outside the port, executed the master and pilot, and then dispatched her for Acapulco under the command of Gali.” The sources for this remarkable tale are given on p. 363n54. Technically, then, this voyage should be placed under 1584, and it appears to have arrived in Acapulco safely.
[1] One of the two end notes referenced by him tell us (p. 362) in addition that the ship’s nickname was the
Mora and the second gives the source for this information and makes some collateral points.
Galleons, 1585
Conclusions:
Arrival, Manila, September 1585; the San Juan, June 1585.
Departure, Manila
Arrival, Acapulco
Departure, Acapulco the San Juan, under Francisco Gali, 25 March 1585; and the San Martin, also on 25 March.[1]
Data drawn upon:
Dahlgren, 47, opines that “Probably the ship ‘San Martin’ sailed at the same time [ca. 20 June 1585] from the Philippines,” citing BRPI, v. 6, 67, 73. He is also the source [using BRPI, v. 6, 69, 263, 307, 310; and v. 7, 66], for the information above regarding the San Juan.
Gómez Platero, O.F.M.: Mission arrived in the Islands, September 1585.
[1] Henry R. Wagner, Spanish Voyages to the Northwest Coast of America in the Sixteenth Century. 137.
Galleons, 1586
Conclusions:
Arrival, Manila, “May or June” 1586
Departure, Manila, 28 June 1586, the San Martín and the San Juan*
Arrival, Acapulco
Departure, Acapulco
Data drawn upon:
Cano, O.S.A.: Mission arrive Manila, 1586.
Dahlgren, 47.
reference in de la Costa, 75, to a galleon arriving in the islands “in May or June”
of 1586.
Schurz, 251: Departed Manila, 28 June 1586, San Martín.
* Warren L. Cook [Flood Tide of Empire. Spain and the Pacific Northwest, 1543-1819 (New Haven,
Conn.: Yale University Press, 1973)], 34, indicates that the galleon San Juan was lost en route
from Manila to the Americas in 1586. Dahlgren, citing BRPI and Colin, confirms this.
Galleons, 1587
Conclusions:
Arrival, Manila The ship that left Mexico in April arrived in the Philippines
on 21 July 1587.
Departure, Manila, 24 June 1587,[1] the Santa Ana, which was temporarily lost to
capture en route (arrived in Acapulco 7 January 1588)
Departure, Macao, [Nuestra Señora de Esperanza] July 1587.[2]
Departure, Macao, 12 July 1587, Nuestra Señora de Esperanza[3]
Arrival, Acapulco 1 January 1587, the San Martin; 22 November 1587, the
Nuestra Señora de Esperanza[4]
Departure, Acapulco, San Martín, to Macao, not to China; and 6 April 1587.
Data drawn upon:
BRPI, v. 30, pp. 128-29, from Diego Aduarte, O.P., Historia de la Provincia del Sancto Rosario de la Orden de Predicadores: “[The three … destined for China set sail from the port of Acapulco for Macan, in a vessel called the ‘San Martin.’ The other fifteen religious began their voyage on the Sunday called Quasimodo, the Sunday after Easter, April 6, in the year 1587.”
Warren L. Cook [Flood Tide of Empire. Spain and the Pacific Northwest, 1543-1819 (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1973)], 9, makes mention of the mid-November 1587 capture and attempting burning of the Santa Ana by Thomas Cavendish.
Dahlgren, 47, citing BRPI, v. 6, p. 315; and v. 7, pp. 73, 86, and 215, writes:
“The Oidor in Guatemala, Lope de Palacios, petitioned the Viceroy of Mexico for the privilege of carrying on navigation between Peru and China, in spite of the prohibition against trading between the Spanish and Portuguese possessions, which prohibition had been maintained even after Portugal had been united with the crown of Spain. For this purpose he had purchased the galleon “San Martin”; on this he sailed from Acapulco, without calling at the Philippines, direct to Chincheo (Chang-Chow) in China. Here he took cargo on board to go to Macao, but he was wrecked near his destination; the crew and the cargo were saved.”
Dahlgren, 48, makes reference to Pedro de Unamunu in the frigate Nuestra Señora de Buena Esperanza sailing against express orders from Manila to Macao, and then sailing to Acapulco, arriving there 22 November 1587.
Dahlgren, 48, tells the story of the Santa Ana but does not indicate what may have occurred after the English burned the galleon.
Gerhard, 81-94, gives a fuller picture of the actions of Cavendish, the capture of the Santa Ana, its salvaging by the marooned Spaniards, and the remarkable success of sailing the salvaged hulk to the mainland and then down the coast to Acapulco, arriving there 7 January 1588.[5] Gerhard, 89-90, says that there were two galleons which departed from Manila to Acapulco in 1587, the Santa Ana as well as the Nuestra Señora de Esperanza. The latter arrived safely at Banderas Bay 12 November 1587; he gives no date for arrival in Acapulco.
Schurz, 276: Departed Acapulco, 1587, “Fifteen Dominicans crossed on the Acapulco galleon of 1587. Fire broke out on board during the voyage and destroyed part of the provisions. Quarrels between two factions broke out in open war, one group barricading itself in the bow of the ship and other in the stern, from which they fired on one another across the waist of the galleon. After the two parties had been reconciled by the friars …, the galleon narrowly escaped destruction on the shores of an island inhabited by cannibals.”
Schurz, 306-08ff.: Departed Manila, 1587, the Santa Ana, “under the command of Tomás de Alzola,” taken by Thomas Cavendish off the California coast. Although burned, Sebastián Vizcaino and other marooned Spaniards were able to reach the “burning hulk,” extinguish the flames “and then, after the most strenuous efforts, succeeded in putting the ship in condition to cross the Gulf of California and finally to reach Acapulco on the seventh of January.”
[1] W. Michael Mathes, Vizcíno and Spanish Expansion in the Pacific Ocean 1580-1630 (San Francisco:
California Historical Society, 1968), 20, has the departure from Manila as 2 July 1587.
[2] Henry R. Wagner, Spanish Voyages to the Northwest Coast of America in the Sixteenth Century. 139-51,
tells the story of Pedro de Unamuno leaving Manila with a ship and a fragata and proceeding
against all regulations to Macao where he and the ships were seized. Ultimately he was freed and somehow found the means to purchase another fragata [Dahlgren suggests this was then named the Nuestra Señora de Buena Esperanza] with which he sailed in July 1587 from Macao and now accompanied by P. Fr. Martin Ignacio de Loyola to Acapulco, arriving there 22 November 1587.
[3] W. Michael Mathes, Vizcíno and Spanish Expansion in the Pacific Ocean 1580-1630 (San Francisco:
California Historical Society, 1968), 15.
[4] Ibid., 18.9
[5] W. Michael Mathes, Vizcíno and Spanish Expansion in the Pacific Ocean 1580-1630 (San Francisco:
California Historical Society, 1968), 20-23, has a full and well-researched account as well He
says that the Spanish from the Santa Ana reached Acapulco on 8 January 1588.
Galleons, 1588
Conclusions:
Arrival, Manila
Departure, Manila, June 1588, the Santiago
Arrival, Acapulco, 7 January 1588, the Santa Ana
Departure, Acapulco
Data drawn upon:
Dahlgren, 48-49, citing BRPI, v. 30, p. 205, indicates that P. Fr. Juan Cobo
and five other Dominicans were on board a ship that sailed from Acapulco and after enduring a storm in their little and leaky ship were able finally to arrive in Manila.
Schurz, 306-08ff.: Departed Manila, 1587, the Santa Ana, “under the command of Tomás de Alzola,” taken by Thomas Cavendish off the California coast. Although burned, Sebastián Vizcaino and other marooned Spaniards were able to reach the “burning hulk,” extinguish the flames “and then, after the most strenuous efforts, succeeded in putting the ship in condition to cross the Gulf of California and finally to reach Acapulco on the seventh of January [1588].”
Schurz, 310: Departed Manila, June 1588, the Santiago.
Galleons, 1589
Conclusions:
Arrival, Manila
Departure, Manila
Arrival, Acapulco
Departure, Acapulco
Data drawn upon:
Dahlgren,, 49, cited BRPI, v. 7, p. 120, indicating that “a ship from Panama or Peru is said, without having called at Manilla, to have arrived at Macao....”
Dahlgren, 49: “On 29 June a violent storm rages in Manila. Two ships which were loading a cargo for New Spain were driven ashore by the force of this tempest, and it is understood that they cannot be repaired. In all the port not one ship or frigate escaped, except one small boat, which was taken to send advices to New Spain.” He cites Colin and BRPI, v. 7, p. 134.
Galleons, 1590
Conclusions:
Arrival, Manila, two galleons, one 31 May or 1 June; and the second galleon
arrived 20 June 1590
Departure, Manila, 1590, the Santiago; ? San Ildefonso
Arrival, Acapulco, December 1590
Departure, Acapulco, 1 March 1590, two ships, one the Santiago.
Data drawn upon:
Atmospheric Circulation Changes, WWW site, p. 1, Ruta Acapulco-Filipinas: reference to the Santiago sailing in 1590 from Acapulco to Manila.
BRPI, v. 17, p. 287, from “List of Philippine Governors:” Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas, “sails from Acapulco, March 1, 1590; arrives at Manila, May (June 1, according to his own letter …), 1590.”
BRPI, v. 30, p. 129, from Diego Aduarte, O.P., Historia de la Provincia del Sancto Rosario de la Orden de Predicadores: “In the month of June in this same year, 1590, there came to these islands as governor Gomez Perez das Mariñas ….”
Cano, O.S.A.: Mission arrived Manila, May 1590.
“cleared from Acapulco for the Philippines on 1 March 1590. Two ships made the Pacific crossing. Dasmariñas in the flagship reached Cavite without incident on 31 May. The second ship … was dismasted by a typhoon and wrecked on the coast of Marinduque. No lives were lost, and the … entered Manila on 20 June.” (de la Costa, 121) In de la Costa’s Appendix C, pp. 608-619, “Catalogue of Members of the Mission … Mentioned in the Text,” there is reference to Jesuits arriving 20 June 1590, e.g. P. Pedro Chirino.
Dahlgren, 49-50, mentions as well that the Viceroy of Peru sent a ship to Macao, arriving subsequently in the Philippines where it was confiscated due to the royal prohibition against trade between Peru and China or Manila. He also mentions that in 1589 or 1590 a ship captained by a Juan de Gama sailed from Macao to New Spain on his own ship, acompanied by another owned by a Baltasar Rodriguez. Subsequently, perhaps in 1591 or 1592, de Gama sailed to Manila, where his ship and silver were temporarily confiscated by Governor Dasmarinas in order to get a ship back from Macao that had been seized there.
Schurz, 268: Departed Manila, 1590, the Santiago.
Galleons, 1591
Conclusions:
Arrival, Manila, 21 June 1591, the Santiago.
Departure, Manila, two ships, June 1591, one of which was the San Felipe
Arrival, Acapulco, the San Ildefonso, 19 January 1591
Departure, Acapulco, 25 March 1591, the Santiago and the San Ildefonso
(which was lost en route).
Data drawn upon:
Atmospheric Circulation Changes, 2439: 25 March 1591, the Santiago and the San Ildefonso. “… the governor’s ship [Santiago] arrived ‘after a reasonably good voyage.’ The San Ildefonso was lost at sea.”[1]
Atmospheric Circulation Changes, WWW site, p. 1, Ruta Acapulco-Filipinas: reference to the Santiago and to “Un navío pequeño llamado S. Ildefonso” (El S. Ildefonso se perdió”) sailing in 1591 from Acapulco to Manila; the Santiago docked in Cavite 21 June 1591.
BRPI, v. 8, p. 236, “Letter from Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas to the King,” Manila, 31 May 1592: “By two ships which sailed from this port for Mexico at the end of June, 1591, I wrote your Majesty ….”
BRPI, v. 8, p. 255, “Two Letters from Dasmariñas to Felipe II,” Manila, 6 June 1592: “I, Juan de Cuellar, notary of mines and registers, certify that in the galleon ‘Sant Felippe’ now ready to set sail for Nueva España, from the port of Cavite, this present year of five hundred and ninety-one ….”
Dahlgren, 51.
Schurz, 166: Departed Manila 1591, San Felipe.
[1] The loss of the San Ildefonso in 1591 is also referred to in Atmospheric Circulation Changes, 2446.
Galleons, 1592
Conclusions:
Arrival, Manila, 3 or 31 May 1592
Departure, Manila
Arrival, Acapulco
Departure, Acapulco
Data drawn upon:
BRPI, v. 8, p. 236, “Letter from Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas to the King,” Manila, 31 May 1592: “… as I write this, a ship has just arrived from Mexico ….”
Dahlgren, nothing for 1592.
In de la Costa’s Appendix C, pp. 608-619, “Catalogue of Members of the Mission … Mentioned in the Text,” there is reference to Jesuits arriving 3 May 1592, e.g. Brother Juan Próspero.
Gómez Platero, O.F.M., Mission arrived in May 1592.
Galleons, 1593
Conclusions:
Arrival, Manila, 1593; the Santiago arrived, perhaps, 25 September 1593.
Arrival, Cebu, 1593, the San Felipe.
Departure, Manila, two ships, the San Felipe and the San Francisco, both
of which put back to port
Arrival, Acapulco
Departure, Acapulco, 8 February 1593, the San Felipe; and 4 April, the Santiago
Data drawn upon:
Atmospheric Circulation Changes, WWW site, p. 1, Ruta Acapulco-Filipinas: reference to the San Felipe sailing 8 February and to the Santiago sailing 4 April, Acapulco to Manila; reference as well to the Santiago arriving in Manila perhaps on 25 September 1593. There is a reference as well to the San Felipe on page 2 of this source; further, for 1595, there is reference to the San Felipe’s 1593 arrival in Cebu.
BRPI, v. 15, pp. 76-7, taken from Antonio de Morga, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, “In the course of his journey [Morga] arrived at Nueva España in the beginning of the year ninety-four, and found that the ships which … had failed to come from the Filipinas …. …in the month of November of the same year, … the galleon ‘Sanctiago,’ [sic], which had been sent to the islands the year before [arrived].”
BRPI, v. 27, p. 190, from “Grau y Monfalcon’s Informatory Memorial of 1637:” “In the year 593, the two ships ‘San Felipe’ and ‘San Francisco’ sailed for Acapulco. They put back in distress, one at Manila, and the other at the island of Zebre …, very much crippled and wrecked.”
Cano, O.S.A.: Mission arrived Manila, 1593.
Dahlgren, 51.
Schurz, 261: Departed Manila, 1593, two galleons, San Felipe and the San Francisco, both of which “put back in a badly wrecked condition.”
Galleons, 1594
Conclusions:
Arrival, Manila, “April or May” 1594; 15 June[1] 1594, the Nuestra Señora del
Rosario as well as a privately purchased boat, [the San Pedro?[2]].
Departure, Cebu, June 1594, the San Felipe. Dahlgren, 51, citing BRPI, v. 9,
p. 142, says that both the San Felipe and the San Francisco left the
Philippines in June 1594.
Arrival, Acapulco, November 1594, the Santiago; 22 November 1594, the San
Felipe.
Departure, Acapulco, 21 March 1594, the Nuestra Señora del Rosario as well as
a privately purchased boat, ?the San Pedro?[3].
Data drawn upon:
Atmospheric Circulation Changes, WWW site, pp. 1-2, Ruta Acapulco-Filipinas: reference to the Nuestra Señora del Rosario as well as a privately purchased boat, both leaving Acapulco 21 March with the former arriving in the San Bernardino Strait 10 June and the other arriving in Manila perhaps on the 15th. Reference as well to the arrival in Acapulco from the Islands of the San Felipe, 22 November 1594. Under 1595, page 2 of this source, is reference to the departure from Cebu in 1594 of the San Felipe.
BRPI, v. 15, pp. 76-7, taken from Antonio de Morga, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, “In the course of his journey [Morga] arrived at Nueva España in the beginning of the year ninety-four, and found that the ships which … had failed to come from the Filipinas …. …in the month of November of the same year, … the galleon ‘Sanctiago,’ [sic], which had been sent to the islands the year before [arrived].”
Dahlgren, 51.
Gómez Platero, O.F.M.: Mission arrived April or May 1594.
[1] Atmospheric Circulation Changes, 2441.
[2] W. Michael Mathes, Vizcíno and Spanish Expansion in the Pacific Ocean 1580-1630 (San Francisco:
California Historical Society, 1968), 45.
[3] Ibid. Also see Henry R. Wagner, Spanish Voyages to the Northwest Coast of America in the Sixteenth
Century, 154-67.
Galleons, 1595
Conclusions:
Arrival, Manila, 10, 11, or 12 June 1595; end of July, the San Pablo.
Departure, Manila, 5 July 1595, the San Agustín, privately-owned ship,
ship-wrecked 30 November 1595 on the west coast of North America.[1]
Arrival, Acapulco, survivors from the San Agustín, 31 January 1596.[2]
Departure, Acapulco, 22 or 23 March 1595, the San Felipe and the Santiago
Data drawn upon:
Atmospheric Circulation Changes, WWW site, p. 2, Ruta Acapulco-Filipinas: reference to departures on 22 March of the San Felipe and the Santiago. The authors assign voyages of the San Felipe variously dated to 1593 and 1594 to 1595, but I have entered them under the 1593-94 dates. This source also indicates that the San Pablo arrived in Manila toward the end of July 1595.
BRPI, v. 9, p. 154, “Letter from Antonio de Morga to Felipe II,” Manila, 25 June 1595: “On the tenth of this month of July [sic, BRPI], I arrived at port in these Philipinas Islands with the fleet of your Majesty ….” BRPI, v. 12, p. 223, from P. Pedro Chirino, S.J., Relation of the Filipinas Islands, indicates that Morga arrived in June 1595. A footnote in BRPI, v. 12, pp. 223-24, n. 62 by P. Pablo Pastells, S.J., indicates departure from Acapulco 22 March 1595 and arrival in Cavite 10 June 1595, in the galleons ‘San Felipe’ and ‘Santiago.’
BRPI, v. 14, p. 81, n. 8, indicating that a Dominican mission arrived “at Manila June 12, 1595.”
BRPI, v. 15, p. 77, taken from Antonio de Morga, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, “… together with many passengers and religious from España, Doctor Antonio de Morga embarked in the port of Acapulco in the galleons ‘San Felipe’ and ‘Sanitago,’ with everything under his charge. He set sail March twenty-two of ninety-five, and arrived under fair weather in the port of Cabit [sic], June eleven of the same year.” [11 June 1595 is also the date in BRPI, v. 17, p. 287, from “List of Philippine Governors”]
BRPI, v. 30, p. 129, from Diego Aduarte, O.P., Historia de la Provincia del Sancto Rosario de la Orden de Predicadores: “They embarked March 23, 1595. … They reached the port of Manila June 12.”
Cano, O.S.A.: Mission arrived Manila June 1595.
“… group that … sailed from Acapulco on 22 March 1595 …” “They arrived in Manila on 11 June 1595….” (de la Costa, 134) In de la Costa’s Appendix C, pp. 608-619, “Catalogue of Members of the Mission … Mentioned in the Text,” there is reference to Jesuits arriving 10 June 1595, e.g. Brother Denis Marie.
Dahlgren, 51.
Pérez, O.E.S.A.: Mission arrived in June 1595.
Schurz, 281: Departed Acapulco, 22 March 1595, the Santiago, “and reached Manila on June 11.”
[1] Warren L. Cook [Flood Tide of Empire. Spain and the Pacific Northwest, 1543-1819 (New Haven,
Conn.: Yale University Press, 1973)], 10-11, makes reference to a voyage from Manila to northern
California by Sebastião Rodrigues Cermenho in the San Agustin, which was destroyed in a storm
in November 1595 near the California/Oregon present-day boundary. Also see Dahlgren, 51.
There is fuller information on this voyage in W. Michael Mathes, Vizcaíno and Spanish
Expansion in the Pacific Ocean 1580-1630 (San Francisco: California Historical Society, 1968),
45-50. Also see Henry R. Wagner, Spanish Voyages to the Northwest Coast of America in the
Sixteenth Century, 154-67.
[2] W. Michael Mathes, Vizcaíno and Spanish Expansion in the Pacific Ocean 1580-1630 (San Francisco:
California Historical Society, 1968), 50. The boat they used after the shipwreck was a “Philippine
longboat,” a viroco, which they called the San Buenaventura.
Galleons, 1596
Conclusions:
Arrival, Manila, 1 June 1596, 14 July 1596, or 5 August 1596, two ships,
one of which was the Rosario; 22 July, the San Pedro.
Departure, Manila, July 1596, the San Felipe, but confiscated in Japan when
seeking shelter from storms and consequent damage; also sent was the San Gerónimo
Arrival, Acapulco, 31 January 1596, survivors from the ship-wrecked San
Agustín, which had sailed from Manila 5 July 1595;[1]
also, “at the end of” 1596, the San Gerónimo
Departure, Acapulco, 6 March 1596, two ships, one of which was the Rosario;
25 or 28 March 1596, the San Pablo and the San Pedro.
Data drawn upon:
Atmospheric Circulation Changes, WWW site, p. 2, Ruta Acapulco-Filipinas: reference to departure from Acapulco 25 or 28 March of the San Pablo and the San Pedro, with the San Pedro perhaps arriving in Manila around 22 July 1596.
BRPI, v. 10, p. 25, “At the end of April of the current year I sent your Majesty an account of the state of affairs in these islands … I have only to add that some days after I returned to this city, the ship ‘San Felipe’ which left this city in July, 96, was carried by several storms to the coast of Japan, entered the port of Hurando, and was lost there ….”
BRPI, v. 12, p. 232, n. 66 by P. Pablo Pastells, S.J., from P. Pedro Chirino, S.J., Relation of the Filipinas Islands, departure from Acapulco 6 March 1596, arrival in Manila 14 July 1596.
BRPI, v. 15, pp. 116-22, taken from Antonio de Morga, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, “When Governor Don Francisco Tello entered upon his office, in the year ninety-six, he found the ‘San Geronymo,’ the ship in which Don Fernando de Castro and his wife Doa Ysabel Barreto were returning to Nueva España, preparing for the voyage in the port of Cabite. He also found there the galleon ‘San Felipe’ laden with Filipinas goods, preparing to make its voyage to Nueva España. As soon as Governor Don Francisco Tello entered upon his administration, both ships were dispatched and set sail. Although the ‘San Geronymo’ sailed last, it made the voyage, reaching Nueva España at the end of the said year of ninety-six. The vessel ‘San Felipe,’ ….”
BRPI, v. 17, p. 288, from “List of Philippine Governors:” Francisco de Tello de Guzmán, “enters Manila, July 14, 1596.”
BRPI, v. 27, p. 190, from “Grau y Monfalcon’s Informatory Memorial of 1637:” “In the year 596, the galleon ‘San Felipe,’ one of the trading ships, under command of Don Matías de Landecho, made port in distress at Japon[sic], where it was wrecked. ….”
BRPI, v. 31, p. 39, from P. Diego Aduarte, O.P., Historia de la Provincia del Sancto Rosario de la Orden de Predicadores: “By the ships which came to these islands from Nueva España in 1596….” And pp. 109-10, “They arrived in the month of July in this year of 1596….” And pp. 136-37, “The voyage which they made from Acapulco to Manila was very prosperous. The religious having been divided between the two ships, those who embarked in the flagship, called ‘Rosario,’ were unable to get their ship-stores on board because of the great hurry of the commander, Don Fernando de Castro. But God provided for them from the ocean; for every day without exception they fished from that ship, and thus the food of the religious was supplied. This is something which never happened before or since that voyage to any ship.”
Cano, O.S.A.: Mission arrived Manila 1 June 1596.
Dahlgren, 51-53. Dahlgren, 52-53, citing the 1904 Hakluyt edition of The Voyages of Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, also states: “As regards Alvaro de Mendaña’s second voyage, undertaken with the object of again searching for the Solomon Islands, ... he left Callao with four ships on 9 April 1595; that while sailing westwards in about 10° S. lat., he discovered the Marquesas and the Santa Cruz Islands, and, after he had died there on 18 October, the command of the expedition was taken over by his widow, Doña Isabel Barreto, who was compelled to abandon the colony on Santa Cruz and go to Manila in order to try to save the remnants of the expedition, which was threatened with destruction by sickness and internal quarrels. The pilot Pedro Fernandez de Quiros was in charge of the ship “San Jeronimo” and, after calling at the Ladrones, took it into Manila, where they arrived on 11 February 1596 with people and ship in the most wretched condition. During the stay at Manila Mendaña’s widow married Don Fernando de Castro, a cousin of the Governor Dasmarinas. After the ship had been repaired and again placed under the command of Quiros, the newly-married embarked for their return voyage to Peru. ... the departure from Manila took place on 10 August 1596; that as they had started so late, they ‘had to go through incredible hardships and troubles’; and that finally they reached Acapulco on 11 December.”
In de la Costa’s Appendix C, pp. 608-619, “Catalogue of Members of the Mission … Mentioned in the Text,” there is reference to Jesuits arriving in 1526, e.g. P. Cristóbal Jiménez. There is also at least one reference to arrival on 14 July 1596, P. Alonso Rodríguez; and to arrival on 5 August 1596, Brother Alonso del Barco.
Pérez, O.E.S.A.: Mission arrived in the Islands 1 June 1596.
Schurz, 261: Departed Manila, 1596, San Felipe, 261, “was so crippled in her voyage … that she finally made for a port of Japan, where she was sacked by the natives.”
Schurz, 277: Departed Acapulco, 1596, “Thus, when the Italian merchant, Antonio Carletti, and his son, Francesco, sailed on a Manila Galleon in 1596….”
[1] W. Michael Mathes, Vizcaíno and Spanish Expansion in the Pacific Ocean 1580-1630 (San Francisco:
California Historical Society, 1968), 50.
Galleons, 1597
Conclusions:
Arrival, Manila, 4 June 1597, the Santa Margarita and the San Gerónimo; date
of arrival of the San Bartolomé not given.
Departure, Manila
Arrival, Acapulco
Departure, Acapulco, 21 March, the Santa Margarita and the San Gerónimo;
23 November 1597, the San Bartolomé; the San Diego.
Data drawn upon:
Atmospheric Circulation Changes, WWW site, p. 2, Ruta Acapulco-Filipinas: reference to 21 March 1597 departures from Acapulco of the Santa Margarita and the San Gerónimo, with arrival of both 4 June 1597. They also include the following quotation: “Por certificacion de ofs. rs. consta que el navio San Bartolomé parte de Acapulco de aviso el 23-nov-1597 para noticiar a las naos de Filipinas de la presencia de piratas y regresa el 21-ene-1598 (viaje no regular—no indica duración de Acapulco a Manila).” There is also reference to the departure from Acapulco of the San Diego.
Dahlgren, 53, citing BRPI, v. 10, p. 48: “In a letter from Manila, dated 14 August, we find the following: ‘This ship of discovery under Juan Bautista Justiniano, which is about to go to New Spain, has just returned, on account of lack of cables, and will sail again in the morning.’ I cannot say about what ship this was said.”
Galleons, 1598
Conclusions:
Arrival, Manila, 10 March 1598, both the San Pedro and the San Diego;
5 May 1598, both the Nuestra Señora del Rosario and the San Bartolomé;
and 23 May 1598;
Departure, Manila, “at the beginning of July,” the Santa Margarita and
perhaps the San Gerónimo
Arrival, Acapulco, 21 January 1598, the San Bartolomé. The Santa Margarita,
“after a fortunate voyage of four months”. Maybe one other as well,
February 1598.
Departure, Acapulco, 9 or 10 February 1598, the Nuestra Señora del Rosario
and the San Bartolomé; and 10 March 1598, the San Pedro and the
San Diego.
Data drawn upon:
Atmospheric Circulation Changes, WWW site, p. 2, Ruta Acapulco-Filipinas: reference to return to Acapulco of the San Bartolomé 21 January 1598, presumably from the Philippines.
Atmospheric Circulation Changes, WWW site, p. 2, Ruta Acapulco-Filipinas: reference to 9 or 10 February 1598 sailings from Acapulco of the Nuestra Señora del Rosario and of the San Bartolomé “(patache de Fdo de Castro)” as well as of two other ships, the San Pedro and San Diego, on 10 March 1598. The first two are reported to have arrived on 5 May and the last two on 20 May 1598. Arrivals on the same date of both pairs is doubly improbable.
BRPI, v. 31, p. 158, from P. Diego Aduarte, O.P., Historia de la Provincia del Sancto Rosario de la Orden de Predicadores: “Arriving in 1598….”
Cano, O.S.A.: Mission arrived Manila, May 1598
Dahlgren, 53, who provides the quotations regarding the Santa Margarita placed
above; his sources are BRPI, v. 10, p. 163; and v. 13, p. 30.
In de la Costa’s Appendix C, pp. 608-619, “Catalogue of Members of the Mission … Mentioned in the Text,” there is reference to Jesuits arriving 23 May 1598, e.g. P. Luís Gómez.
Gerhard, 97, reference to three galleons sailing from Manila and arriving safely at Acapulco in February 1598.
Schurz, 264: reference to a depature from Manila in 1598 of the Santa Margarita, “consort” of the San Gerónimo.
Galleons, 1599
Conclusions:
Arrival, Manila, 17 June 1599; ?9 July, the Santa Margarita.
Departure, Manila, the Santo Tomas and two other ships
Arrival, Acapulco
Departure, Acapulco, 16 March 1599, either the Santa Margarita or possibly the
two other, private, ships [the San Jeronimo and La Contadora].
Data drawn upon:
Atmospheric Circulation Changes, WWW site, p. 4, Ruta Acapulco-Filipinas: reference to the sailings from Acapulco (dates not known) of the Santa Margarita (which may have arrived in Manila 9 July 1599) and two privately owned ships.
BRPI, v. 13, p. 65, from P. Pedro Chirino, S.J., Relation of the Filipinas Islands: “… the father-visitor, Diego Garcia, very opportunely arrived in the islands, with some companions on the seventeenth of June in the year one thousand five hundred and ninety-nine.” Footnote 3, by P. Pablo Pastells, S.J. indicated that they left Mexico in March.
BRPI, v. 47, p. 164, from “The Order of St. John of God,” which is taken from
Religiosa hospitalidad por los hijos del … S. Iuan de Dios en Philipinas (Granada, 1742):
“[… the loss of two richly-laden galleons (1599 [--this would appear to be an error, should be 1600 I think]), the ‘Santa Margarita’ and ‘San Geronimo;’]”
Dahlgren, 53, which includes the reference (citing BRPI, 11, pp. 255, 305) to the departure from Manila of the Santo Tomas and two other ships.
“… left Acapulco on 16 March 1599 and arrived in Manila on 17 June of the same year ….” (de la Costa, 179) In de la Costa’s Appendix C, pp. 608-619, “Catalogue of Members of the Mission … Mentioned in the Text,” there is reference to Jesuits arriving 17 June 1599, e.g. P. Diego García.
Galleons, 1600
Conclusions:
Arrival, Manila, 1600; possibly 24 June 1600, the Santa Potenciana.
Departure, Manila, July 1600, the San Gerónimo and the Santa Margarita,
both of which were wrecked en route by February 1601; 18 July or
thereabouts, a third and fourth vessel (La Contadora) [and fifth?] set out.
Arrival, Acapulco, 1 December 1600, the third vessel.
Departure, Acapulco, 16 February 1600, the Santa Catalina; 22 February 1600,
the Rosario; 25 March 1600, the Santa Potenciana and the patache the
Santiaguillo.
Data drawn upon:
Atmospheric Circulation Changes, WWW site, p. 4, Ruta Acapulco-Filipinas: reference to 25 March 1600 departures of the Santa Potenciana (possibly arriving in Manila 24 June) and the patache the Santiaguillo. The ship(s) might not have arrived directly at Manila, perhaps stopping “al puerto de Ibalón … porque los temporales no les dejaron entrar en Cavite,” and perhaps the date of 24 June refers to the interim stopover date of arrival. This sources also mentions some “Barcos de Juan de Velasco” that on 13 August 1600 “Parten de Acapulco para asegurar las naves de Filipinas pero sufren graves tormentas,” suggesting that they in fact did not go on to the Philippines; I omitted them from the chart and summary information.
Atmospheric Circulation Changes, WWW site, p. 4, Ruta Acapulco-Filipinas: reference to the departure 16 February 1600 of the Santo Tomás and of “su almiranta,” the Santa Catalina. Moreover, on 22 February 1600, their records indicate the departure from Acapulco of the Rosario, and dates of arrival in Manila are not known (and only the Santa Catalina has a reference indicating arrival).
BRPI, v. 12, pp. 49-50, “Principal Points in Regard to the Trade of the Filipinas,” Alonso Fernandez de Castro: “Through news brought by the ship ‘Santa Potenciana’ in the year 601, it seems that the ships ‘San Geronimo,’ and ‘Santa Margarita,’ which sailed in the year 600, lost their masts in a storm; and the ‘Santa Margarita’ drifted to the island of Ladrones, and the ‘San Geronimo’ to Luzon, near Catanduanes. Both were driven ashore in February, 601, without being able to save themselves. … The ship ‘Santo Tomas’ was lost on the voyage out, near the channel at Catanduanes….” Also see BRPI, v. 13, p. 115, from P. Pedro Chirino, S.J., Relation of the Filipinas Islands.
BRPI, v. 15, p. 237, taken from Antonio de Morga, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, “In the same year of one thousand six hundred, two merchantships left Manila for Nueva España: the flagship the ‘Sancta Margarita,’ with Juan Martinez de Guillestigui as general, who had arrived the year before in the same capacity; and the ‘San Geronimo,’ under Don Fernando de Castro. On their way, both ships met with storms … At the end of nine months at sea, after many of the men had died and much of the merchandise had been thrown overboard and lost, the ‘San Geronimo’ put back to the Filipinas, off the islands of Catanduanes, outside of the channel of Espiritu Santo, and there was wrecked, although the crew were saved. The flagship ‘Sancta Margarita,’ after the death of the general and most of the crew, ported at the Ladrones Islands ….”
BRPI, v. 27, pp. 190-91, from “Grau y Monfalcon’s Informatory Memorial of 1637:” “In the year 600, two ships under command of Juan Martinez de Guillestigui sailed for Acapulco. Both put back and were lost—the ship ‘Santa Margarita’ at the islands of the Ladrones. … The ship ‘San Geronimo’ put in at the island of Catanduanes, where it was wrecked although the men escaped.”
BRPI, v. 47, p. 35, from “The Santa Misericordia of Manila,” which is taken from the Manifiesta y resumen historico de la fundacion de la venerable hermandad de la Santa Misericordia (Manila, 1728), by Juan Baptista de Uriarte: “This year [1600] also are lost the two ships ‘Santa Margarita,’ in the Ladrones, and ‘San Geronimo,’ in Catanduanes ….”
BRPI, v. 47, p. 164, from “The Order of St. John of God,” which is taken from
Religiosa hospitalidad por los hijos del … S. Iuan de Dios en Philipinas (Granada, 1742):
“[… the loss of two richly-laden galleons (1599 [--this would appear to be an error, should be 1600 I think]), the ‘Santa Margarita’ and ‘San Geronimo;’]”
Dahlgren, 53-54.
Gerhard, 105, indicates that three galleons left Manila, one arriving in Acapulco 1 December 1600; and the other two made anchor at Acapulco in January 1601. His sources is the AGI, México section. Legajo 24.
Gómez Platero, O.F.M.: Mission of 1600 arrived in Manila in two parts, one in 1600 and one in 1601.
Schurz, 255-56: Two galleons departed Manila, 1600. One, the Santa Margarita, was shipwrecked after “a succession of storms,” wrecked after 8 months from Manila, but near the Ladrones; 210 perished, 50 survived. The “consort of the Santa Margarita, after 9 months made her way back to Philippines, shipwrecked on the Catanduanes—only 8 persons survived.
Galleons, 1601[1]
Conclusions:
Arrival, Manila, April or 19 May 1601; arriving safely in the islands was
the San Antonio; also arriving, unknown date, the Santa Catalina.
Departure, Manila, the San Juan; Dahlberg, citing Colin, says that the Nuestra
Señora del Rosario and the Jesus Maria Joseph both set out for Mexico
but had to put back to the Islands.
Arrival, Acapulco, possibly La Contadora, which perhaps left Manila in July
1600 and who “was seven months on her voyage to Acapulco, and got
there little better than a wreck” [Dahlberg, 54]. [And one other?]
Departure, Acapulco, 16 or ?19 February, the Santo Tomás, which ship wrecked
on the east coast of Luzon; a companion vessel, a patache, the San
Antonio, departed Acapulco 16 or 19 February 1601.
Data drawn upon:
Atmospheric Circulation Changes, 2446: the Santo Tomás was lost at Cabo Espíritu Santo on its voyage from Acapulco to Manila.
BRPI, v. 12, pp. 49-50, “Principal Points in Regard to the Trade of the Filipinas,” Alonso Fernandez de Castro: “Through news brought by the ship ‘Santa Potenciana’ in the year 601, it seems that the ships ‘San Geronimo,’ and ‘Santa Margarita,’ which sailed in the year 600, lost their masts in a storm; and the ‘Santa Margarita’ drifted to the island of Ladrones, and the ‘San Geronimo’ to Luzon, near Catanduanes. Both were driven ashore in February, 601, without being able to save themselves. … The ship ‘Santo Tomas’ was lost on the voyage out, near the channel at Catanduanes….” Also see BRPI, v. 13, pp. 118-19, from P. Pedro Chirino, S.J., Relation of the Filipinas Islands, where we learn that the ship Santo Thomas was shipwrecked in the Catanduanes Islands in late April 1601.
BRPI, v. 13, p. 65, from P. Pedro Chirino, S.J., Relation of the Filipinas Islands: “In the month of May in the year one thousand six hundred and one, there arrived in the Filipinas ….” Also in de la Costa, 191.
BRPI, v. 15, pp. 238-40, taken from Antonio de Morga, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, “In the month of May of the year six hundred and one, the galleon ‘Santo Tomas’ arrived at the Filipinas from Nueva España… A small patache had sailed in company with the galleon from the port of Acapulco, but being unable to sail as rapidly as the ‘Santo Tomas,’ after a few days’ voyage, it dropped behind … The galleon ‘Santo Tomas’ … ran upon some rocks near the land [in the Catanduanes] ….” The crew, passengers, and cargo was rescued but they had to leave “the ship—a new and handsome one—wrecked there, without being able to derive any profit whatever from it.”
BRPI, v. 27, p. 191, from “Grau y Monfalcon’s Informatory Memorial of 1637:” “In the year 601, the galleon ‘Santo Tomas’ en route from Nueva España, under command of Licentiate Don Antonio de Ribera Maldonado …, having been blown by a storm to the Embocadero of Capul and the bay of Catamban, was driven ashore and was wrecked. However, the men and most of the cargo were saved. The latter was taken to Manila overland and by sea, a distance of eighty leguas.”
BRPI, v. 47, p. 35, from “The Santa Misericordia of Manila,” which is taken from the Manifiesta y resumen historico de la fundacion de la venerable hermandad de la Santa Misericordia (Manila, 1728), by Juan Baptista de Uriarte: “In 1601, two galleons are lost in a hurricane—‘Santo Thomas’ in Camarines on its way from Nueva España, and the second in the shipyard of Pañamao near Leyte.” Also see this same information in BRPI, v. 47, p. 164, from “The Order of St. John of God,” which is taken from
Religiosa hospitalidad por los hijos del … S. Iuan de Dios en Philipinas (Granada, 1742).
Cano, O.S.A.: Mission arrived Manila, April 1601.
Dahlgren, 54-55.
“The San Antonio, which brought López and his companions to the Islands in 1601, set sail on 19 February; after a crossing of seventy-two days they made their Philippine landfall on 29 April; just before nightfall, the pilot thought he recognized a headland of Cape Espiritu Santo … They were actually opposite the rock-ribbed Catanduanes coast, and, when a squall rose during the night, it was a miracle that they did not split against it. Instead, the galleon was driven into Sistran Bay between Luzon and Quinalasag Island ….” (de la Costa, 230-31) In de la Costa’s Appendix C, pp. 608-619, “Catalogue of Members of the Mission … Mentioned in the Text,” there is reference to Jesuits arriving 19 May 1601, e.g. P. Gregorio Baroncini.
Gerhard, 105, citing the AGI, México section, legajo 24, indicates that two of the three ships that had successfully made the trip from Manila in 1600 arrived in Acapulco in January of 1601.
Gómez Platero, O.F.M.: Mission of 1600 arrived in Manila in two parts, one in 1600 and one in 1601.
Schurz, 255: The San Juan departed Manila, 1601.
Schurz, 256: The Santo Tomás departed Acapulco, 1601. Mentions P. Fr. Juan Pobre, O.F.M, staying in the Ladrones to attend to survivors of the Santa Margarita.; but the Santo Tomás went on and subsequently “broke to pieces on the Catanduanes off the east coast of Luzon.”
[1] The following, from Quirino, p. 467, taken from Ramo de Reales Cédulas, Tomo 4, Exp. 18, might be a
useful reference for future scholars: “Comunicando al Virrey de la Nueva España sobre ciertas
cosas en que se entiende se han cometido excesos en la navegación a las Islas Filipinas. 1601.”
Galleons, 1602
Conclusions:
Arrival, Manila, 4 ships, 18 November 1602; and April or 1 or 10 May 1602
Departure, Manila, the Jesus María and the Espiritu Santo, both of which had
to return to port; and the Rosario or San Antonio (Dahlberg, 56)
Arrival, Acapulco the Rosario or San Antonio (Dahlberg, 56)
Departure, Acapulco, 4 February 1602, the Nuestra Señora de los Remedios,
the Santa Potenciana, the San Ildefonso, the Nuestra Señora de Begoña,
the Nuestra Señora de la Antigua, and possible the San Francisco.
Data drawn upon:
Atmospheric Circulation Changes, WWW site, p. 5, Ruta Acapulco-Filipinas: reference to 4 February 1602 departures from Acapulco of six ships, five named—the unnamed one might have been the San Francisco, and perhaps only to the Marianas. One or more of the others might have arrived around 10 May 1602.
BRPI, v. 12, pp. 77-78, “Letter from Morga to Felipe III,” Manila, 1 December 1602, “Of the ships which this year set out from these islands for Nueva España, the flagship and one other put in at these islands at the end of four months of stormy sailing … The commander of the flagship, Don Lope de Ulloa … thought to make repairs in Xapon [sic][ … it became necessary for the Spaniards to defend themselves, and to get out of the harbor by fighting … with great difficult; and so, through the mercy of God, they came to these islands.” The names of the ships are given in BRPI, v. 12, p. 128, “Letters to Felipe III,” namely ‘Jhesus [sic] Maria’ and ‘El Espiritu Sancto’ [sic], with the former returning to Cavite after four months and the ‘Rosario’ named as the ship under the command of Lope de Ulloa.
BRPI, v. 15, p. 250, taken from Antonio de Morga, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, “In the month of May of six hundred and two, four ships came to Manila from Nueva España, with a new governor and president of the Audiencia, named Don Pedro de Acuña ….”
BRPI, v. 17, p. 288, from “List of Philippine Governors:” Pedro Bravo de Acuña, “arrives at Manila, May, 1602.”
BRPI, v. 27, p. 192, from “Grau y Monfalcon’s Informatory Memorial of 1637:” “That year [1602] the ship ‘Espiritu Santo,’ en route to Acapulco, after it had cast out all its cargo because of the gales that it encountered, put in at Japon [sic], where it was in danger of receiving the same treatment as had been given to the ship ‘San Felipe.’ It was saved from by the watchfulness of Don Lope de Ulloa y Lemos, its commander. The ship ‘Jesus Maria,’ with a like loss, put in at the islands of the Ladrones; and, at the end of five months of navigation, both ships returned to Manila, almost without crew and without cargo.”
BRPI, v. 31, p. 165, from P. Diego Aduarte, O.P., Historia de la Provincia del Sancto Rosario de la Orden de Predicadores: “At the same time, at the end of April, those religious reached Manila whom father Fray Diego de Soria had collected in España during the previous year.”
BRPI, v. 47, p. 35, from “The Santa Misericordia of Manila,” which is taken from the Manifiesta y resumen historico de la fundacion de la venerable hermandad de la Santa Misericordia (Manila, 1728), by Juan Baptista de Uriarte: “Two ships from Acapulco land at the islands in 1602 with goods wasted and rotten.”
BRPI, v. 47, p. 164, from “The Order of St. John of God,” which is taken from
Religiosa hospitalidad por los hijos del … S. Iuan de Dios en Philipinas (Granada, 1742):
“[… the return to port of the galleons dispatched in 1602 and 1604 ….]”
Dahlgren, 55-56.
“The following year—18 November 1602—a smaller group came ….” (de la Costa, 224) In de la Costa’s Appendix C, pp. 608-619, “Catalogue of Members of the Mission … Mentioned in the Text,” there is reference to Jesuits arriving 1 May 1602, e.g. P. Giovanni Domenico Bilanci.
Schurz, 193: Three galleons departed Manila for Acapulco, 1602 (names not given). He does, p. 256, refer to “the Jesús María” and how she “put into the Ladrones in 1602 in distress” and “brought off all but five of the remaining survivors of the Santa Margarita.” Furthermore, p. 261, he states: “In 1602 both galleons, the Espiritu Santo and the Jesús María, returned to the Philippines after a series of harrowing experiences lasting over five months. The former had entered a Japanese port …. The other ship had
risen to above forty degrees before she retraced her course. Nearly all on board both galleons had succumbed to the hardships of the voyage.”
Schurz, 276: Galleon, not named, departed Acapulco, 1602; reference to Governor General Pedro de Acuña on board.
Galleons, 1603
Conclusions:
Arrival, Manila, end of May 1603, two ships; 21 June 1603; 22, 24 June[1] 1603.
22 June 1600, the Nuestra Señora del Rosario; and on
24 June 1600, the San Antonio de Pádua.
Departure, Manila, 4 July 1603, the Nuestra Señora de la Antigua;
5 July 1603, the San Alfonso.
The Magdalena turned turtle in port before it was to depart.[2]
Also in 1603 were sent the Nuestra Señora de los Remedios
(which had to put back to port) and
the San Antonio (which was lost en route).
10 July 1600, the Espiritu Santo and the Jesus Maria.
Arrival, Acapulco 19 December, the Espiritu Santo;
22 December, the Jesús María.
Departure, Acapulco, 18 March 1603, the San Antonio de Pádua and the
Nuestra Señora del Rosario.
Data drawn upon:
Atmospheric Circulation Changes, WWW site, p. 5, Ruta Acapulco-Filipinas: reference to the 18 March 1603 sailings from Acapulco of the San Antonio de Pádua (almiranta) and the Nuestra Señora del Rosario (capitana), both arriving off of Capul around 1 June 1603 and in Manila as noted above.
BRPI, v. 12, p. 134, “Letters to Felipe III,” Cavite, 20 July 1603, Don Pedro de Acuña: “On the fourth of the present month there left this port the ship ‘Nuestra Señora de la Antigua,’ one of the two from Peru that I brought in the convoy last year … On the morning of the next day the other ship, called the ‘San Alifonso,’ left ….”
BRPI, v. 15, p. 281, taken from Antonio de Morga, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, “At the end of the same month of May [in 1603], there came to Manila two ships from Nueva España, in command of Don Diego de Camudio ….”
BRPI, v. 16, pp. 27-9, taken from Antonio de Morga, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, “On the tenth [of July, BRPI] of the same year [1603—apparently this is in error and should be 1604], the vessels ‘Espiritu-Santo’ and ‘Jesus Maria’ left the port of Cabit [sic] en route for Nueva España—in the wake of two smaller vessels, which had been dispatched a fortnight before—with the Filipinas [sic] merchandise. Don Lope de Ulloa was their commander, while Doctor Antonio de Morga left those islands in the almiranta, the ‘Santo Espiritu,’ to fill the office of alcalde of the court of Mexico. Before leaving the bay, both vessels were struck head on by a storm, and went dragging upon the coast, buffeted by the heavy seas and winds, and amid dark and tempestuous weather, from three in the afternoon until morning of the next day, notwithstanding that they were anchored with two heavy cables in the shelter of the land, and their topmasts struck. Then they grounded upon the coast, in La Pampanga ten leguas from Manila. The storm lasted for three more consecutive days. Consequently it was regarded as impossible for those vessels to sail and make their voyage, inasmuch as the season was now well advanced and the vessels were very large and heavily laden, and were deeply imbedded in the sand. …they were set afloat on the twenty second of July, St. Magdelen’s day. Immediately they set sail again, as the vessels had sustained no injury, nor sprung any leak; and they made their voyage and navigation, under light winds to the coast of Nueva España. A violent south-southwest gale … struck the ship ‘Espiritu Sancto’ on the tenth of November … The storm lasted until November twenty-second …the nineteenth of the month of December, when it made port at Acapulco. There were found the two smaller vessels that had sailed first from Manila. Three days later, General Don Lope de Ulloa entered the same port of Acapulco, in the ship ‘Jesus Maria.’”
BRPI, v. 27, p. 193, from “Grau y Monfalcon’s Informatory Memorial of 1637:” “That year [1603], of the two ships that sailed according to the permission, the flagship ‘Nuestra Señora de los Remedios,’ after having cast out a great part of its cargo, and having lost its masts, put in at Manila; while the ‘San Antonio,’ most richly laden, and with many people who, in order to escape the hardships of that city, were going to Nueva España, suffered a greater hardship—for it was swallowed up by the sea, and no one heard what became of it.”
Dahlgren, 56.
General reference in de la Costa, 224, to a mission arriving in 1603. In de la Costa’s Appendix C, pp. 608-619, “Catalogue of Members of the Mission … Mentioned in the Text,” there is reference to Jesuits arriving in 1603, e.g. P. Pascual de Acuña. At times a more complete date, 21 June 1603, is given, e.g. P. Pedro de Auñón.
Schurz, 193: Departed Manila, 1603, 4 galleons, no names given. Later, p. 257, he comments that the “San Antonio, which was lost in 1603, had rotten timbers throughout when she left Manila—an index to methods of inspection at Manila. Later the Magdalena was found to be in the same condition, and although heavy planks were put in on each side to strengthen her, she turned over on her side at her moorings before Cavite just as she was ready to clear from port. However, in this case the accident may have been due as much to the ill arrangment of the cargo as to the vessel’s general unseaworthiness.” And, finally, pp. 258-59, “One of the greatest calamities in the history of the islands was the dual disaster of the two galleons of 1603, the … year of the sanguinary rising of the Chinese and of the burning of a large part of the city. The capitana, Nuestra Señora de los Remedios, after encountering severe storms near the thirty-fourth parallel, was driven back to Manila, mastless and lightened of much of her cargo. Her consort, the “almiranta riquísima,” San Antonio, not only carried the greatest wealth of any galleon up to that time, but there had sailed on her many of the first citizens of the city, who with their families were ‘fleeing from the troubles of that city.’ In some unknown spot the galleon was swallowed up by the sea.”
[1] Atmospheric Circulation Changes, 2441.
[2] “Santa Maria Ma[g]dalena—Crammed with so much cargo as to make her unsafe, she left Cavite in
1734 [sic], and capsized and sank within a few hundred yards of her anchorage.”
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