Manila galleon

“ During that same storm six galleons were wrecked in the islands; they were the best that the king has launched. Among them was that so famous galleon “La Salvadora.” When the fleet returned from Malaca, Don Jerónimo de Silva, who was in charge of the department of war, ordered those vessels to be taken out for repairs; and they were taken out, to their loss. Some sank, others were driven aground. Many men perished, both Spaniards and Indians, as well as Japanese, Sangleys, and workmen. It is a loss that Manila will ever bemoan. ”

“ Historical Incidents Many of the galleons that the Spanish Government used in the Manila-Acapulco trade were built in Sorsogon, especially on the Island of Bagatao, at the entrance of Sorsogon Bay. Many of these ships were wrecked while navigating the waters of Sorsogon, because they laid their course for Mexico via the San Bernardino Strait, a passage which abounds in dangerous currents, shoals, and rocks. The galleon San Cristobal was wrecked in 1733 near the Calantas Rock. ”

“ It is feared that both of the Acapulco galleons have been lost at sea; and all these things fill the people with sadness. The small remnant of the crew of a Spanish galleon wrecked the preceding year among the Ladrones Islands arrive at Manila.
Letters from Corcuera to the confraternity of Santa Misericordia ask (December 4, 1637) their prayers for the success of his Jolo expedition; and (October 26, 1639) that they will take into their [16] house two Moro hostages, to train them in the Christian doctrine. ”

“ And in order to hinder the galleon from leaving this port they deceived a Frenchman,3 who was very well known [233] here, hinting to him that the squadron of Barenet [sic] and the corsair were going to attack Manila; and they hastened his embarkation, at the cost of 4,000 pesos, in order that he might notify us here. Then they gave orders to the corsair, with two other ships of their own, to let themselves be seen at the entrance of Mariveles, in order to throw Manila into alarm and hinder the sailing of the galleon. ”

“ We therefore mustered all our hands who were capable of standing to their arms and loaded our upper and quarter-deck guns with grapeshot, and that we might the more readily procure some intelligence of the state of these islands, we showed Spanish colours and hoisted a red flag at the foretop masthead, to give our ship the appearance of the Manila galleon, hoping thereby to decoy some of the inhabitants on board us. ”

“ The Chinese of Manila were driven by abuse to make an attack on some natives, and the Spanish then fell upon them, killing over 25,000. The Spanish themselves lost the pick of their soldiers and cavaliers that day. Owing to Spain’s war with the Dutch, the islands at this time, and for many years after, suffered great losses and hardships. The Dutch used to lie in wait to capture the galleons that carried merchandise and money back and forth between Manila and Mexico. Whenever a galleon was lost, the whole country suffered ”

“ The difficulties which have been thrown in the way of the unloading and loading of vessels, have thoroughly disgusted the merchants of the Isle of France; a commerce, nevertheless, which might be rendered equally advantageous to both nations.
The only vessels admitted at Manila are those of the Chinese and Indians, on the pretence that these people may thug be made converts; these are the vessels which import into Manila the articles of absolute necessity and of luxury, and take in exchange the piastres brought by the galleon from Acapulco. ”

“ It is strange that Manila has pursued this commerce for one hundred and forty years without any protest from Andalusia until now; the decadence of the latter is due rather to lack of economy in the use of their wealth than to the competition of Filipinas; and Andalusia has always encountered trouble, since the persons interested in the greater part of the lading of the galleons and fleets have been and are foreigners—French, English, and Dutch. Andalusia claims that the [298] galleon unlades at Acapulco more than 12,000 piezas, half of them containing silk goods ”

“ The silks, spices, gold dust, and other effects that it contained, were worth 2,000,000 pesos fuertes. See Montero y Vidal, ii, pp. 16, 17, note 2.
“The Holy Trinity [‘Santisima Trinidad’] , a rich galleon, taken at the Manilas by Adm. Cornish, arrived in Plymouth Road, June 9, commanded by Lieut. Mainwaring Wilding.” (Scots Magazine, 1764, xxvi, p. 348.)
“The Santissima Trinidad, the galleon which was taken in her voyage to Acapulco during the siege of Manila, is now advertised for sale at Plymouth. This ship is one of the largest ever seen in Britain. She is upwards of 2000 tons burthen ”

“ He placed the galleon “San Antonio” on the stocks, and constructed galleys for the fleet, as such vessels had been of great service for defense on the occasions when Manila had been invaded by the Dutch arms.114 As commanders of the galleys he appointed Pedro Lozano and Don José de Novoa, a valiant Galician. The latter went out the second time to pursue the hostile Camucones, in company with the valiant mulatto Simon de Torres, whose color alone prevented him from being the commander of the galleys. ”

“ They only killed two of our men. After the battle, our galleon ran aground on a shoal, on the eve of our Lady of the Assumption, near Pulo Parcelar. At the first shock, the helm was shifted seaward, and all that night we tossed up and down dreadfully until, next morning, we miraculously got off the shoal. We reached the strait of Sincapura on August 10, where, as the pilots said the Manila monsoon was over, we determined to run to Malaca. ”

“ Separation of the Philippines from Mexico.—The events of these years served to separate the Philippines from their long dependency on Mexico. In 1813 the Cortes decreed the suppression of the subsidized Acapulco galleon. The Mexican trade had long been waning and voyages had become less profitable. The last of the galleons left Manila in 1811 and returned from Acapulco in 1815, never again to attempt this classical voyage. ”

“ An envoy is sent from Manila to make arrangements with the Portuguese of Macao for the regulation of commerce and “the entrance of Spanish missionaries into China by that door.” With this envoy come to Manila (in 1681) some clerics to receive ordination; returning to Macao, with some Jesuits, the vessel is lost and never heard from. In this year arrive at Manila two assistant bishops, three royal auditors, and a large reënforcement of Spanish troops. The galleon which sails this year for Acapulco is driven back to the islands by contrary winds, thus causing great loss to the citizens. ”

“ At Mindoro they encounter some Indians, from whom they gain information as to the commerce of Manila, which they intend to attack and pillage. On February 23, the English begin their piratical acts in the Philippines by capturing a Spanish bark, near the coast of Luzón. After describing that island, he relates how some of the English sailors left at Mindanao find their way to Manila. The men on Dampier’s vessel, not finding the Chinese vessels that they expected to seize, decide to wait on the coast of Cambodia and Siam until the time when the Acapulco galleon is expected. ”

“ They embarked at Nangasaqui and went to Manila in various ships which make that voyage for the Japanese and Portuguese. The first news of this event was learned from them in the month of May of ninety-seven. Great grief and sadness was caused by the news, in the death of the holy religious, and in the disturbances which were expected to take place in future dealings between Japon and the Filipinas; as well as in the loss of the galleon and its cargo en route to Nueva España. The value of the vessel was over one million [pesos?] , and caused great poverty among the Spaniards. ”

“ Undervaluation of galleon goods.With regard to the respective duties on the cargo annually dispatched by the merchants of Manila to New Spain, the practice of galleon is tolerably well regulated. An extreme latitude is given to the moderate rates at which it is ordered to value the goods contained in the manifest, by which means these are frequently put down at only one-half of their original prime cost ”

“ In 1820 duties were taken off, for ten years, from natural and manufactured products of the islands sent to Spain. In that year a great cholera epidemic raged in Manila. In 1823 occurred the revolt of a part of the King’s Regiment in Manila.
Questions.—What were some of the reasons why Spain fell from her early position as a great world power? What effect had the government monopoly of tobacco-growing upon the country? How did the freedom of America affect other peoples in the world? Why were the state galleons to Mexico discontinued? When did the last galleon leave Manila? ”

“ He departed Manila on the 17th of October, with six Royal Galleys, one Galleon, one small Vessel call’d a Foist, one little Frigot, and several other Frigots, Carcoas, and Bireyes, which are another Sort of The Fleet sets out. Vessels of the Natives; all which, being part the Kings, and part belonging to Subjects, who offer’d to serve him with their Lives and Fortunes, amounted to an hundred. There were a Thousand Spaniards well arm’d; above four hundred Musquetiers of the Territory of Manila; a thousand more of those they call Visaias, Men arm’d with Lances, Shields, Its Force. ”

“ As has been said, all was carefully arranged as to size and number of bales and weight of cargo. For a century and a half there was practically no competition in this trade, and everything could be officially regulated, even to the selling-price of the goods in the [181] Mexican market. The departure and arrival of the galleon at Manila formed the great events of the year. At these single dates the bars of exclusion were thrown down,—goods left, and wealth returned to, the colony ”

“ The gains, therefore, from that traffic, for which Manila was only a port of exchange, were divided between the merchants who had the monopoly of the galleon, but the wealth of the territory received but small advantages from it. ”

“ For that reason, and because the seas have strong currents between those islands, and continual winds, the galleys are of little use.
Another reason is that, since the galleys draw much more water than the enemy’s vessels, when the former try to make land they can cause no injury. Another reason is that the galleys are generally anchored in the river of Manila, and, when any necessity arises, before they can leave the port they have to get provisions for the crew. Often it is necessary to seek contributions of food from house to house, because there is none in the royal magazines. ”

“ The Yankee was master of Corregidor, and had possessed himself of both fort and light-house. In all probability Manila itself had fallen.
"Half speed ahead!" was the order, and again the throb of the engines went pulsing through the ship, and the Sacramento slowly forged ahead over a smooth summer sea. At midnight the pilot and glad tidings were aboard, and at dawn the decks were thronged with eager voyagers, and a great, full-throated cheer went up from the forecastle head as the gray, ghost-like shapes of the war-ships loomed up out of the mist and dotted the unruffled surface. ”

“ The ship supplies the garrison with the food of which they are in need, and returns to Luzon. Soon afterward a richly-laden Portuguese fleet sails from Manila to Macao, and two Spanish galleons are sent with it as escort, to defend it from the Dutch. The galleons, on the return from Macao, pursue a semi-piratical career for several months, capturing several Siamese vessels with valuable cargoes, by way of reprisal for the injuries inflicted on Spaniards in Siam; and taking other prizes, not all of which are regarded as lawful.
The Christian religion is flourishing in China. ”

“ As soon as the Jaos had gone, six galleons from Olanda entered, and after fighting with the three galleons of Portugal, burned them. Learning that Don Juan de Silva was coming, the Dutch retired to their forts, in fear of the force that he was carrying. Then the governor left Manila with ten galleons, the best that have ever been on that sea, and four galleys, in the year 616. He learned of the loss of the Portuguese, and although he ought to have attacked Bantan, where the enemy were fearing him, he entered Malaca without doing anything ”

“ This city, seeing itself thus deprived of the forces that it had and of those that it expected, resolved at once to build six galleons and some galleys; this they are doing with all speed. But as these ships have not yet been finished (and cannot be very soon) they were worthless to oppose these two Dutch vessels that have been along the coast of Ilocos, a province of the island of Manila, and have plundered at will everything within their reach. According to some, they have despoiled of silks and other merchandise twelve or thirteen ships. ”

“ Then the captain, Juan Pablo, ascended the Cagayan River, and found in the opening a fort and eleven Japanese ships. He passed along the upper shore because the mouth of the river is a league in width. The ship “Sant Jusepe” was entering the river, and it happened by bad fortune that some of our soldiers, who were in a small fragata, called out to the captain, saying to him: “Return, return to Manila! Set the whole fleet to return, because there are a thousand Japanese on the river with a great deal of artillery, and we are few.” ”