INTRODUCTION

Pacific Sea Resources (PSR) was established in 1985 to undertake the archaeological recovery of Spanish galleons sunk in the Pacific during the Manila Galleon trade between the Philippines and America. After the initial research phase in libraries and archives in seven countries, PSR researchers focused on the Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion, an Acapulco-bound galleon sunk in 1638 off Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands.

The field program, begun in March 1987 and concluded in July 1988, was carried out by PSR's crew of thirty professionals from seven countries. The company used state-of-the-art equipment to survey and map the 'wreck site. computer systems to image-capture artifacts and record pertinent information, and a wide variety of specialized excavation tools to recover the artifacts. The comprehensive archaeological program was deyeloped and implemented in close cooperation with the Historic Preservation Office of the Commonwealth of the Northern ,,[ariana Islands.

This archaeological report describes PSR's archaeological program including historical research activities. site description. SU1"\-ey methods, diving systems, excavation techniques, computer technology, artifact registration and handling, conservation and restoration procedures, environmental monitoring program, and the wrecking process and artifact distribution. The report also outlines the history of the "fani1a Galleon trade and describes the circumstances ofthe Concepcion's loss. Finally, the report provides information on the recovered artifacts, focusing particularly on the Concepcion 'sjewelry and ceramic cargo. The jewelry is catalogued according to type with detailed descriptions, including perceived origins, correlations between the Concepcion pieces and those located in museums and private collections, and the historical significance of the jewelry.

This five and a halfyear project has resulted in an assemblage of materials relating to the shipwreck, including all artifacts, paintings, charts and models, now known as the Concepcion Collection. A Japanese resort company, Apex Corporation. currently owns the Collection, and is building a museum on the island of Saipan to display the Collection. In the museum complex the artifacts will be available for further study to supplement the information contained in this report. In addition, Apex intends to donate the Collection to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in the year 2030.

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PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 2 THE HISTORY OF THE l.IANILA GALLEON TRADE

by

Catherine Lugar, Ph.D.

* Origins of the Manila Galleon Trade

• SjIl!tem of Galleon Trade in the Seventeenth Century

* Experiencing :'lanila GaJeon Travel

* 'rhe Manila-Acapulco Trade in the Time of Corcuera

• The Galleons of 1638

* The Galleon 'Trade in the Eighteenth Century

3 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES OIllGINS OF THE MANILA GALLEON TRADE

Spain's 'L'hina Ships'

The Manila galleons served one of the most merchants from Spain, Mexico and Peru com­ enduring and longest commercial maritime routes. peted for goods to market throughout the colonies }<'or two-and-a-half centuries, between 1565 and and in Europe. The cargoes of the "China Ships" 1815, these legendary s~jps operated under were exchanged for New World treasure in the government auspices, as state-uwned, armed form of silver bullion, bars and coin, the famed vessels of the Spanish crown, instruments of "silver dollars' or pieces of eight destined to official and private communication, transport, and circulate throughout the international commerce commercial enterprise in the distant eastern of the Far East. sector of the Spanish empire. Most impor:antly In the mercantilist age of the 1600s, states the galleons were merchantmen, laden ",ith an provided monopoly benefits to their merchants extraordinary assortment of Chinese silks, cotton and measured their commercial greatness by the textiles and wearing apparel, porcelain, gold size of favorable trade balances and the volume of jewelry, exotic perfumes, and other fme treasures precious metals in the royal vaults. The galleon purchased from Chinese traders at Manila and trade drained silver eastward, which worried the destined for markets throughout the Spanish Spanish government, and made the Crown colonies in America and EUrope. They also sensitive to the position of Spanish merchants at carried commodities oflocal Philippine production, Seville and Cactiz, who complained that Asian including beeswax, various woven cotton textiles merchandise coming through Acapulco eroded (both flne goods and heavier cloths) and gold, their control of the American market. extracted from alluvial deposits in the islands. Consequently, the success of the exchange of

The galleons' destination, AcapulcoJ MexicO', was "silks for silver" led to the imposition of a small trade port on the southwest coast of the restrictions which confined a highly lucrative viceroyalty of New Spain which became upon commerce to an arbitrarily fixed maximum, their arrival a great commercial fair, where known as the permiso (permission), including

Manila galleon under sail off California coast

PAClli'IC SEA RESOURCES 4 limitations on shipping, a cap on the annual value viceroyal capital of Portuguese India. Manila was of the merchandise sent from .Manila, and a larger and mare secure than Macao, the ceiling on the amotmt of the returns in silver Portuguese enclave and enlrepot city on the obtained from the sale of the cargo in New Spain. Chinese coast below Cant.on. The Spanish In reaction, those interested in the trade Philippines were the most substantial and habitually schemed to circumvent the regulations enduring of all European colonial enterprises in order to make their investments pay. In the which developed in the Pacific in the first wave of Spanish empire's commercial system, notorious overseas expansion, in an era preceding 1750, for shortsighted policies which ignored economic when it was said that the sun never set on the rea:ities ar:i made smuggling all but inevitable, Spanish Empire. The sale economic base for the the :\!EL"lila "cJleon trade was one of the more colony was the galleon trade, for 250 years the flourishing sectors of contraband and fraud. 1 pride of :Manila and the envy of all nations. The success of the Spanish in the The Origins of Spanish Trade at Manila Philippines was owed mostly to Manila's location on the eastern rim of the South China Sea. The So near the fabled riches of the Orient, so vast Philippine archipelago lies north of Borneo, far from Spain: The capital of the most distant with its three largest islands and island groups of outpost of the Spanish empire, seventeenth Mindanao in the south, the Visaya" at the center, century Manila was heralded as the "antipodes of and Luzon to the north. Parts of the north coast Seville,' the polar opposite and rival of the city of Luzon are only two days' sail from the Chinese at the heart of Spain's commerce with her mainland. The islands have long been a colcrries. In i:s heyday :Manila eclipsed :'falacca, crossroads of cultural exchange. Centuries' old tr.e interr.at'or.al empor,um oOlalaysia, and made maritime routes brought the products ofthe Spice a bid to become another "Golden Goa," the Islands up from the south, and the luxurious

The Pacific Ocean, oy Abraham Ortelius, 1589

5 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES The bay ofManila in the early 17th Century manufactures of the Chi.:1ese mai:LaJ:d. especially silks and porcelains, ~o its capacious harbor. Spanish men:hants created a trans­ Pacific trade linking this entrepot, a "magazine for the richest commerce of the world,'" to the colonies in the West Indies. Rich and resilient, Manila was nevertheless deprived of the glory of a viceroyalty. Spanish policy confIned the Philippines to subordinate status as a dependency of New Spain and to a restricted trade that seemed to defy all logic of imperial expansion. Historical circumstances governed Manila's destiny. Some of these were coincidences of time and place which had been operating well before the arrival of Europeans in the Pacific. Others were the consequence of European rivalry in the Far East and jealous and competing interests within the Spanish empire. Prior to the European intrusion the Philippine Islands were relatively thinly populated by a variety of ethnic groups, some closer to the rice'cultivating civilizations ofthe Asian continent, others more dependent on the sea on which they ventured in their swift outrigger craft. Still others were essentially foragers in the hinter­ lands. These island people were visited by Chinese merchants, sailing 111 accordance with the Chinese and Filipino traders prevailing \.v111ds, known by the Spanish as the

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 6 brisas, the northeasterly winds which blew from Mediterranean from the late Middle Ages, An the end of October to the end of April, and the even greater premium was placed on the uendavels. the southwesterlies that predominated discovery of a safe detour for the traditional from April to October.' From their junks, ample Mediterranean route after the Ottoman Turks trade ships. the Chinese bartered earthenware, seized the central passage at Constantinople in stoneware. porcelains, silk and cotton textiles, 1453. By the time the Mediterranean and beads. lead. tin, and other items In return for Levantlne trade was restored around 1600, the forest products, such as betel and coconuts, Iberian adventures had produced an un­ resins. yellow beeswax, and gold dust which the precedented explosion ofworldwide commerce. In iIlhabitru:ts secured In small amounts from this process, the contribution of the galleon trade scattered alluvial deposits,S at Manila is often neglected. Initially a tenuous part of the South Asian trade with Cblna and the Indian subcontinent via Competition for the Spice Islands Malacca and Brunei (on Borneol, the islands were gradually drawn Into this circuit through the lJp to the fifteenth century neither Spain advance of Islam which became a potent political nor Portugal had been essentially a seafaring and cultural force in the reg:on after 1400 when nation, but international maritime communities the Chinese Court imposed severe restrictions on from their own and neighboring coasts furnished foreign trade. Moslem merchants moved through personnel for rival expeditions, Their objective Sumatra and ,;ava to Mindanao and as far as was to pursue spices to their sources, and so they Manila converting coastal chieftains and ventured in different directions; f,rst the establishing their trade, Fortunately for the Portuguese by sailing eastward and then the Europeans, by 1500 this movement had not yet Spaniards who, after a slow start, sailed to the sunk deep roots except In the island of :'Yllndanao, west in their race to the other side of the globe. The inhabitants of the Moluccas (the Spice The Portuguese edged slowly around the Islands) and their northern neighbors were pagan African continent between 1415 and 1487; Vasco enot:gh to be ripe for conversion to Christianity da Gama reached Goa, India by 1498, Backed by and politically decentralized enough to permit the the effective naval power of their well-armed military conquest necessary to dominate the merchant vessels, the Portuguese arrived In trade, Among the Europeans who began to enter Malacca in 1511 and In the Spice Islands In 1512, the area In the late ftfteenth and early sixteenth completing a victorious campaign to establish a century, the Iberians (the Portuguese alld the network of tribute'paying states and gaining Spanish), were more Interested In the quest:on of access to the prized spices, This spice-based aptitude for religious conversion than were the co:mnercial empire was then administered from English Or the Dutch, and they were ab:e to to Goa. When tradlng contacts were begtm with reap powerful beneftts from the religious conqt:est China in 1517, the lengtby Portuguese pipeline of they sought, riches, the 'carreira da India," was in place, though a permanent trade post mChina was not Expansion and European Rivalry in the Indies secure until 1557, From Macao, a settlement on the corner of an island near Canton harbor, the In the wake of the expulsion of Islam from Portuguese organized a lucrative commerce with the south of Spain In the fifteenth century, the Japan, brokering Chinese silks for Japanese silver rhetoric of Christian evangelization ftred Iberian at Nagasaki, Trade with Japan was initiated expansion, but the material Interest behind it was atOlmd 1547, and flourished from about 1560 to the desire to discover a sea route to Asia to tap 1639, when the Act of Seclusion compelled the Into already established trade networks. These Portuguese to withdraw from Japan, Although had funneled desirable Asian commodities, they never actually acbieved the desired monopoly especially luxurious textiles and valuable spices control of commodities, the PortugtIese enjoyed (peppers~ cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace) to nearly a hundred years of dominance In the Europe through the Red Sea via the Levantlne transport and ftrst sale of Asian goods in Europe, countries (the Middle East) and the and developed a lively and longer "country trade" Mediterranean. The power the Iberians desired as participants in a variety of interregional to topple was not so much the Moslem enemy, but exchanges In markets throughout Asia, the merchants ofVenice whose dominance of this As the Portuguese sailed eastward around route had made Venice the great emporium of Africa, Christopher Columbus argued at the Asian goods and a sea power in the eastern Spanish court of Ferdinand and Isabella for the

7 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES Namban screen showing Chinese traders on board Portuguese vessel promise ofa westward route to reach the Orient. also known as the Isles of the Lateen Sails and \Vhile Columbus' own dreams were unrealized, later as the Marianas), and entered the Western military and spiritual conquest of the Spanish Isles, as the Philippines were fIrst known by the "Indies" in the Caribbean, the Central American Spanish, at Samar on St. Lazarus Day in 1521. mainland and isthmus, and South America opened He perished at Mactan ncar Cebu in a clash with another sort of treasurehouse for Spain. They a local tribe. Survivors of his expedition headed discovered gold workings on the Gulf coasts and south, island· hopping for supplies and trading for later made silver strikes, fIrst at Potosi (Bolivia) spices in the Moluccas (the Spice Islands) into in 1545, then at Zacatecas, Guanajuato, Taxeo and 1522. Only one of the original three ships other centers in Mexico, between 1546 and returned to Spain, by way of the Portuguese 1569 6 New World silver, which was flooding India·Cape-Lisbon roule, The commander into Europe by 1550, was the most important Sebastian del Cano claimed the profIts of the element in the creation of a viable Spanish trade trading expedition and became the frrst to ,,1th the East. circurnnavigste the globe. The venture into the Spurred by Portuguese successes in the Moluccas and the return by way of the Indian Ocean, the Spaniard Balboa travelled Portuguese route, however, brought Spain hard across the Panamanian isthmus, reaching the up agalnst the Portuguese claims in the East. Pacific coast in 1513, thus keeping alive the idea under papal diplomacy, Spain and Portugal that these lands were merely obstacles to the had reached a working agreement about their eastern kingdoms. Ferdinand Magellan, who had respective spheres of interest. In signing the sailed with a Portuguese fleet as far as the Treaty of'l'ordesillas in 1494, they had accepted Moluccas, departed Spain in 1519, rounded the a territorial division according to a Jine drawn at southern tip of South America, crossed the 370 leagues west of the Azores and Cape Verde Pacine, passed the "Ladrones" (Isles of Thieves, Islands, a vague demarcation of uncertain

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 8 longitude. While it fortified Spanish dominion in peremptorily returned via Lisbon. the Americas, and would permit Portugal to substantiate its claim to settle Brazil, the Dutch and English Challengers agreement left the eastern hemisphere in question. Information garnered from Magellan's By the end of the sixteenth century the expedition established that mOre than one island Iberians were no longer the oniy contenders for group east of the Asian mainland was open to the Spice Islands. The general Portuguese model whoever could effectively establish hegemony, of trade and conquest was, after 1600, thereby prompting the Spanish crown to successfully imitated by the Dutch, who drove the authorize a second expedition to replicate the Portuguese out of their own garrisons, or Magellan route west across the Atlantic, this time established others which effectively rivaled under Juan Garcia Jofre de Loaysa, in 1525. them.B In revolt against the Spanish monarchy Loaysa along with the veteran del CallO, his and Hapsburg domiulon since 1566, the United second in command, and others perished en route. Provinces of the Netherlands extended their 'The survivors made several landfalls, struggled maritime expertise beyond the North Sea and without success at Mindanao and Cebu, and Baltic to become active in the Mediterranean by eventually surrendered to the Portuguese in the 1585 and to enter the Pacific in the 1590s. With Moluccas. An equally ill·fated third expedition the C nion of the Crowns of Portugal and Spain in commanded by ,Alvaro Saavedra de Ceron sailed 1580, Portuguese trade monopolies also became from the west coast of New Spain. Saavedra's victims of Dutch aggression. Control of the Spice expedition sighted the Ladrones and reached the Islands was a rich objective. The Dutch improved southern Philippines, where they encountered upon the Portuguese system by operating under survivors of previous expeditions, and traded at the auspices of a centralized body, the Dutch East the Moluecas. Twice, in 1528 and 1529, they India Company, the VOC tvereerrigde Oost­ failed to find the northern route of winds and Indische Compagnie). About the same time, the currents that would return them eastward to New equally ambitious English launched their campaign Spain. In the interim, with Spain's attention for participation in the wealth of the spice trade more concentrated on the Americas in the 1520s, with freebooting piracy to harass their rivals, and the Moluccas were yielded to Portugal with the then adopted tactics more like the Dutch, with a signing of the Treaty of Zaragosa in 1529. 7 network of trading factories reporting to a Once the Portuguese Moluccas were company headquartered in London. Neither the formally declared out of bounds, the Western Isles Portuguese, the Duteh nor the English invested became the paramount objective. In order to much effort in actual territorial conquest, but establish a claim by occupation, discovery of the settled instead for enclave settlements often at tornaviaje, or return route across the Pacific, was the sufferance of their trading partners.' necessary and the Crown posted a reward for it. Moreover the northern Europeans were equally In 1542, the viceroy of New Spain authorized a indifferent to any serious cultural hegemony to be fourth attempt to establish an eastern base, achieved through religious conversion. Although under Ruy Lopez de Villalobos. They sailed the Portuguese took seriously their obligations to November I from Navidad (near present-day bring the heathen into the Christian fold, as their Manzanilla), effortlessly picked up tbe prevailing commercial might dwindled, so did their capacity easterlies and equatorial currents and passed to support missionary work, especially in the face among what they called the Jardines (part of the of the indifference or hostility to their efforts in ),[arshall Islands) in January, 1543. Three short Japan and China. months out of N avidad, Villalobos reached The Spanish role in the Pacific was of a Mindanao and named the island chaln the different character than that of the Portuguese, Philippines, after Prince Philip (the future Philip the English or the Dutch. Beyond their enclave II). However, the members of this expedition or trade post sites in the Philippines, they were doomed by hostile encounters with the expected territorial domination, both secular and islanders and bouts of had weather which spiritual. Their prior experience in the West decimated their number. An attempted return in Indies and New Spain was the most important late August 1543 was thwarted by a disastrous influence in the kind of colony they established; storm 2,250 miles out in the Pacific, which forced however, other factors also came into play, them hack. The remnants of the Villalobos ineluding the nature oftheir rivalry with Portugal, expedition surrendered to the Portugnese at the timing of their arrival in the Pacific, and the Ternate (Moluccas) from whence tbey were location and characteristics of the inhabitants of

9 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES the archipelago where they settled. supplies that existed in the suhsistence economy of the islands, distracted as they were by the The Legazpi Expedition: Securing a Base and the vision of the inhahitants' prosperity, namely "the Return Voyage gold which decorated the natives and the many hogs and chickens which roamed freely along the With pepper prices spiralling upward in beach," reported by the men who scouted the Europe in the late 1550s, Philip II of Spain again territory." They were also initially ignorant of urged the Mexican viceroy to commit men and the consequences of the actions of Portuguese money to a Pacific base for trade in spices. 10 who had been there previously, passing After three years of preparation, a fleet of four themselves off as Castilian Spaniards before ships under Miguel Lopez de Legazpi put out pillaging coastal villages. While part of the from Na,~dad on November 20, 1564. Among the expedition set off to explore trade on the Augustinian clergy aboard was an experienced 1findanao coast, the remainder had a hostile navigator and veteran ofthe 1525 Loaysa voyage, encounter with a Muslim trading boat out of Fray Andres de Crdaneta, who was instrumental Borneo. This ended fortunately, however, with in planning the expedition. Although initially the acquisition of a Muslim pilot as informant who reluctant to pursue the route (as was the Viceroy) took some of them coasting to Negros and Cebu, because of the Portuguese claims to the region, he the scene of1fage\lan's demise. The chief village was nevertheless confident that the currents and of Cebu Island was taken by force on April 27, winds for a return passage could be found in more 1565. northern latitudes than had been sailed in The ship San Pablo was prepared for thc previous attempts, return voyage, carrying a cargo of cinnamon Ostensibly a reconnaissance voyage, the purchased at Mindanao. Departing June 1 from Legazpi expedition was at the same time a full­ Cebu, commanded by a young grandson of fledged scheme for conquest and colonization, Legazpi, and under Urdaneta's guidance, they They transported missionaries to convert the made the San Bernardino straits at the southern natives and carried instructions which described end of Luzon in a week's time. They took a arrangements for the spice trade they expected to northward turn, passed the Ladrones on July 1, conduct and the settlement they were to make, picked up the Japan current, sailed across the including details as to the nature of the houses, Pacific at around 42 degrees latitude, saw signs of erection of a fort and location of the church they land near the California coast as expected, and were to build. Proceeding south along the reached Acapulco on September 8, 1565. Mexican coast to 9 degrees, they headed due Urdaneta had chosen Acapulco over Navidad west, running with the easterly "inds up to 105 because of its extraordinarily safe, capacious miles a day. Early on, by December 1, the harbor, timber-rich hinterlands, and access to the swiftest of twO smaller boats, under Alonso de capital at Mexico City. With the completion of Arellano, disappeared well ahead. Later it would this voyage, the navigation between the be tagged a renegade which had intentionally Philippines and New Spain was established. A separated, sailed briefly among the Philippines supply ship could be sent out to the settlement and struck out independently to find the return with secure knowledge that the return had been route in advance of the commander's vessels. In charted. However, eleven years elapsed before mid..January, Urdaneta believed they were near the trade was [mally estahlished. Military the Jardines and they turned north, making conquest and the foundations of the religious landfall at Guam in the Ladrones on January 22. mission preceded the realization of commercial After eleven tense days of uncertain objectives. welcomes and occasional violence by the native Chamorros in the Ladrone" Islands, Legazpi The Begirmings of the Galleon Trade at Manila formally took possession of the islands on behalf of Spain before heading onward to Samar, In the first despatches from the Philippines another eleven days' saiL Here they turned to the Audiencia of Mexico, the newly designated southward to enter the Philippines at Leyte Gulf, royal officials requested ·coins and small bars of Their initial reception by the inhabitants was fine silver for trade in China."" As news of the again mixed. New provisions were surprisingly Spaniards' presence, and their silver coins, spread difficult to secure, a situation which previous among the islands, traders from Luzon appeared expeditions had encountered. The Spaniards had with provisions, samples of the avai1able goods little comprehension ofthe fragile balances of food and information about the character of trade at

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 10 the place called Marrila. Reports and sample Chinese had bought." shipments were forwarded to the Crov"TI via New Spain in 1567 and 1568. De Goiti expressed regrets for the bloodshed and As months passed and the Spaniards' efforts released the survivors. His subsequent parley to seek trade goods became more widely known, with the Moslem chieftain at Manila dissolved in the Portuguese were alerted to their incursions suspicions and in the ensuing violence the town and prepared to drive them out, convinced that a was burned and the Spaniards withdrew. The successful occupation of the Philippines by the following year Legazpi commanded a fleet of two Spanish would inevitably damage their O\YTI Asian Spanish ships and twenty-three proas, which met trade.13 A three-month blockade of the Spanish little resistance. The inhabitants again set fire t,o settlement at Cebu by a Portuguese fleet from their town and fled the area. Spanish Marrila was the Moluccas (m.id-October 1568 - 1 January founded On these ruins in May 1571. 1569) resulted in Legazpi's removing his The spiritual conquest of the Philippines government from Cebu to the island of Panay. '>vas slow to develop despite initial assertions that Although a serious threat, it was also an excellent spreading the gospel was a motivation for the opportunity for gathering more intelligence about voyages. Some time elapsed before a critical mass Portuguese commercial movement in the area and of clergymen appeared in the islands, Between deepened t.he commitment to secure a settlement 1565 and 1570 the original contingent of five and trade port. Legazpi urged the King in 1569: Augustinians was reduced to three when "If your Majeaty looks forward to this land for Urdaneta and a companion returned to Mexico, greater and richer things, it is necessary to people and then to two when their superior attempted a it, and to have a port here..."" The trip to Mexico and Spain in order to recommend Augustinian friar, Fray ~in de Rada, shared that the Philippines be abandoned as an this conviction, saying "... Soldiers are not needed evangelical field in favor of the richer territories to conquer this land, for they do not consider [its1 (in terms of souls to be won) of China and Japan, welfare..., but only how to amass wealth quick in By 1570 scarcely 100 baptisms had been order to return home... Colonists who intend to performed.17 Part of this delay might be remaiu in the country must be sent."" attributed to a greater restraiut in pressing The Spanish intervened in the trade conversions after forty years of such work in the aggressively. The first foray against Manila in West Indies, but the lack of clerical personnel 1570 enabled the Spanish to make direct contact must also have played a role, Spanish religious with Chinese merchants, also called Sangleys orders responded to the Crown's subsequent call (traders). Martin de Goiti, Legazpi's deputy, was for rnlssionaries and the Augllstinians were sent north with his lieutenants. Crossed signals fan owed by Franciscans, Dominicans, Jesuits and at Mindoro led de Goiti to engage two Chinese Augustinian Recollects. Five hundred thousand junks; twenty Gmnese were killed in the resulting conversions were claimed by 1622.' • skirmish. The cargo was confiscated long enough Religion, however inadequately assimilated to review the goods: or syncretically practiced it may have been, was the principal means by which the Spanish imposed The soldiers searched the cabins their authority in the Philippines. Through the in which the Chinese kept their seventeenth century, between 254 and 400 priests most valuable goods, and thence served a Spanish-controlled Filipino population of they found silk, both woven and 600,000," The Crown subsidized the in skeins; gold thread, musk, missionary enterprise, fmancing the expense of gilded porcelain bowls, pieces of their transport from Spain and Mexico, cotton cloth, gilded waterjugs and contributing to funds for the erection of churches other curious articles although and supplies, and making direct payment to the not in Ii large quantity secular clergy. Rhetoric aside, this work did not considering the size ofships, The justify the cost of maintaining a Pacific colony. decks of both vessels were full of The gateway city to the Asian continent was to be earthen jars and crockery, large primarily a center of trade, with clerics and porcelain vases, plates and bowls; ecclesiastical institutions as likely to participate as and some fine porcelain jars, laymen. which they call sinoratas, They Legazpi relocated the Spanish settlement's also found iron, copper, steel and center from Cebu, v.-ith its irregular access to a small quantity of wax which the China goods, to Luzon. Although the 150 Chinese

11 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES residents on the island were an encouraging outset. It was difficult to secure colonists from presence, the trade with China had a rocky start. New Spain and ships were in short supply. Cautiously during the next monsoon seasons, the Chinese merchants, persuaded that they could Usually they are miserable little trade freely and that silver was in abundance, vessels, which draw but little gradually increased the amount and selection of water, and cost almost as much the fme goods which they had once reserved only in employing them as a ship of for the island chieftains relative to the cheaper six hundred toneladas..· wares, metals and common crockery, which they necessitating as they do pilot, carried in their trade ships. The fine ware sold master, mate and sailors .... And readily, since "we who are here have plenty of inasmuch as it does not appear money and the Chinese need it. 1I20 that the merchants are inclined Two vessels were laden for Acapulco in to buy and fit out ships with a 1572; their voyages were aborted by severe cargo, I am not sure, if this weather which forced them back to port. The business is to go on at your first ships with goods typical of galleon cargoes Majesty's expense, whether it arrived in New Spain in November 1573, carrying would not be wise to have two about 111 kilograms of gold, approximately 20 ships of about five hundred 2 tons of cinnamon, 22,300 pieces of gilt china, 712 toneladas constructed... 4 pieces of silks of all kinds, and a small assortment of curios." "[The] silks [were] of different Within a year or two most of the initial colors (both damask and satin), cloth· stuffs, a hesitations had disappeared. Although no official little gold, and a lot of cotton mantles, both white trade representation was made directly to the and colored; a quantity of wax, glazed Ming authorities," the Chinese came regularly, earthenware and other knick·knacks such as fans, IItwelve or fIfteen ships ... each year" with fIne parasols, desks and numberless other little goods and provisions. "The prices of everything manufactured articles."22 are so moderate, that they are to be had almost From Mexico, however, the Viceroy reported for nothing." An abundance of construction that the merchants were initially reluctant to material somewhat allayed the Viceroy's invest in Pacific trade. Legazpi's successor, reservations about shipping.26 While silver Governor Lavezares, invited merchants to the production was booming in New Spain and Peru, islands with little success. caution lapsed momentarily on control of its flow eastward. A plan to make Manila a "free port" Commercial relations are now for thirty years in order to enhance its appeal to beginning to be established with the Chinese was cast aside, as were worries that the Chinese; but until this is levying any duties on the import trade would definitely completed the hopes of threaten the supplies of provisions needed by the the merchants here will not rise, Spanish. In fact, by 1580 the Chinese were in spite of all I do .... [O]ne of the arriving in sufficient numbers that the governor difficulties is that neither from imposed anchorage dues on their vessels as a this land [MexicoJ nor from token revenue measure. The matter of recruiting Espana, so far as can now be colonists was not so easily resolved. The burden learned, can anything be of encouraging them, like the responsibility for exported thither which they do supplying military reinforcements and other state not already possess ... And thus, expenses in the Philippines, fell upon the Viceroy to make a long matter short, the at Mexico, and like the situado, the annual commerce with that land must be payment made out of the viceroyal treasury for carried on with silver, which they Manila, it was not always a high priority among value above all other things; and his concerns. Philippine governors pleaded I am uncertain whether your repeatedly for men and money in their Majesty will consent to this on correspondence with the Mexican Viceroys. account of having to send it to a Failing a response, requests were made directly to foreign kingdom." the King. Governor Francisco de Sande complained in 1576, "[in] these Filipinas islands, Equally important was the matter of there are at present five hundred Spaniards in all, supplying personnel and shipping at the trade's and ifthere were ten thousand, all would be rich.

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 12 A.~ we are so few, we suffer many hardships, since Freighting two large galleons each year was we are among So manyenetnies."27 a heavy and unnecessary expense to the royal The few Spanish, disproportionately Crown treasury, for "one ship of one hundred toneladas officials and soldiers, were in a position to become is sufficient to bring the ammunition and soldiers very rich. While the initial reluctance of mer­ to be sent from Mexico." It resulted in enormous chants to invest in the Philippine trade quickly losses to the treasury and, he concluded direly, receded, the composition of the Spanish popula· "things will constantly get worse in this direction, tion suggested that as a destination of colonists unless your Majesty orders the matter for permanent settlement. it was certainly a very corrected.,,30 dL~tant second choice after New Spain. Conse· Governors were repeatedly enjoined to quently, in this new area of conquest, dependent refrain from the trade, but to little avail. Clearly on commerce and the sea, the settler population almost aU the difficulties which were to beset the was also disproportionately Basque in origin, like conduct of the trade between Manila and the colony'S founder, Legazpi and his companions. A~.apulco were present in the fIrst years of the By the mid seventeenth century, Basques voyages: the dependency on New Spain for constituted a strong majority and successful support, and on Chinese merchants to appear faction among the elite of Manila." with the appropriate merchandise; the The state's early policy of providing for ambivalence about the flow of silver eastward; private trade transport not oniy permanently concerns about the presence of many "heathen encumbered the trelb--uIJ' for these expenses, but Chinese" in the settlement; the difficulty of brought royal officials at Manila tantalizingly dose attracting colonists; the expense of the shipping; to the commerce, despite all the prohibitions the vulnerability to enemies; and the illegal against it. Regulations issued in 1583 assigned investment by high officials in the trade. Finally, local treasury officers as supervisors at galleon its success attracted the attention of the Seville ladings in order to appraise and register merchants whose monopoly of Indies trade was at merchandise, distribute cargo space, and appoint the core of the Atlantic trade's mercantilist and examine pilots, masters and other practices, As silver production peaked, the value officials.29 During the fIrst stable decade of of the Atlantic trade declined and the Philippines trade, 1576·1585, the customary (albeit illegal) trade was suspect, However, the governors had role of Crown servants was also well established, already instituted a single purchase agreement "ith the inevitable consequence of handicapping with Chinese merchants, the pancada, in order to the participation of the public at large. put a lid on prices, "to avoid, when possible, the In the opinion of Juan Baptista Roman, an withdrawal of the great sums of reals which are unusually scrupulous royal factor in 1588, the taken to foreigo kingdoms," and this independent Crown would have done better to promote private initiative was officially authorized in 158931 A ownership of ships as it was poorly served in net of restrictions cast over the Manila galleon subsidizing the expenses of a merchant fleet trade in the 15908 was desigued to limits its whieh only created convenient channels for official growth, but instead it merely instituted a abuse of privilege. permanent state of surreptitious deflance of the conditions under which it was required to be In the former year of [15]eighty' conducted, fIve, Captain Esteban Rodriguez de Figueroa brought a new ship Restricting the Trade of three hundred toneladas to the port of this city, in order to The extent and frequency of legislation freight it for [New Spain]; but applied to the galleon trade illustrated its success. instead of encouraging and aiding In 1591 trafflc was forbidden by the Spanish him in it, he was denied all Court between China or the Philippines and the protection....Consequently all West Coast ports other than those of New Spain, those who intended to build ships thus excluding Peru, the Isthmus, and Guatemala. were discouraged. The rcason for In 1593 Acapulco was designated the sole this is that since the governors terminus in New Spain; and a permiso, or an engage in trade and traffic, they allowable maximum, was fIxed, This consisted of do not want any ships belonging two vessels annually, officially up to 300 toneladas to private persons where heavy each, carrying merchandise not in excess of freights have to be paid .... 250,000 pesos, with an allowable return of500,000

13 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES pesos. Participation was confmed to Philippine Together they constituted a stream of treasure residents operating on their own account, not by into which thousands of individuals dipped their commission, nor by venturing on their own to hands in the expectation of extraordinary profits. China, but making purchases at Manila under the Even though great fortunes were not always pancada system.32 Almost all subsequent realized, on balance the galleon trade was, like legislation clirected to the galleon trade simply the Portuguese carreira da India, a pipeline of clarified, reiterated, or modified the 1590s riches which its creators and tenders were provisions. More than a century elapsed before extremely reluctant to shut off. the Seville monopolists' resistance to enlarging The most consistent abuse in the trade the permiso was broken, but only because the involved the venality of officials, especially the Manilans successfully argued that increases in the governor-captain general, far from the watchful numbers of residents and rising prices for Asian eye of his nearest superior, the viceroy at Mexico goods warranted it. The trade continued to be who however was equally adept at manipulating limited, although the values of the permiso were the system. "Disinterest,!! a characteristic raised to 300,000/600,000 pesos in 1702; meaning absence of greed for material rewards, 500,000/1,000,000 in 1734; finally, to was a rare virtue in the colonial governors of the 750,000/1,500,000 in 1776. 33 seventeenth century.35 The Seville merchants had good reasons to be alarmed. The curbs failed to contain the The Philippine Islands and 'The Many Manilas" market for Chinese goods in the West Indies and beyond. The Manila·Acapulco trade in some years With entrepot trade the dominant economic reached or even exceeded the values of European activity, the Spanish Philippines did not mature merchandise in the Atlantic fleets. In 1597 twelve completely into a colony of settlers and landed million pesos were sent from New Spain for the estates; instead its development was arrested at galleon trade.34 The legal maximums, designed a stage closer to that of a society of conquest and to appease Seville without sacrificing Manila plunder. By the time of Legazpi's death, in 1572, altogether, artfully and persistently undervalued neighboring districts in the vicinity of Manila had the level of trade, all but licensed contraband, and been pacified.36 With the distribution of made a permanent fiction of official trade encomiendas (rights to tribute-paying subjects) statistics in the Philippines. the systematic exploitation of the native While the Spanish Crown paid to protect the population was established. These rights private trade, it reaped few fiscal benefits from it. permitted worthy Spanish colonists, and, more Without the situado (yearly allowance) remitted rarely, elite Filipinos, such as chiefs and military 3 from New Spain, the public treasury would commanders ? to live in leisure off payments seldom have shown a positive balance. made out of meager Filipino surpluses and from Commercial interests in Spain repeatedly their labor services. Encomenderos (encomienda­ mounted vociferous campaigns against the trade, holders) seldom lived among "their" Indians (the which they regarded as a serious threat to term Indios was used for native Filipinos through metropolitan industry and to their own trade with most of the colonial era). 38 In fact in later the Indies, and as a drain on silver bullion which decades, many of them did not reside in the would otherwise come to the home country. colony at all. Consequently, outside Manila the Decisions to suspend or alter the trade were made Spanish presence was very thinly spread in the in the Council of the Indies, in Spain, where islands, except for the soldiers and priests in their strategic interests carried great weight. Barring scattered barracks and missions. The Philippines major military defeat in the Pacific, a Spanish was a primitive "society of conquest" for many presence in the Far East was desirable, despite years with localized rebellions continuing well into the consistent operating losses which should have the eighteenth century. The southern island of made it expendable. Too poor to tax? Too rich to Mindanao, the most thoroughly Moslem in the lose? The endurability of the trade suggests that region, was never more than partially subdued. more than strategic interests were at stake. Manila in 1600 was a European settlement Operating as a colonial "mixed venture, " the comparable to the viceroyal capitals at Mexico trade's longevity was the result of collusion City and Lima, a well-fortified, walled city, serving between public and private interests. The as the provincial headquarters for civil, military framework of support for the state·subsidized and ecclesiastical administration and dignified by galleons protected the continual westward flow of monumental stone government buildings and silver and eastward flow of Chinese goods. churches. The size of the popUlation fluctuated

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 14 over the decades but the numbers of native-born district just beyond the southeast walls, lived Spaniards and their creole offspring were seldom middling sorts of colonists, mestizoes, foreigners more than a small percentage of the total, for and others who did not fit into the social order of example, less than 2,000 in 1600. In 1620 the the central city. Cavite, the royal dockyards and population of the city and immediate suburbs was protected anchorage for the merchant fleet nine said to be 41,400: 2,400 Spaniards; 20,000 miles southwest of Manila on the bay, housed Filipinos; 16,000 Chinese; 3,000 Japanese. 39 As several thousand workers who constructed and late as 1810 there were only about 4,000 repaired ships and seamen who served aboard the 43 Spaniards.40 galleons and other vessels. According to Antonio de Morga, who The Intrarnuros, a city ofSpanish authority chronicled the early history of the colony and and display, contained within its walls a central described society at the turn of the seventeenth plaza, parade ground, buildings of state, churches century, there were five dasses of Spaniards in and other religious institutions, hospitals, and the islands; the clergy or "prelates, religious and private residences, totalling as many as 600 ecclesiastics (both secular and regular); the houses at the turn of the seventeenth encomenderos," the first families of"settlers and century." The home of most of the Spaniards conquistadors; soldiers, officials, and officers for who lived in the islands, it covered some flfty war-services (both by land and by sea); square blocks surrounded by a stone wall three merchants, business men and traders; and his miles in circumference, complete with parapets, Majesty's ministers for goverrnnent, justice and small forts with gunworks, and six large gates the administration of the royal revenue."" which v,'Cre locked each night. Merchants and traders were in the great However impressive, Intramuros was majority among the Spaniards, but the Spanish dwarfed by the lively confusion in the neighboring were only a tiny portion of the entire varied Parilln of the Chinese. The Parian was, literally, population of Manila The international trade a ghetto for the mass of Chinese merchants and created a cosmopolitan, polyglot society, more artisans, most of them heathen Sangleys who had racially and ethnically diverse and transient in come on the trade jtmks to take up more or less cbaracter than any in the Spanish Indies_ The permanent residence in the city. The majority of diverse peoples of the islands included Negros, them were poor folk from the Fukien provincial Moros, Pintados (or Visayans), Tagalogs, each hinterlands who had emigrated to make their with different customs and languages. According living as manual laborers, and in all manner of to Fray Juan CAlbo's colorful account of 1589, trades imaginable served their own as well as the there were in addition: Spanish community: "... fishermen, gardeners, hUnters) weavers, brickmakers. lime­ Portuguese, Italians, natives of burners,,,.and ironworkers";45 butchers, bakers, Crete and of the Canary Islands, graeers, Iitailors, shoemakers, carpenters, painters Indians from Mexico, Negroes and candlemakers." They had "restaurants from Guinea... Moors from [taverns] where they [sold] their own foods and Africa ... innumerable Chinese meat shops for Spaniards.... their own drugstores [who] differ among themselves as where they [~oldJ not compound drugs but Italians differ from Spaniards. herbs.,,46 Their embroiderers, silversmiths, and There are Japanese and Javanese jewelers were talented craftspeople and their and Bengalis... a great number of painters skilled artists, even in reproducing the people from all other Christian iconography to adorn the many churches islands... land] all sorts of blood of the islands. Bishop Salazar reported in 1590: mixtures...for the people blend "When I came here there were no painters ,,-ith one another. 42 amongst them. Now they are so good at painting that they have done admirable work ...images of Customs and policies of residential the Child Jesus carved in ivory which are as segregation created many lManilas in the perfect as can be .... Soon we shall not need any settlement at the mouth of the Pasig River: more images from Flanders,II47 IntramuTDs, the walled city of Spanish residents; Despite efforts to contain their presence, the Parian, the Chinese quarter; the arraba/es, including periodic expUlsion orders and several the suburban districts of native Filipinos who outright massacres in the wake of spontaneous lived in villages and hamlets amid kitchen gardens rebellions (the most severe occurring in 1603 and and surrounding rice fields. In Bagum bayan, a 1639), the resident Chinese numbered from

15 PACIF1C SEA RESOURCES 10.COO to 40,000 for most of the sixteenth and under the authority of Ill1SSlonary priests; seventeenth centuries. Spanish society lived upon provisioners ofthe rice staple and other necessary them as much as with them. in near total supplies through venda/a; and conscript labor in dependency, poorly d~,guised hostility and often the system of polo. 50 fear. As a result of the Spaniards' all-consuming At fIrst the Parian was merely a space economic interest in the galleon trade and the designated by Governor Ronquillo in 1581 to role played in the urban work force by the consolidate the stores of the silk merchant­ Chinese, the native inhabitants were exploited wholesalers (thus the alcaiceria or silk market), primarily in forced labor ganga for the heaviest located ,,"thin the walls in the far northwest forms of manual labor, cutting timber for the quadrant of the city.4. With the accretion of shipbuilding industry and serving along with many wooden stalls and storage areas, it quickly slaves and conscripts as rowers in the galleys of beca.'!le tbe central marketplace for the city. the coastal marine service. In their experience Shopkeepers and artisans lodged at their such forced labor produced only more onerous workplaces; swelled by the presence of the servitude, and so the Spanish, who saw only their itinerant society at the trading season, it became reluctance to work, regarded most Filipinos as a a densely inhabited, confmed space, half-bazaar, lazy and shiftless lot. Their world was relatively half-tenement distriet, exotic in the eyes of peripheral to the real business of the eity, the Europeans who were impressed by the uousual Chinese trade, From this perspective, Manila was order of a place that was otherwise a hive of more like an enclave community, the majority of activity. Early constructions of wood, thatch and whose residents, the numerous Chinese and the bamboo cane fared badly with frequent and power-wielding Spaniards, had their cultural and destructive fIres. A series of Pari8.ns rose and feU political horizons outside the islands. and by the time of the third (around 1593-94) Manila was twice the size of Macao (the they were rebuilt in the same general location, archetype Iberian enclave of Asia), and anchored but just outside the city walls. Eventually the more fIrmiy. In l635, the Portuguese Antonio Parian outgrew this space and the area across the Bocarro complained about his couotrymen's Pasig River in the neighborhood of Binondo and relations with the Cantonese up river from Macao Santa Cruz became the center of Chinese and ackoowledged that the trade relationship "is commerce and other foreign traders, The not a settled business, because it decreases Chinese, however, re;nained subject to special greatly when the Chinese may resent something residential licenses; under the authority ofofficers the Portuguese have done to them, like killing a appointed by the governor, they enjoyed a Chinaman; this happens very often, because the separate jurisdiction supported by a community Chinese exact. money for everything." Macao was treasury. "not so well furnished with food supplies, ofwhich Much less numerous than the Chinese, the many and good and cheap are available in the community of 3,000 Japanese were also required interior, because as we obtain them from t.he from the 1580s to the 16308 to inhabit a separate Chinese, when they have any dispute wit.h us t.hey quarter of Spanish Manila, at Dilao, a suburb immediately deprive us of them without t.hose immediately east of the city." It became a citizens having any meaLS of going to fetch them place of refuge for Christian converts exiled from elsewhere,tt51 their native land. However, with the abrupt In this respect Manila was very fortunate in termination of trade with Japan after 1640 the its position and in its relationships with the Japanese population became less signifIcant an Chinese and with the native Filipinos. The element in local society. galleon trade was a powerful magnet which drew The non-Christian Asian residents were the Chinese and their goods to Manila. As galleon outside the framework of the Spanish realm, in a commerce was the principal livelihood of Spanish way quite distinct from the ternlS ofincorporation residents, although it did make strenuous, even into Spanish society which fell upon the native brutal demands on native society, particularly in Filipinos. Tagalog-speakers were the largest shipbuilding, other means ofeconomic exploitation single ethnic group on Luzon, but there were of the islands and their peoples were neglected. diverse others throughout the islands. The yoke As a result, the extent of coercion which amicted of Spanish control did not rest lightly on Filipino the Philippines in the fIrst centuries of Spanish society. They served their conquerors in many colonial occupation was driven by relatively ways: tribute-payers in private and royal narrow interests that left fewer marks on the encomiendas; residents of concentrated villages islands than might have otherwise been the case.

PACIFlC SEA RESOURCES III TIlE SYSTEM OF GALLEON TRADE IN TIlE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

The Goods of the Galleon Trade

The trade gDods ~b;)ard the '~.. ra.r.h2. S"clJeons chiang. The European presence in maritime trade came from a V..-i,::e 2..T:' :: on t~"e periphery after 1500 mcrea,ed ecenomic act.ivity throughout. of the Philip;:L:-~"', Tc.e i100 "C FOC'.lO(:on began the coastal area as well as deep in the as far aw~:: as co(toe felds of the Indian hinterland.53 SUbcO:lll:1?:Cl, ::nalberry groves deep in the Even before 1500, however, Chang-chou hoareL-::0: the Chinese mainland, pepper was an example of one area which had begun to oro",,--:s "f the Malabar coast, and forests of the devote itself to many of the goods for the export "'"" s,,'lthern and distant islands of the market. It produced sugar and thus the :- ':':1~sian archipelago. However, the China preserved fruits highiy esteemed in Manila. Raw :l".~l1and was the point of origin for most of the silk was imported from the north and cotton from socds brought to Manila The ports in Chek.:ang \-ariOU5 placest even Luzon, for weaving into at Ning·po, Fukien, and southern KW!L,C;lng 'abrics ioca.ly. Pots and utensils were made from (Canton) were the cer.te::'s of foreign trade! iron r:ined :n the area, Kilns were established especially the coastal prefectures in the province which turned out a cheaper sort of pottery for of Fukien.52 Arnoy I~land, on the coast, lfdve its foreign trade, and lacquered boxes and fans were name to a region which included the important manufactured for what seemed to be an inland cities ofChang·chou and Ch'uan~chou, The inexhaustible demand from abroad." hinterland contnined thriving centers of From the time of the fIrst reports on the specialized manufacturing: potteries in northern Chinese trade, the lists ofthe merchandise which ,Jangxi [Kangsi]; ari-isan workshops in towns !L'1d arrived at. Manila dazzled in their exotic villages of the Yangtze river delta. eSl,ecially t"e character, broad selection and brilliant show. environs of Soochow city, the cen:er of the s:Uk .'illtOniO de :'lorga's catalog of the early industry; and the cotton districts near St1ng~ .seventeenth century described the l!bundles of

Concepcion jewelry with spices

17 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES silk...quantities of velvet ... brocades of gold and not a publicist, tempered his celebrated account of silver...damasks, satins... c1oths of every the luxury trades at Manila with a tone of caution color ... musk, benzoin, and ivofy",,,pearls, rubies! that played well for the gro"mg numbers of sapphires and crystal-stones....fine critics of the galleon trade in Spain. In the crockery ... beads of all kinds.. : and concluded. in 'quantities of gold and silver, wound in skeins phrasing calculated to tantallze the imagination over thread and silk," he warned, "all the tinsel further, "... rarities, to recount all of which would glitter of this gold and silver is faise, and only on mean never Enishing, nor would masses of paper paper." Accounts of the "thousands of other suffice for the task."" Manila also depended on gewgaws and trifles of little value and worth, yet tbe regional trade for the importation of most of which are rated highly by the Spaniards"58 did its hardware, copper and cast-iron basins /lJId much to stimulate perceptions not only of a range kettles, nails, sheet iron, and tin, as well as what of delightful products of talented Chinese would today be called strategic materials, craftsmen, but also of the guileless pleasure with indispensable for ammunition stores, such as lead, which the Spanish delivered over their silver for saltpetre, and gunpowder. Many of the trade these somewhat suspect commodities. It hinted ships heading for Manila's harbor were known as at a notable cunning in the Chinese merchants "fruit junks,' laden with necessary food pro,~sions who purveyed them. The market for Asian goods (wheat flour, preserved and fresh fruit), farm in the seventeenth century depended on a certain arumals (buffaloes, geese, horses, mules and manufactured predisposition and taste for donkeys), and songbirds ("some of which consumer goods which in the blink of an eye were talk....and they make them play lots of tricks")5. transformed from luxuries into necessities. This all of which entered into the bustling local market was found in the Spanish West Indies and commerce dominated by the resident Chinese. Europe. The Sangleys were aggressive conunercial Textiles--woolens, silks, linens, cottons, and entrepreneurs whose willingness to please their various blends--were among the most important customers delighted the Spaniards, generations of categories of goods in international commerce in whom gloated in the tale of the Chinese wooden the early 16005 and well into the nineteenth noses. As the Jesuit Diego de Bohadilla century, competing with spices in value per ton of recounted it around 1640: cargo. Textiles represented as much as sixty to eighty percent of the total value of typical A Spaniard who had lost his nose shipments of goods inlported by wholesale through a certain illness, sent for merchants in the colonial era.59 They were the a Chinese to make him one of equivalent of present day mass-manufactured wood, in order to hide the goods which urban populations were accustomed deformity. The workman made to purchasing regularly and country folk acquired him so good a nose that the whenever they were able. In addition to the bolts Spaniard, in great delight, paid and piece goods of material for fine dress clothlr_g him munificently, gi,mg him and interior decor, and the great variety in sewing twenty escudos. The Chinese accessories (threads, ribbons, trimmings, buttons, attracted by the ease with which etc,), there was a surprising number of ready­ he made that gain, laded a fme made articles ofclothing (shirts, tunics, stockings, boatload of wooden noses the kerchiefs, shawls) and household furnishings following year, and returned to (bedlinens, quilts, coverlets, and canopies, Manila. But he found himself drapery, rugs, cushions). There was also a range very far from his hopes and quite of course goods, cheap linens used in clothing for left out in the cold; for in order slave populations, heavy canvases for everything to have a sale for that new from sailcloth to packing materials. Demand for merchandise he found that he these items grew rapidly with the maturing of the would have to cut offthe noses of colonial economies, and the galleon trade was able all the Spaniards m the to supply all of them. country.57 The American market for luxury fabrics was established well before the start of the But the Chinese did not depend on sales of Manila trade. By the mid sixteenth century it wooden noses to drive a good trade with the had become a stunning phenomenon of life in the Philippines. New World. In the society of the conquest era, Morga, who wrote in the spmt of a critic, COmmon soldiers who shared plunder could well

PACInc SEA RESOURCES 18 alford the trappings of elaborate dress whic~ on bedlinens (quilts and coverlets and canopies), the continent were reserved only to the draperies or wallhangings, rugs and other goods of aristocracy. Pedro Xobody could rival t~o hijos household furnishing. de algo (the gentry. literally "sons of somebodi') (V) Various "products of the islands," in lavish personal adornment, if not in lineage. commodities of Filipino origin which were Elegantly attired mestizoes and fancy liveries for acquired by the Spanish as tribute goods, Negro 81m'es in the retinues of wealth;: families predominantly te>:tiles made from cotton or other were pan of the meru;ure afthe bold counterpoint cotton-like plant materials, which ranged from the of disorder oharacteristic of the flew hierarchy of gauzy lampotes to heavy canvas sheeting, as well a ocbc.ial society. In the 1540s 'silks are so as white and yellow beeswax," CO"'fGDn here (in Mexico') that low-class (VI) Miscellaneous articles and small . cUTCloymen and servants of both sexes as well as wares, some of which were not of Chinese origin, lovers and unmarried girls go about laden with shipped in lesser quantity I,han goods in other silken eapes~ tunics, pe~ticoats and mantles.... " categories. Items from this list were exquisite Even "tradespeople's wiYes and prostitutes wear porcelain wares, well-crafted furnlture (cabinets, more clothes of s:;Jc than a nobleman in desks, stands) and elaborately painted screens, Castile.,,60 A expanding institution in The relative bulkiness and fragility of porcelain, in Spanish America in the sixteenth century, the contrast to shipments of textiles, discouraged its Church was an important customer for silk, being exported in as great a quantity in the requiring material for vestments and church seventeenth century as would occur later on, decorations. The secular powers were not far After 1710, changes in the supply of goods to behind, Silks and velvets festooned the chamber Spanish America, via the English licensed trade as halls and draped the dignitaries of local and royal well as increased smuggling, broadened the range government from frontier towns to viceregal of merchandise it was profitable to export. capitals, Once Chinese goods began to arri,'e ,,,ith China ware destined for the Americas and Spain frequency at Acapulco, their appeal to consumers ranged from elaborate dinner plate services had no bounds, decorated to the order of the pmchasers, to sets By the 1630s, according to a memorial of cups specially designed for drinking 6 presented to t~e Council of the Indles by the chocolate. , Court loeb,ist, Dol" Juan Grau y Monfalcon. the Also included in this catchall category were buI;;: of thes:aples" sent from the Philippines fell aromatic resins (such as camanguian as storax or into six broad categories:·' benzoin was knovm in the Philippines) and animal (1) Unwoven silk, available in bunCles of secretions (musk, civet) and ambar, products seda {loja (loose floss), sold by the gross pica or which formed the base of perfume preparations, picul in Asia, and by the cale in tbe Indles; &-,d Last but not least in value was the jewelry and silk twists in en madeja (skeins) for WeavL'1g en other items produced by the Chinese silversmiths irama (weft); it was an important source of raw and goldsmiths at Manila, wbose pieces and material, considered to be better quality than artistic influence were highly esteemed in distant domestic variety, for New Spain's 14,000 s:ik :',1exico City in the early seventeenth century, weavers in the mdustry center around Puecill de where, according to Thomas Gage, los Angeles and -"rexico City. (II) Woven s:lk textiles, in bolts and in The goldsmiths' sbops and lengths of great variety and texture, such as works are to be admired, The velvets (plain or embroidered), satins, damasks, Indians and the people of China talTetas, gragrams, and picotes; this category also that have been made Christians included ribbons, threads for embroidery work and every year come thither, and other notions, as \~"ell as an extensive variety have perfected the Spaniards in of clothing accessories, like stockings, petticoats, that trade, The Viceroy that. capes and headdresses. went thither [New Spain] the (III) Varied cotton goods, fme-textured year 1625 caused a popinjay to and inexpensive, which although inferior to tbe be made as a present to the quality linens produced on the Europear: King of Spain of silver, gold and continent were in great demand among common precious stones with the perfect people. colors of the popinjay's feathers (IV; Silk and cotton "blends," especially a (a bird bigger than a pheasant), wide assortment of decorative clothware and with such exquisite art and

19 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES perfection that it was priced to be worth in riches and workmanship half a million of ducats.64

The Viceroy, the Ma:ques ofSerra\vo, could easily afford grand gestures such as this as he w,,-s reputed "to ger a million a year, what "ith g1£ts and presents. what with his trading to Spain a:,d the Philipp:r:es." Gold was a product obtained as tribute by Spaniards from their Philippine encomienc.e.s, but it was not sent in quantity: or so it was claimed, except in the form of bejuquillos, the slender golden chains ""Taught by Malay natives for personal adorr.ment," and pieces considered "presents" or personal property.66 Spices were conspicuously absent in the 1630s report, which served as a basis for discussion of the state of the trade before the Council of t.he Indies. In the period of the Uulon of the Two Crowns, 1580-1640, the European market Wa" s'''pplied by the Portuguese monopoly Gold shoe from the Concepcion contractors who transported spices aboard the India ships directly to Clidiz or via Lis':>on, from which they came in some quantity to the Indies on the Atlantic fleets'" Cinnamon, mostly froIll Ceylon, and pepper, originally from the Malabar coast of southwest India, were however staple items in Acapulco-bound g--ct!leons. Cinnamon was marketed in New Spain where it was an important component of chocolate manufacture, and pepper was a hardy commodity which could easily adapt to long range transshipment as fa: as Europe. but neither were considered especially profitable items compared to Oriental textiles. In the 1620s projects were advanced to increase state revenues by shipping cloves and cinnamon from the Moluccas via Manila and New Spain, although it is not clear to what extent they were successful. As late as the 1720s, during a period in which the Seville monopolists secured a temporary exclusion of silk textiles from the Manila trade, Manila merchants stub,:>ornly resisted pressures to settle for a prh11eged spice trade as a substitute for the prohibited silks. F'inally, the Philippine lobbyist at Madrid, Grau y Monfalcon, overlooked an array of cotton textiles of Asian origin which were to become more important to the trade in later years. Late in the seventeenth century Manila merchants began to export more of a broad range of Indian cotton goods from the Coromandel Coast" Calicoes, chitas, cambays, ginghams, and the large plain whites, popularly knowu as "elephants," found a growing ma:ket in the New World, Gold chains from the Concepcion especially at the low end of the consumer

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 20 scale.69 would otherwise have gone to Spain. It also made There was an imFortant other truth in the the trade extremely difficult to curtail because of caution in Antonio de ~:orga's early seven:ec:lth the certainty of profit. century report noted above. The glitter of?acifie For several previous centuries Europe had commerce can deceive. Over time, the galleon been funnelling stocks of precious metals trade flourished. not just because it dealt in eastward to resolve balances of trade.71 In the expensive exot:ca, or because it was able to enrich Asian "graveyards" of gold and silver, the "two a selec: few, but because it suppCied a broad biggest reservoirs"" were India and China. assortment of clothwares with mass a?peal for a Here the metals were hoarded by some, and also diverse and widely dispersed population, which utilized in the innumerable economic transactions was almost deliberately stfu"Ved for goods as a that eventually led to those countries being fully result of the rigid workings of the Spanish monetized by the fourteenth century. Handicraft cOllh'11ercial system. In :\ew Spain in 1641, for production in Asia was voluminous, while at the example, Chinese sit< pje;:,egoods marketed from same time Europe had no manufactured goods to a shop on the Parra: mining frontier could market in excbange.7J Late Ming China (1368­ undersell the Mexican Mixteca product. 70 ::VIost 164·i) had a population that was at least double importantly, the merchant wholesalers who that of Europe, a developed infrastructure of handled the distribution of Oriental goods in the internal commerce and important merchant Indies had almost unlimited access to the silver groups in long distance and overseaS trade. China currency in which they paid for their shipments. prized silver well above gold and this preference, fIrst recognized by the Portuguese, was the key The Silver Stream element which made the Spanish peso of such value throughout Asia in the "silver century," The bills for the assortment of Asian goods 1550·1700 and even later." As one Portuguese delivered at Acapulco by the galleon each year commentator \\Tote, "'wherever the Chinese were paid in Spanish silver bullion and pesos, sniffed silver, they brought mountams of "ryalls of eight." mined and minted in the merchandise."75 A colloquial expression current Americas. The capacity of the Chinese economy among the Chinese residents of lV[anila put it to absorb yast c;uar.tities of silver was the single most succinctly: "silver is blood."76 Barely most important phenomenon underlying the masking his contempt, Philippines governor Don success of the Manila-Acapulco trade. Chinese Juan Kino de Tavora (1626-1632) observed of the demand for silver made the trade potentially Chinese, "their god is silver and whatever way daIllllging because it drained away silver which they can get it is their religion.. .'>77 Even the

Silver mines at Potosi Silver bars O1'ld coins

21 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES English had some spleen to vent on the subject. were parties to the galleon trade at Manila; "They will as soon part with their blood as it Chinese merchants who supplied most of the rsilver], having once possession," "'Tote a Factor of trade goods in the Manila market, and Spanish the English East India Company in 1636,",78 residents, acting as the essential middlemen, who These critical expressions stemmed as much had the sole right to forward goods on the galleon from ethnic and religious prejudices as from to New Spain.. The system was, however, as concerns rooted in mercantilist principles of the porous in this area a~ in others.. Despite age: the richest and most secure states were able measures which were employed to restrict entry to hold onto their bullion reserves, \Vhile the to the trade, there was considerable competition metaphor of "the outflow of silver as a harmful to overcome these barriers. One group of haemorrhage--as if E-..ll'ope was paying for the "interlopers" were Portuguese merchants from luxury of spices and chinoiserie with her own life­ Macao who desired to become the chief suppliers blood"'" was powerful when coupled with the of Chinese goods to the Manila market and cupidity of the Chinese, it was also misleading" At managed to drive an increasingly active trade the same time it was recognized that silver, like a from mainland China in the 1620s to about 1634, pilgrim, was only good "when it was in despite the ban on sach trade as a condition of motion,II80 the Union of the Two Crowns!5 A much Observers developed theories offlaws in the longer-term problem involved the erosion of the social character of the different peoples..-an trading privileges enjoyed by Spanish residents at indiscriminate !ove of finery and unrestralned Manila by agents representing merchants of ostentation in the West Indies balanced by a cold Mexico and Peru. Finally, there was the and calculating passion for silver in the East---to persistent corruption of tbe galleon trade in explain the economic calculus which linked silk frequent attempts by the highest levels of royal and silver.. "The Far East at that period was the officers in the colony to profit from it, meeting-place of a world of cheap silver and a notwithstanciL'1g the prohibitions against their world of dear silver"·' It was cheap where it involvement. The abuses of privilege in the was mined and dear where it was highiy val"ed. galleon trade were local instances of the Beginning in the 1540s, New World silver widespread fraud which was endemic to the produced the bulk cf the world supply, an Spanish colonial conunercial system .. estimated 40,OOC to 10,OOC tons:' which rapidly doubled the existing amounts.. The boom Chinese Merchants coincided exactly with the occupation of the Philippines. As silver production increased, the The mainland origin of most of the Chinese value of silver in relation to gold plummeted_ traders at Manila was the Fukien coast, Between 1580 and 1630 in the Spanish Empire, particularly Chang-chou. The Spaniards called the bimetallic ratio of silver to gold hovered them "Chincheos, a corruption of the name,""·' around 12 or 13 parts silver to one part gold.. In The central government of the Ming Dynasty in China at the same time it ranged from 5,,5 to 8 this era discouraged foreign conunerce, but at the parts to one, Thus Chlnese goods were coastal periphery merchant entrepreneurs and comparatively cheap at their source and could be shipowners, with the collusion of officials, ignored sold for double their value (at.. least) in the this, just as Spanish colonists Haunted Americas or Europe,·3 It is estimated that from metrapoEtan edicts. Chinese merchants and one-third to one-hal! of the product of the mercantile agents operated under commenda 8 American mines worked its way to China. ' (arrangements of conunerdal partnerships), with Manila was the closest transit point in the east for licenses from local governors for overseas the silver of the American mines, thus the galleon trade. 57 trade was the conduit for this silver flow, Given Little is known about early commercial that there was both a legal, or permitted, trade, transactions between Chinese and Spanish which wa., consistently exceeded, and a large but merchants.. The pancada, the single purchase unknown quantity invested in clandestine agreement introduced at the request of Spanish shipments, the precise extent of Manila's role in merchants, was implemented in the late 1580s diverting silver eastward is difficult to measure .. and incorporated into legislation governing the trade in 159388 Perhaps acceptable to the Participants in the Galleon Trade ChiIlese, the extent of government interference it created was soon vigorously opposed by Spanish In principle, there were only two groups who merchants who sued for its removal in 1599,

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 22 The decree which arrived here those fmanders and suppliers of merchandise who relating to the pancada..of the remnined in China9< At the other end, the merchandise and cloth which numbers of Chinese residents of Mallila swelled at come from China, directing that the end of each trading season with mercantile it should be bought by one agents and commercial travellers, their assistants person, and that six persons and dependents. Those who stayed on formed would go with it and dispose of the core of the Parmn community and played an the goods in ~ueva Espana for active role in the interual retail trade of the the citizens of these islands--­ colony. In this way, galleon commerce created being put into execution by innumerable niches in the local economy and a the... governor, was carried to the good living for the Chinese immigrants who fOlmd royal Audiencia of these islands places within in it. in course of appeal...in w hleh court the suit is in progress. 89 Spanish Merchants

The official evaluations of Chinese On the Spanish side, there was no other merchandise were routinely conducted upon the reason to come out to Manila except to adventure arrival of the junks, as they were necessary in in the galleon trade. By 1600, 'merchants and order to levy the import duties, but once the traders form[ ed] the majority of the residents in evaluations were completed. merchandise was the islands' who came "to invest in this business, "sold freely.... The ordinary price of silks (both exporting annually on the galleons."" :aw and woven) and the cloths which form the Commercial life at Mmllla cannot be reconstructed bulk of their cargoes is settled in a leisurely way on the basis of activities of individual merchants, and by persons who understand the business, on as they are seldom glimpsed in the seventeenth both the Spanish and the Sangley sides.'"Q By century records." A partial explanation for this the close of the seventeenth century, the primary is that Spanish attitudes around social prestige market was !Ul open faIT which occurred in April contained a strong bias against the mercantile and May, in the period between the ardyal of the profession that was deeply embedded in Spanish Chinese junks and the sailing of the galleons. 91 culture. In addition, prior to the creation of a Ear~y on the Manila trade was conducted consulado (merchant tribunal) in Manila in the mostly at Chinese risk. The suspension of the late eighteenth century, which formally recognized pancada allowed individual merchants to extend qualified merchants as those with considerable credit to t.heir Spanish buyers and to wait for capital who traded on their own account, the payment in silyor on returning galleons. Morga, distinction was less clear between active usually a hard critic of the Chinese, excoriating merchants and those who derived some income them as "a people without any religion or from occasional participation in the trade. In the conscience and so greedy they commit seventeenth century Spaniards of note who innumerable frauds and tricks in their dealings so resided in the colony, those who were considered that it is necessary to be sharp, and to know t.he the body politic or citizeury, customarily goods one is buying, so as not to be cheated," represented themselves in formal communications otherwise praised Sangleys as skillful and as the "City and Commerce of Manila,"" a intelligent traders, patient and level-headed, so as general rubric which ignored specific identification to do their business the better. They are ready to of merchants active at the time. Most Spanish allow credit and give liberal terms to those whom gentlemen used a military title in preference to an they know will deal squarely ",th them and will occupational classification, and petitioned the not fail in paying them in due time."" The Crown for gratuities and fee-earning offices in lobbyist in Spain on behalf of the Manila trade addition to whatever income they might have contended that in the 1630s as much as three­ derived from trade. 98 Bartolome Tenorio, a quarters of the trade was carried on credits city official but also one of the richest merchants extended by the G'hinese. 93 As the Dutch of the city in the 1630s with dealings in Macao, discovered when they attempted to dissuade them and Manuel Eustacio Venegas, the much-maligned from trading with the Spanish, the Chinese favorite of Governor Diego Fajardo (1644-1653), invested heavily in Manila, willingly sending their were kno\\n to have made fortu.Tles in trade.99 better quallty goods. The port was near and Finally so much of the participation in the galleon reached with minimum risk and expense, trade was under conditions which were extra-legal consequently the returns were very profitable for at best that extensive record keeping was neither

23 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES customary nor advisable. tendency of governors to appropriate it, either K evertheless, trade was the dynamic sector openly for themselves, under various ruses, or to of the Philippine colonial economy where all distribute it in lucrative gestures of patronage, a fortunes were to be made or lest and everyone junta de repartimiento (board of apportionment) who had the smallest opportunity to engl'lge in it was instituted to allot boletas (tickets) as did so under whatever pretense they could certificates of lading rights. The board was arrange. GalleD!: trading, the most lucrative of initially composed of the governor, who continued all, was the special priv'Jege the Spanish residents to wield great influence, the archbishop or a held as ifby birthright. The government desired leading cleric who stood for him, city officials, to have a permanent population composed of treasury officers, and representatives of the more than transient traders. The system of merchants. I 02 Merchants increased their shared equity in the g-d.!leon trade, one of the few representation on the board gradually in the perquisites available to Spaniards who endured eighteenth century. the hazards of the sea voyage and other hardships The boletas served as warrants to be of life far from home, was an inducement to applied to piezas, units of d.ivided portions of the attract colonists and their fa::lilies who would bales or chests which composed the merchandise agree to the condition that they stay for at least cargo of a galleon. Although boletas were divisible 1 eight years. into as many as six parts, 01 the typical pieza The policy discouraged some forms of represented one-quarter of a full chest or bale. transient trading. but encouraged the equally The total number of chests and bales varied illegal practice of surreptitious comnllssion according to the hold size of the vessel selected as trading, whereby Manila residents with no money a galleon in any given year. Ships were also of their own to invest aeeepted terms of six, eight, customarily considered according to their or ten percent as their fee for handling the toneladllS de porte (tonnage burden) and awards business entrusted to them by others who resided of lading space were sometimes referred to as so in Mexico. 100 They, or others employed by many toneladas in the galleon. Some records them, travelled hack and forth on the galleons. suggest that by eonvention six chests of silks, or transporting merchandise to Acapulco they eight "piezas" ofcotton goods, was the equivalent claimed to have purchased at Manila \vith their of one tonelada of cargo.'04 The procedure of own funds. and returning 'vith silver registered to g-auging the arqueamento (cargo c~pacity) of the their O¥iIl accounts which they asserted was the galleon was an annual rite, undertaken by a proceeds of their sales at the fair. Ai; the city committee ofexperts, which preceded the meeting council of Manila complained in 1628: of the board in charge of distributing lading space. Under the repartimiento system, in order The agents here have only their to place cargo aboard the galleon, one had to be a own profit in mind and care citizen of Manila; an official list of residents was naught about the great damage maintained by the city government. 1U5 The they do to the commonwealth. junta, however, considered additional criteria in None bother to move here making the allotments, such as seniority and because without stepping outside service in the colony, so that residents did not their offices in Nueva Espana expect to receive equal shares. Many of them they make as much profit as they were too poor to exercise the allowance even ifit would if they were living in were granted, but only certain categories of Manila. '" persons, widows, for example, were pernlitted to sell their boletas Or portions to others. While COITlnllssion work W/l$ customary business Since the mortality rates were high among practice, it violated the ground rule that the merchant·citizens who made frequent trips on the galleon trade should be the prerogative of Manila galleons and for those who served in the military residents. in defense of the colony, there were always The system encouraged subterfuge in other worrisome numbers of Spanish widow women and ways. The terms of the pernllso, which c.apped their families in Manila who were left with no the value of exports and linllted shipping, further means of support. For this reason, Manila widows restricted participation in the trade. Once the co!:stituted a special interest group with permiso was implemented, lading SIYdce aboard longstanding claims to share in the trade; a the galleons became the most sought after separate supplemental list of their names was commodity in the trade. In order to check the maintained by the city.'" The Regulations of

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 24 1734 which modified rules of the galleon trade clergymen113 The merchants, represented by (most of which had been introduced between 1593 the city, insisted on a strict commitment to and 1620), continued to recognize the right of reserve 400 toneladas of cargo space for uecinos, widows to transfer their shares to active citizens of :\fanilal14 merchants; the same permission was extended to To the extent that merchants had recourse 'the poor," of their own to exact the most they could from a Cor.sequently, commerce in the haletas was system of distribution of limited lading rights, a thriving bus 'ness on its mvn. Not ail citizens they made use of their access to whomever they exercised the privilege of trading, as they did no! could in order to ohtain privileged posts on the all have Sllfficient capital to invest in merchandise; annual galleons, Ir. this way they might take those who did not ship in any given year were advantage of the cargo shares enjoyed by the supposed to return their shares to the board, not galleon omcers, oversee their shipments aboard cede them to others, Critics recognized that the vessel, conspire with the sailors to grants of lading space to non-merch~C\ts widened commandeer additional space or carriage of the circle of those who could be tempted to chests, and return with silver, some of it legally corrupt the system by selling their privileges to registered, other amounts hidden away or parties who were other,,~se excluded from the confided to the safekeeping of collahorators trade, The most likely purchasers were among the crew. merchants from 1'lexico or Lima, or their agents, The experience of two Italian merchants in who sough out citizen-boleta holders in order to the 1590s is a rare account of the risks run in obtain their shares, What became a common taking chances in merchant voyages to 11anila fraud in later decades was regarded as a bold through the Indies in the early years of the abuse when it occurred in 1613,1Q7 galleon trade,:15 The Carlettis, father and son, Merchants were also at a disad\'~'1tage in sailed in 1594 from Seville to the Cape Verde securing shipping space when faced with the Islands where they purchased a lot of seventy-five interventions ofhigher authorities who deIllilnded slaves which they sold at Cartagena and there a share of the trade, In some cases this was bought an assortment of merchandise. They recognized by longstanding custom which made the passage across the Isthmus from Porto permitted senlor omcials to obtain lading space as Bello to Panama and thence to Callao, the port of an entit2ement of omce as in the traditions Lima, where they sold their European goods for jealously guarded by regidores (city councilmen) silver bars, Thy Came north to New Spain in a and by the cabi/do ecclesiastico (cathedral vessel carryi-..g quicksilver "for the King's chapter),108 Interventions also occurred on an account, from Huancavelica, with the intention of ad hoc basis. For example, in 1628 tl::e Mexican buomg more goods for the Lima trade at Mexico viceroy was alleged to l:ave received galleon City, Arriving at Acapulco in June, 1595, several shipping privileges;'t; in 1637 a cargo was months after the galleons would have departed, sent to New Spain to tl:e account of the Count they went overland to :Mexico City, but after Duke of Olivares; '" in 1636 the lobhyist for several months there, "God disposed," and the the trade at tl:e court petitioned to be recognized senior Carletti decided instead 'to go the in the distribution of space, 111 Philippines, he ha0.ng felt that such a voyage The heavy hand of the governor frequently would be useful," aware that "people in Mexico are intervened to award lading rights to persons he accustomed to make that trip each year"," They protected or wanted to cultivate, charitable were not able to travel openly as foreign organizations he desired to favor, or individuals merchants, for passage licenses, secured from the with needs which his largess could fill, This had Viceroy, could not be obtained except by those occurred in the case of the galleor;s of 1613 in who had declared tl:eir intention to emigrate, but which space had been dispensed as gratuities to this was only a minor hindrance, They bargained retired military officers and charitable institutions. with the captain of a galleon at Mexico City who They in turn had disposed of their privileges to had received an appointment for the next salling :\fexican merchants, In 1622, the traders among from the Viceroy, He agreed to transport them the average citizens complained because two of under the guise of their serving as officers of his the city's hospitals had received toneladas.'" ship, artillery constable (master of the gunners In 1633, the governor was ordered to discontinue aboard) and guardian respectively, although his practice of giving cargo space to his circle of sailors would be tapped to perform the paid duties affiliates as well as to sailors and soldiers aboard under the captain's orders, in exchange for the galleons, to hospitals, charities, and turning their salaries over to him, The matter of

25 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES carrying funds, "allowed only to those who live who made purchases with ilready cash" and "insure there or truly are going to that region to live," their goods...agaInst loss or wreckage of the was the other obstacle and as easily resolved as vessel" with the fImds of the obms pias; and by the fIrst. the poor who "borrow from the Obras Pias the money with which to purchase the goods for the So tmder the license that the Acapulco trade which usually comes out more viceroy gave us as being officers expensive for them because at salling time (which of the ship--which cost very little­ is when they get the loan) the cost of all goods -we confIdently placed the rest in rises.,,119 "''bile he admitted that the obms the hands of the ship's captain, pias were "of great use to the Spaninrds just who was used to carrying such arrived in the Philippines... [ who] can start a things for various people who business even without capital simply by applying shipped money. And a million for a loan from these lending institutions," he gold SCUd08 rode along that way considered the rates "very exorbitant,," between 22 despite the order and a sender and 50% for investments in the Acapulco galleon was obliged to pay the captain trade, as high as 20% for China, 25% for "the two scudos out of every htmdred, Coast [of Coromandel]."12C The proceeds from And as for the risk, they the Acapulco fair did not always cover the cost of commended themselves to good these credits, according to Zuniga. ,>1 When fortune. 116 obras pias investments did earn profits, they were returned to the commtmity in the form of new Clergy and Obras Pias money available for loan or in philanthropy, as in support of the city's hospitals and orphanages. Contemporary foreign critics of the trade Over time considerable capital accumulated tended to dwell on the novelty and abuses in these institutional funds which could not be involved in clerical participation, which others matched by the resources of anyone individual believed to be exaggerated, Le Gentil, the French merchant or merchant partnership, as the latter scientist who lived at Manila for a time in the tended be shortlived in duration and subject to 17608, corrected the version of the trade greater risk. Thus their presence in galleon publicized by Richard Walter, the chronicler ofthe commerce loomed large and seemed especially Anson expedit.ion, which he thought mis­ backward in the view of eighteenth century represented the role of the Jesuits in the observers of the trade, particularly to Protestants trade, 117 Individual clergymen sometimes who were critical of any role for ecclesiastical acted as merchants, in ,~olation of the regulations; institutions which seemed to enjoy privileged the religious orders and their members sometimes positions in the commercial market. Spanish ahused their privileges and traded in goods commentators also played up the participation of beyond what they were allowed to ship back and the obras pias in galleon commerce, not however forth between their convents in Manila, Mexico by focussing on their activity as lenders to the and Spain; but the trade was for the most part trade, but rather on their role as beneficiaries of conducted by merchants, not priests. its proceeds. The maintenance of the obras pias The primary form of the church's corporate was an important argument in Manila's defense of participation in galleon commerce was through the its trading privileges against the attacks of the obras pi"". These were charitable endowments Seville lobby. Whenever possible advocates of the held by churches, convents and religious trade drew on rhetoric which emphasized the brotherhoods, funded by legacies and bequests, religious mission in the Philippines a, the whose financial resources were tapped for loans to st.rongest defense of their commercial interests. be used as merchant capital in the trade. By M.oreover. most but not all of the obras pias accepting premiums against loss, they also acted were administered by clergymen, The most as marine insurers by underwriting the risk. prominent of the charitable organizations with the The organizations of the obras pias were greatest amount of ftmds employed in the galleon especially important to the trade in the trade was the Santa Casa de Misericordia, a eighteenth century. According to Padre Joaquim voluntary brotherhood or religious association Martinez de Zuniga, who wrote on the galleon founded in 1596 for laymen. The members, the trade around 1800, by that time "breathing its merchant and bureaucratic elite of the colony, last,"i1!'> the church endowments were used the organization to satisfy individual employed in different ways: by "rich merchants" religious oblig"dtions (in carrying out works of

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 26 mercy), to support charitable operations (the merchants in the seventeenth century than for women's house of retreat, for example) and most the eighteenth. However, it is very likely that importantly in the prebanking era, as a source of those who were the more firmly established credit to back their commercial investments. 122 traders, as opposed to those who ventured in the trade on an occasional basis, collaborated with and The Mexican Connection had strong ties of kinship and intermarriage to the merchants of the Mexican Consulado, the The eastern terminus at Acapulco was the powerful corporate organization of the Mexico single site authorized for transshipment of goods City wholesalers.127 Relatively protected by coming from Manila and for the fiscal control of the prohibitions against foreigners, or even non­ the galleon trade, where taxes were collected and Manilans, poaching on their trade privileges, as where the annual subsidy in support of the middlemen and freight forwarders via the galleons military and ecclesiastical establishment in the they had little reason to promote themselves Philippines was shipped. Although the galleon independently of their Mexican partners. trade was organized at Manila as if it were a Together however the Mexican and Manilan proprietary privilege of the Spanish colonists merchants acted in concert to discourage those there, the more powerful interests in Asian outside the circle of established interests. In the commerce were the merchant wholesalers at 1620s the Manila merchants adopted a more Mexico City who had direct access to the sources aggressive position in defense of their role in the of silver and were part of the commercial network trade by reclaiming a latent authorization to of consumer markets and silk manufacturing create a body of representatives to accompany the centers in New Spain. Mexican merchants galleon cargoes as far as Mexico City and to distributed throughout the Indies silk textiles and remain there to conduct business.128 The clothing and accessories manufactured in the authority to do so had been issued as part of the colony from imported materials. This trade was series of decrees which had formalized the conducted independently of the Seville pancada system, the single purchasing of Chinese monopolists and allowed the merchants at Mexico cargoes at Manila in the 1590s, but had never to cease to be mere appendages of their Spanish been implemented. The effect of the procedures counterparts. they proposed to the government in the 1620s Acapulco was a crucial axis in the would be to "block the citizens of Mexico who are development of this inter-colonial commerce. not agents of those in the Philippines,1I129 as Peruvian merchants carne to Mexico City to well as to insure that they could capture the acquire stocks of Chinese goods and re-export greatest returns on the sale of their goods in New them through Acapulco. '23 The Carlettis had Spain. planned such an expedition in their j Durney in the 1590s. Limits set on sea trade between Acapulco Everyone knows how much money is and Callao, the port of Lima, were imposed brought to the Philippines each year, gradually after 1600 until all goods trade was just as everyone knows that most of prohibited in 1631124 The objective was to this money belongs to the people in sever the route and thereby destroy the serious Nueva Espana, despite the profits of competition it presented for the Spanish so many middlemen. The truth is merchants who traded the goods of the periodic that when, after a period of two Atlantic fleets. But the unreliability of the supply years the accounts are settled, very via the fleets in the mid seventeenth century only few of us have made some profit, and stimulated the perpetual contraband in Asian in many cases not even the goods up and down the west coast of South investment is recovered. This is the America. Many small Pacific ports of Guatemala reason we are always forced to dig (colonial Central America) aspired to become into our capital to pay for living and smugglers' havens,125 Weak enforcement of other expenses and why our wealth the ban on Peruvian trade from Acapulco allowed is dwindling, as is well known ... 130 the coast trade to survive the prohibitions. Gemelli Careri found the Lima merchants to be Rather than be forced to accept whatever terms numerous and quarrelsome bargainers at the were offered at the time of the fair upon the Acapulco fair in 1697. '26 arrival of the galleon in order to conclude their Considerably less is known about the business in a timely fashion and return to Manila commercial activities and relationships of Manila when the galleon sailed, the merchants from

27 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES Manila remained in Mexico. They could then from the Mexican side. There were clear limits, delay their transactions, accompany their trade however, to the aspirations of the Mexican goods to Mexico City and release them in sales Consulado to control the galleon trade. In 1637, there over an extended period, thus taking 2they petitioned to be openly favored as recipients advantage of changing market conditions. of the 2.50,000 pesos of the permiso. This may In reporting this plan to the Crown, the have been part of a strategy to raise the level of governor of Manila in 1629 expressed his fears the permiso in these years, but in any case it was that if this were not well received at Mexico, the fIrmly rejected.''' Nevertheless, the Seville merchants there might adopt some retaliation merchants who repeatedly defended their against the Manila trade, such as refusing to monopoly ag-dinst competition from the Manila make returns of silver. l3l In fact when the trade for over a century had long recognized delegation of these agents of Manila (known as where the true center of power lay. In their comissarios or encomenderos) set themselves up vigorous polemic on behalf of maintaining the in Mexico after 1630, no outcry occurred there temporary prohibition of Pacific trade in silk cloth and permission to extend their ::ussion was in the 17208, they urged the Council of the Indies granted in 1635 and again in 1637. m It is not 'to stay the hand which Mexico moves with the unlikely that the initiative had originally come voice of Manila.,l34

The Pacific Ocean, by G. Tatton & B. Wright, 1600

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 28 EXPERIENCING MANILA GALLEON TRAVEL

Manila Galloons: Design and Construction

Aside from the intricacies of organizing the the greater efficiency of vessels of under 500 tons trade onshore, a vital part of the galleon trade and began downscaling their carracks to three was the voyage itself. The story of transporting decks, the ships constructed by the Spanish for the goods and participants across the Pacific is as service as galleons had begun to expand by 1620 fusdnating as what occurred on either side of the to the oversized vessels of 1,500 to 2,000 tons or oceans. Spanish shipwrights, steeped in the larger.'3• traditions of the Viscayan shipyards of Spain's Ship construction manuals of the era northern coast, Chinese artisans, and the sweated specified precise dimensions for the galleons and labor of native Filipinos working with loeal woods explained the rules by which proportional and imported iron materials were the measurements (hold and beam relative to length) heterogenous elements in the production of the and net tonnage capacity, or lading space, were Manila galleons that were fabricated in the calculated. For example, a galleon with an overall Philippines. It was, however, the consistent, length of 110 feet, beam of 37 feet, and depth of covert defiance of regulations which also hold of 18 fect, was reckoned to be a ship of 1,000 influenced the size and design of the ships in the toneladas, a comparatively midrange-size vessel. trade. The Spanish galleons of the Atlantic flect At the top end of the scale there was the were armed escort vessels which usually carried example of the Santisima Trinidad, "upwards of cargo; 1 J5 the PaciflC counterparts were the 2,000 tons burden," "ith a gun deck of 167.5 feet, largest of the merchantmen, and they were a breadth of 50.5 feet, and a hold 30.5 feet deep armed. The distinction is significant, for the term when measured at the poop.'" In the galleon is a descriptive, historical characterization, Philippines, g-dlleons were constructed according rather than a narrow technical identification of a to specifications set by the requirements of the ship. Pressures from Madrid, restricting annual merchant shippers, a practice which generated sailings to one or two vessels of limited size, were complaints from the merchants of Andalusia '40 resisted by governors and merchants who selected A construction manual issued in Manila ships that were modified for Pacific navigation acknowledged the reality of pressures from and the corresponding exceptional cargo needs, commercial interests and admitted an allowance heavily loaded with merchandise and provisions for a merchant ship almost two feet wider in the for the five to eight month voyages to the New heam than was usually prescribed, "because it will World. As there were fewer navigational hazards be overloaded."'" and threats of privateers in crossing the vast The calculation of the amount of cargo Pacific than existed in the shorter, more stowage or lading space used a precise, elaborate frequently traversed route of the Atlantic fleets, formula derived from average proportional cargo capacity was the primary consideration. measures.'" The model vessel of 1,000 'rhe ships seldom conformed to the size limits toneladas burden carried about a third of that imposed. The result was the famed Y..arilla weight iT! hallast stones leaving 883 toneladas of galleon, a broad-beamed lumbering ark, with space in the hold for cargo.'" In the case of flattened stern to take advantage of the the Manila galleons, the Manila construction wind136 Three or four full decks, deep manual noted that cargo capadty was in practice stowage hold and towering superstructures ;o,.e reckoned according to the estimated space taken and aft gave it its characteristic half-moon up by "bales in the permission," as well as the appearance.13 '1 amount of "things needed for the long These ships of the Manila-Acapulco route voyage, I' 14A were widely known in the annals of world Thus the tendency to construct ever larger shipping for their superior size as well as their ships for the Pacific trade was exaggerated by the design, and thus enjoyed a romantic reputation premium on cargo space in the annual sailing. even in their own time. The Spanish galleons in Bales of trade goods competed for stowage area the Pacific, beyond even the carracks of the with the considerable amount of food and water Portuguese India trade,iVere the largest vessels provisions needed for crew and passengers on the afloat in the sixteenth and seventee7lth centuries. long voyage to Acapulco. Although from 1600 Whereas after 1570 the Portuguese recognized onward the galleons were frequently in danger of

29 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES attack at sea by Dutch or English pirates, the important responsihilities of the governor-captain vessels went relatiwly lightly armed, In generaL A cuod governor built many ships and constructing. outfhting and arming the galleons, despatched them i.n the appropriate season, the efficiency and ever: safety tlSuaJly ran a distant shipyards at Guayaquil (Ecuador) obtained second and t~rrd to the desire to maximize profits supplies from throughout the wide reaches of the from the cG::'.merciai vDyage. C sually on mest of viceroyalty of Peru, but skilled labor was rare and the trips the ships' guns were carried in the costlyl" The Philippines, however, had an ballast hold, The main decks overflowed v.ith indigenous boatbuilding tradition, could depend on chests and bales and stores, tJlerated by the immigrant Chinese artisans as well as Filipino superior officers of the ship ".. -bJ themselves \V8re labor and, except for iron, were abundantly usually transporting goods 0\'e~ an" above the supplied "i'ith the materials necessary to satisfy maximum allowed, The storage areas constructed the demand for shipping, There was no lack of on the half-decks made the vessels appear to be material and craftsmen to supply sails and rigging, small "illages at sea.145 Excellent local timber, of great variety and

Cutaway of galleon being loaded

The business of ship construction, high quality to sull eny and every specialized need maintenance ane )utfitting was the largest single in t,h.~ ';2'Jign of the vessel, contributed an industry in the Phi;i?p:""',, 3upplyi:og me:'chant crtaut measure of ::listincti0n to the galleons' sh~ps, or galle..."l"!)sl' a'S w~!' as inter~island oared r2putation for sturdy hulls, relatively impervious galleys whL:~ E~N"ci as local supply ships and te c:iJtnonfrre and shiprot. "Stout castles in the military carriers. No Jther activity consumed as sea;' Padre Casimiro Diaz called them, The many r02011.,·ces er mobilized as many individuals framework was often made of molave, a hard on a continual basis, In the 1620s and early wood similar to teak, nearly indestructible,149 1530s the rate of galleon completion was In 1619 Sebastian de Pineda, a naval officer with approximately one a year, at a cost of 30,000 Philippines experience, reviewed the principal 146 pe:' 3 each Galleon constrnction and materials of construction in a report prepared for support of the naval arsenal and !leet at Manila the Council of the Indies, Palomaria, light but absorbed about a third of the annual expenses of durable, slow to rot (if at all) and splinterproof, the colonyl47 It was one of the most was used for the futtock- and compass-timbers,

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 30 capstans, gears, stringer-plates, The fotmdry at Manila, established in the snatchcleats and for the wales and prows, An 8­ ftrst years ofthe colony, supplied a great range of pOlmd or smaller cannon ball would no: pierce it, fittings and accessories for the ships, anchors, Arguio grew very tall and straight, iike pine; bells, etc" as well as cannon. Unwroughl iron, the strong and hea":,, 't ser:ed well fOT 'keels. beams, most difficult item to secure reliably, had to be false keels, wales, TIla3theads and pumps' as well imported from Macao, China or Japan, or as far as artillery works -- gun-carriages and away as bc!ia, and was occasionally in dangerously wheels, PlsrJdng a..?}d sneatl'ing, as well as masts short supply, Iron gratings from households in were made :raID a wC)od known as "laguan.l! It the city were sometimes confiscated by governors was espec:e:J:' good for the mainmasts ofthe large for l1se in the shipyards. 1S1 ~dUO'''"' as it might come in a piece as much as The lea."lt. renewable resource used in ship 132 feet long and 10 feet in circnmference. The construction was labor, employed chiefly in the ropewalk at Cavite produced rigging from the brute work of cutting timber in interior regions native abaca, "stronger than hemp and used white and float.ing it to the coasts, Gangs 0: 6,000-8,000 and unpitched," and gamu, the source of a men, dragooned under the polo (labor draft), distinctive black cordage. Even the canvas-like served four to six week periods, in grueling turns mantas, the cloth fro::: nacos. was thought to be of workdays that ran from midnight to sundown, superior to any from ::\ew Spain or Spain for felling, transporting, and roughcutting logwocd, sails.1Si] The use of coconut hu~k for oakum. recehirog little for their efforts but "beatings, and caulking material, and a particular IDIXture of f:sh bad pay and worse provisions."152 A report of oil and lime, knOVin as chunam, to careen the 1701 acknowledged that woodcutting was "an b"lls, also adapted local practice to Spanish needs. unavoidable evil" which had contributed much to

Shipyards at Cauite

31 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES the depopulation and Illisery of Filipinos, 153 were tested for maneuverability under sail. Some amelioration of the labor burden on the Occasionally newly-built galleons failed in their Filipino population in tte region nearest Manila maiden voyages, usually owing to overloading or was attempted by remming shipyards to more improper stowage ofcargo, although advocates for distant locations in sou:hem Luzon and :he the Filipino natives attributed the cause of these Camarines, but al:hough this saved the expense disasters to di,ine retribution for labor of hauling wood to the yards were more exploitation, exposed to enemy raids by the Moro pirates of the souttern islands, The exploitation gave rise to the sa~ing that "there are no mines so severe as tte sh:pyards.«1S4 These conditions The process of preparing the galleons for con:inued with little relief for =y years. departure, especially the lading of merchandise Cavite, about nine miles southwest of was the proverbial !!needle's eye" through which ?rarjla, was the site of the royal docks and the the trade of Manila was required to pass, The anchorage for the galleons, It was also the challenge was twofold: first, to assemble a cargo principal shipyard of the colony and an impressive high in value and potentially profitable to all marine supply cent er and industrial parties, which outwardiy appeared to conform to establishment, In addition to SOIlle 1,000 seamen regulations and the flXed limitations on the trade; who served full- or part-time aboard regional and second, to manage its storage on a vessel shipping and in the galleons bound for K ow Spain, which had also to carry its full complement of and 1,000 or more cor.victs assigned as galley crew, passengers, weaponry, ships' stores and slaves, the workforce at Cavite in the 16308 had food and water provisions sufficient for the voyage over 1.000 men employed, about half of them in of at least seven months. The normally indolent carpentry and the rest in ropemaking, cooperage, life of official Spanish Manila was interrupted for smith work and cauliting. Less than 2% were a brief energetic period to complete this annual Spaniards (usually masters), 10% were Chi'1ese task, 'rhe royal officers of the city closed the workmen and the rest were Filipino laborers. at doors of the Audiencia (High Court) for the least half of them doing rough carpentry, sa'.m1g duration, The governor withdrew to his residence and planing, all for only a rew reals of silver and to complete his annual reports, and tr.en, if rice rations per month. :3:3 personally inclined or specially charged. went out Labor costs, however, were only a small to Cavite himself to oversee the officials' portcon of the total expense in support of the administration of the ships' lading. A stream of trade ships, Annual maintenance was an traffic in barges, junks and smaller boats crossed additional factor, The ships themselves had the bay with merchants, supercargoes and chests relatively short lives, with rare exceptions usually and hales in tow, and the maneuvering for serving ten or twelve years at best, Construction privileged placement began. was often done in haste to meet hrunediate needs The Marjla trade was notorious for for the annual sailing, Woods that should have dispensing with the volume of paper been well-seasoned sometimes were not, or lead documentation usual in long distance trade, sheathing was ignored,!5' creating additional Efficient packing was a secure method of labor in annual careening. Opinion divided over disguising contraband and other false lading, where the galleons could be built, for longest Duties and fees were paid upon a gentlemen's sen,ice, in utmost efficiency, and at least cost, but word and normally paekages were not opened in those who advocated contracting srJpbuilding out either Manila or Acapulco. The king's accounts to the highly regarded Portuguese yards at suffered, in getting shortchanged on the customs Cochin, or to factors who cooperatod with local duties, when expensive goods passed for cheap, princes on the southeast Asia coast did not always and the trade itself earned a reputation for have time or political fortune on their side, dishonesty in its shipments, when inexpensive Debate continued for many years, even after the goods were passed off for higher quallty. ¥'rom Crown ruled against construction outside the the earliest days of the trade this kind of fraud Philippines after 1679, 'Ine struggle was more was attributed to a special talent for commercial than academic, for the shortcuts adopted in knavery on the part of the Chi"!ese, Later the building vessels contributed to anxiety aboard merehants of Manila were implicated in the so­ ship where "even in a milk-calm sea there's but a called "trampas de China," a charge given wider board betwixt Life and Death,"l57 publicity by the writings of the traveller-scientist Once construction was complete, galleons Baron Alexander VOIl Humboldt after his visit to

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 32 Acapulco in 1804. In all fairness, however, he merchants, to endless opportunities to indulge in hL'nself had qualified the allegation: "it must be graft of various sorts. Gemelli Careri, the diarist allowed that the commerce between two countries of a 1690s galleon voyage, stated that the least at the distance of three thousand from amount the general could exp€ct to receive from one another, is carried on perhaps ",tb more his commissions alone was 25,000 pesos, besides honesty than ehe trade between some nations of which no doubt he had his own investments civilized Europe, who have never had any aboard. In the event two ships sailed, a post of connection \\i.th Chinese merchants,<5? Ocean admiral was awarded to the captain of the shipping favored large packages, but as shipments accompanying "admiral's ship." grew in size, they fmally aroused the complaints According to critics of the system, the of muleteers in New Spain over the carrying award of the superior patronage posts tended to capacity of their teams on the overland route reduce the captain to a straw man."o The from Acapulco to Mexico City. The threats to position of senior pilot, in charge ofnavigation and break down chests at Acapulco were more the technical governance of the vessel, was in fact effective in forcing shippers at Manila to adhere the most responsible post on the ship, and can· to regulation sizes tban legislation alone. sequently paid good wages. Because of the Placement as well "s size was also the object lengthy navigation, and the need for experienced of legislation. The laws mandated that trade men on the route, the pilot always had one, two, cargo should be confmed to the main hold, giving or occasionally three assistants. In high demand, room for the necessary equipment, ship stores apprentice"pilots acquired skills necessary to rise and seamen's chests in between decks. These to the senior command, but then often made an rules were generally flaunted. Galleon captains e.arly retirement on the strength of lucrative allowed more bales on board than the law allowed in\'estments in the trade. The mechanisms to and permitted them to be stored on e"ery deck maintain a pool of traiuees were limited. Le and in every conceivable passageway and cranny Genti!, the French scientist who observed life at of the ship. In food and water Manila in the 1760~; praised a recent governor's provisions required for the long voyage to efforts to support a course of study in navigational Acapulco they put everyone, including themselves, sciences. "The Marquis of Obando...in at risk. 1750 ... founded a Chair of Mathematics for the advancement of the art of navigation. He died in Manning The Ships: Galleon Crews 1754, and his school died with him... Manila obtains from Mexico the men who navigate its In the early seventeenth century about 400 galleons."'&: It is evident from the names of people usually sailed aboard each galleon, the pilots mentioned in the texts that many pilots in majority of whom, 011 average 250. \vere the ship's the galleon service were "foreigners," Portuguese, officers and crew. These included some six senior Italian, English, and French navigators with offioers, twenty special duty personnel, sixty Pacific experience on whose behalf the usual rigid sailors or able seamen and that many again national restrictions were probably more easily apprentices and ship's bOJ's, plus seventy-five men waived. among officers, gutmers and common soldiers in In addition to the captain (general or the infantry units, acL'1Oiral) and the pilots, the rest of the principals The galleons sailed under the command of of the crew included a master, customarily the the fleet general, who was aboard the capitana or senior admhlistrative officer of a merchant ship, flagship. The position, which had the grandiose second in command to the captain, according to title "General of the Sea,' conveyed enormous Spanish naval tradition in the Atlantic arena prestige, including the perpetual right to the However its order in the hierarchy of function in military fuero, a coveted social and juridical the Pacific, where patronage overwhelmed the privilege in the colonial era.'59 It was credentials of training and experience, is less invariably a patronage post, which by the 16205 dear. The master's second, the contramaestre the governor at Manila had wrested from the (boatswain), was primarily the rigging master or viceroy at Mexico City. The position was coveted supervisor for both equipment and the crew less for its prestige, which was substantial, than members who handled it, relaying most of his for its many fmancial prerequisites, primarily orders through his assistant, the guardian. access to legal as well as illegal channels for The galleon'S silver master took enrichment. These ranged from allotments of responsibility for the treasure chests on the run cargo space to commissions entrusted by the local from New Spain. He and an inspector'clerk and

33 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES a chaplain all had responsibilities which required expected to clear. Seamen prized their liberty to some professional qualification. The corps of carry aboard one small chest duty free, a skilled workmen, the carpenters, caulkers, permission which was frequently abused as coopers, divers and munitions experts known merchants persuaded impoverished individuals to collectively as the maestranza, and the supply use it to transport cargo for a nominal fee. personnel (a steward. a master of rations or Every matter of position and responsibility 8Jlowanccs, and the ",,,,tor master), and the cooks on board the galleons ,vas prescribed by custom, compromised :he rest ofthe specialized personneL frequently reinforced by specific pieces of The work of the sailors, only a few of whom were legislation designed to guarantee safe passage. A Spaniards, was assisted by the mass of lowly published general set of ordinances for the apprentice seamen and ship's boys, most of whom galleons appeared in the mid-eighteenth were Mexicans, Filipinos or natives of other Asian century.:65 Prior to that time, sailing orders countries, were issued upon every voyage to the general of Patronage appointments to positions on the the fleet. The sailing orders in 1635-1636 galleons extended to minor officers as well and did addressed the importance of the commanding not preclude payments for the privilege. In the officer in maintaining harmony and general safety, perfunctory inquiry he made into the reasons for insisting on the regularity of the rounds of inventory shortages on his ship, a Spanish official watches and guards, and, as fire regulations were who served as a westbound admiral in 16:35 of great concern, attending to the confmement of discovered that the boatswain's mate had the cooking hearths in the ship's center (the incurred a debt of ·three tho·.lsand escudos" for waist), and to enforcement of smoking his post. belt then co:r.pounded his obligations by prohibitions." 6 According to Governor converting the funds he carried in order to Arandla's ordinances, the penalties for violating purchase ship supplies at Acapulco into smoking rules were very severe. merchandise to sell at the fair. His expectations collapsed when the proceeds from his trading Smoking cigarettes is absolutely failed to cover his costs. He was out of pocket prohibited. The captains are to and consequently his ship also ran short of take particular care that there rigging,162 are no disorders attending ""lany native Filipinos used the galleons to smoking in the cabins and escape the islands, abandoning the vessel on the berths... Anyone who is found Acapulco side.'" Enterprising immigrants smoking outside the permitted along the New Spain coast recruited their areas of the ship will be put in countrymen to work in palm wine distilleries the bilboes for fIfteen days on which sprang up in this vicinity. Wl,en and If bread and water. And if they decided to return to their homeland they anyone smoke a pipe or cigar joined a pool of casual labor in the port. Thus at without the prescribed Acapulco it was easy enough for :Yfanlla-bclmd precaution, he will be passengers to contract for a Chinese cook and condemned to serve a year Filipino assistants for the voyage among the many V\~thout pay on the same ship Filipinos waiting there in the port, happy to work or in the galley at Cavite. 1G7 their way back to their native land in return for meals d~ing the journey.'" The sailing orders typically stressed the role Evidently, places aboard the galleons for of the commander as a magisterial and paternal both passengers and crew were almost as dear as figure, responsible for the souls as well as the lading space and were coveted for the same bodies of his temporary community. The reason, the opportunity they offered to share in chaplains, for example, served at his pleasure, the proceeds of the trade. The possible returns saying mass and observing special devotions at his varied, depending on where one stood in the discretion. hierarchy at sea and what connections to the The commander-general also had the fInal merchant community one enjoyed on land. say on determining space assignments to Everyone, from the most senior officer to the passengers and crew, an area in which the lowliest seamen hoped to turn Some profit in rigorous hierarchy of shipboard life was especially carrying goods to the Acapulco fair, on a lesser apparent With the exception of an arriving scale perhaps but comparable to the base of 100% governor, no other senior official merited the kind profits which the large eommerclal investors of spacious cabin arrangements in the sterncastle

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 34 he enjoyed. The pilots and other senior officers Jesuits exiled from the Philippines in 1768, who shared quart.ers aft. Commonly an area ir~ the could expect no courtesies aboard ship under the prow of the ship wa.s cor:signed to the artisans terms of their banishment. All sixtY'four were and the lower·reJlked duty personr:e!. paeked together with the ship's guard (a unit of Overworked seamen who needed res: dlll'ing twenty·five soldiers) in a space which might better periods of ,eyere weather were berthed =der the accommodate twenty. "These quarters were so sterncastle,:5 ~ uncomfortable 8Ild so open to the cattle, pigs and other animals that we had to keep an eye on Passengers them day and night, for when we least expected :t the beasts place themselves on our cots, The composition of the passenger list varied especially on rainy nights."}7Q acccrding to the direction the vesse; was sailing. \','estbound the galleons transported merchant Provisioning adventurers, missionary priests, troop reinforcements for the Philippine g?J'riso:1s, and Tbe character and disposition of food and colonial bureaucrats. their famLies and other water pro\~sions for so many, especially on the dependents. Idantrymen could be an unruly long voyage east. were matters of intense concern bunch, man\' of them creole and mestizo youths :0 everyone aboard. All were bountifully supplied, seized in Mexico in the levies that preceded the es?ecially with fresh fruits and vegetables, in the galleon sailiags. i\.l,c aboard were grcups of men fITst days of the voyage. The superior officers witt all even higter potential for disruption, carried their own provisions and servants to convicted criminals destined for forced service in pro\~de for their meals. Passengers with means the galleys of the distant archipelago. Eastbound, brought aboard generous stocks of live chiekens towards New SpElL'1, the galleons brought and pigs, eggs, wheat flour, savory sausages and returning clergy and officials and their servants, hams, preserved fruits and other delicacies, all as well as Chinese mercantile agents and cargo obtained from the Chinese provisioners in Manila supervisors who might come to dwell for a time at and Cavite. Less privileged passengers, who Mexico City. Otherwise Asians ca.rne to :Ifexico as were not imited to the commander's table, servants to merchant.s or other Europeans, contracted with other officers or their ac:::o:nmodations were extended at subordinates for meals. The rcst ate together in considerable cost and by special license to only a ranchos as "messmates, making do with the few, mostly Europeans. A recoil.meClded fare common rations, a daily allotment of the simplest around 1620 was 200 pesos for trans?ort ,,-ith a foods whicb alternated little between tbe "meat berth, 100 v.-ithout. Impecunious tra\'ellers served and fish days." t~eir time as seamen or soldiers in order to make The standard rations at the crew's tables in the voyage. Passengers took whatever the mid· eighteenth century consisted ofr 18 accommodations they could best arrange, with the OlmCeS sea biscuit, 6 ounces jerked beef. 3 ounces more influential people able to dislocate crew from fried pork, one·half ounce salt, one·quarter ounce precious cabin space. The remainder crowded vinegar (the allotment for ten people). On a "fish together in "the prison of shipboard life." the vivid day," 3 ounces mixed menestras (legumes), 6 metaphor for travel by sea in the early modern ounces fis:~ and one ounce lard were distributed in era. As the author of one of the most colorful place of the beef and pork. In the common descriptions of Spanish seafaring continues about rations, chicken was only dispensed to crew their quarters: they were confined in cramped members in the sick bay. 171 compartments, on tiny cots, in "lodgings so closed Diet depended to some extent on sailing in. dark and odoriferous that they seem to be conditions and ethnic preferences. Crews of burial vaults or charnel.. houses...As the lodgings native Filipinos were accustomed to their seem to be in the innermost recess ofHell (if they morisqueta (boiled rice) as an alternative to sea are notr. it is perfectly appropriate that the doors biscuit Weather permitting, that is when fITes and entrances be On the ground, so that those could be lit and water boiled, it was prepared who enter them, do so by sinking."'" Or regularly; in mid·voyage when water conservation worse, the hap:ess passengers were themselves was essential, it was discouraged until the put out onto the decks among the crew and approach to the California coast.'72 Hardship military squadrons already distributed about the was the rule. Most of the common rations were ship according to an .order of rank. routinely undersupplied to the crew, whose Father Francisco Puig was among the malnourishment and ill treatment were notorious.

35 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES Sailing orders required the commander to lion of the staples and the deprivation of fruits withhold one-third of the ration complement for and vegetables, and the most privileged subsisted most of the voyage. It ensured a potential stock, on carefully hoarded treats of chocolate, wine and however deteriorated, at the end, but at some sweet preserved fruits. A bit of wine-soaked cost to the daily dicta"" requirements en route. biscuit or a sip of sugar water was usually preferred to the rancid stocks and verminous Wormy hardcaok, stinkJng water gruel that comprised the fare late in the journey. and salt [Leat so hard it had to The storage and distribution of fresh water be shaaered. with a hammer wa. was undoubtedly the single most important the xet of those handfuls of men feature of the ship's provisioning. The individual beaten by waves and whipped by daily allowance of water was only about one-and­ sr.rw a."ld rain for long months. a-half quarts a day, one-quarter portio,," of which '":" award the end of a trip the rats was co,,"sidered to be for cooking purposes and from the hold were a prized consigned to a common store, \",ith the rest delicacy and bought at high prices allotted for drinkJng water.17' This allotment by the famished passengers and was the bare minimum. Constant thirst was one crew.173 of the many hardships of a sea voyage, exaggerated undoubtedly by the heavy Crew members charged with storing, concentrations of salt in the standard ration of maintaining and dispensing the supplies had to be preserved meat. A ship with 400 people aboard, both responsib17 a.rld equitable in their da:ies j as passengers and crew, would require more than well as tLc:"skinned, in order to \vitbstanc. the 30,QOO of water for a typical voyage of anguished criticism when stocks de:eriorated and seve,," months (210 days). Spadsh navigators had ratio"" were shortened toward the e:ld of the de\r:sed a desalinization process for seawater by voyage. Guards accompaded the crnef steward 1600 but it was not feasible on a large scale and and the water constable when they dealt out the apparently not widely used.'75 daily rations at the hatch doors. Toward the end Over the centuries of the galleon trade a everyone suffered from the inevitable deteriora· variety of water storage methods were employed,

Storage jars recovered from the Concepcion

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 36 from the traditional wooden vats typical of the reached the vicinity of the Ladrones.'B D The Atlantic to oversize bamboo canes and leathern stop was anticipated ""ith high hopes because of vessels, popularized after 1750, and systems of the availability there of fresh provisions. water tanks or cisterns specially CO:ls:ruc:ed for According to the chronicler of the Anson the larger ships, In the seventeentl: century the expedition, "when the Manila ship fIrst puts to Manila galleons )-,ad their own unique tradition for sea, they take on board a much greater quantity managing :he supplies of water fer the long of water than can be stowed between decks and eastbound vcyage, an Ilextremely singular" the jars which contaln it are hung a[ about the method. according to Richard Walter. chronicler of shrouds and stays, so as to exhibit at a distance a the Anson expedition of the 1740s.'" Wooden very odd appearance."lSl The almost casks aLd barrels were cumbersome. took up decorative display, together with the topdeck vahlable space in the cargo hold, and were stowage of merchandise and the densely to leakage and algae-growth, and so typically the compacted accommodations for the ship's crew galleons carried their water and other perishahles and passengers, all contributed to the vision of in large earthenware jars, with black roping made the galleons as floating cities in miniature. from a native vine or rattsn for both protection and lifting. The storage jars, which to the Navigation on the Tran.~ Routes European eye seemed to be similar to the olive jars used aboa!'d "-;essel::; in ~he ::'led:terrane&"1, The early navigators were perhaps could be sealed secure~y with cork or other fortunate in their ignorance of the vastness of the maier'als, The:: '.,'ere ex~eptionally sturdy aClc PacifIC Ocean and the terrors that could be res:5teC de~c::-_position. unleashed by the heavy seas and fIerce gales that Q:le jar held sufficient water for twenty swept across it. In the absence of instruments to persons per day, or approximately 5.5 gallons. As determine longitude prior to the introduction of many as 2,000-4,000 might be put aboard, the chronometer in the mid-eighteenth century, "proportionably to the number of people, and the compa..."S and the astrolabe were the most bigness of the galleon.,,'77 Nevertheless even advanced technical devices available to the thousands ofjars would need replenishing several indefatig-able practical pilots of the 1500s, who times over on the easthound voyage. The jars relied on their inventive use ofintuitive reckoning were refliled at stopovers while the vessels hP~ed on sirr:ple observations, Compelled to coasted the islands within the Philippine chain. establish a sea passage to the East that skirted Once into the open sea, matting was sprawled claims, Ferdinand Magellan's across the decks and in the riggir~g curing rain expedition for Spaln pioneered the westerly route storms a.."1d squalls in order ~o catch wdter and in the voyage that circumnavigated the globe in direct it in~o gutters created from brul1boo canes, 1519-1522. and spill i: into the jars.178 Magellan, with an apprenticeship at sea of At ::'!ani:a the jars were imported from only seven years in shipboard service in China, Tha'la'1Q and Vietnam, as well as made Portuguese Asia, operated ,,1th passionate loeally, and supplied in great quantities by conviction and good guesswork in his application Chinese pro\isioners for the galleons. On the of the method of "lead ar:d lookout'" in order to Acapulco side they were more difficult to come by, roand South America through the straits that but they were considered an essential item for the ca:;:e to bear his name and enter the great South journey. Arranging for the water jars was Sea (Mar del Sur) as the Spanish called the considered the highest of priorities for the Pad:;e.'·' His ships were assisted in their "commissary fathers" charged with preparing the north and westerly dir'ection by ocean currents supplies for the grOt1pS of missionary priests and the force of the southeast trade winds in the sailing from Acapulco in the galleons. They were southern latitudes; at the equator the equatorial easily marked ,,~th thei? O\mer's identification. currents continued to propel them west ahead of Scratched markings on the surface denoted the the northeast trades. Their track .- consistently contents a'1C the ownership.'" west by northwest into the area of the Lamones, When ra:nwater failed, a:1d water supplies less than 1,000 miles or a few short weeks from depleted, short rations were introduced half-way the Philippines if the winds were favorable -­ through the long voyage. On the return voyage to established the permanent course of the M.anila, though not as long by half there were still westbound galleon route with relative ease. Later dangers of water shortage. The ration might be crossings which set out from the coast of Mexico cut to less than a cup a day before the galleons stayed within the broad belt of the northeast

37 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES Magella:n on his voyage of disco"er)' trades and fill'ther reduced the time. The more length., on average seven months, the danger of illusive navigational trick was to discover the typhoons in the sailing season. and the absence of return route east. ports of call for reprovisioning or repairs, In his The chief obstacles were the variable winds account of his experience, the seventeenth of the monsoon season in the \icinity of the century traveller, Giovanru Francesco Gemelli P:1.m?pines and the uncertainty about the location Careri, publicized the route as "the longest, and an:i force of an easterly current in the northern most dreadful of any in the world,"183 ),1any of Paci!k A number ofattempts bet ween 1525 and the harshest aspects of the journey, such as the 1550 were unable to withstand damage caused by cramped quarters aboard the ship, primitive severe storms and typhoons northeast of the hygieruc measures and appalling sanitary Philippine island chain and were fcrced to put conditions. poor diet, and punishing storms, were back in failure. Finally, in 1565 Aneres de not untyp'ca] 0: other sea journeys, nor even Urdaneta, a veteran navigator of an earlier much worse than life on land, but the sum of voyage, guided a ship lOf t he expedition of ~,liguel torments were exacerbated because of the L6pez de Legazpi (1564·e5), far enough north unusual length of the time at sea. This in turn past the Ladrones to encounter the Japan was a consequence of the natural forces that beat Current and benefit from the prevailing westerlies against the galleons in the eastwa:d na'~gation. in those climes to make for the northern Although navigators understood the needto Califorrua coast. The est"bllsilment of the gain the high latitudes to pick up the westerly eastbOlmd ro"te did nothing however to eliminate trades, they were repeatedly set back by severe the grueling elements that conditioned it: severe weather just beyond the P:"lippines, a pattern of storms. variable winds, extremes oftemperatures, failure that plagued the galleons throughout the and the very length of the journey. history of the trade. The arribada, or forced return to port in a severely storm·damaged The F..astbound Experience condition, was an all too frequent experience for those who salled east. The ea,tbound route from :Manila to The chief cause of arribadas was the Acapulco was extremely difficult bec,use of predictable instability of the weather from June

PACIFIC SEARESOfJRCES 38 onward, and the fer(}oity of the typhoons which encouragement of the people under your could occur anytime between July and October. command in both ships if they can see However, they needed the rising southern v,i;J.ds, each other every day.'·' the "vendavels.' hl order to ensure that they could maneuver the cu.rrents of the San Bernardino However, from Cavite, some discretion was straits and head north east with ease, allowed because of the frequency of storms in Consequent ly the galleons often held back after typhoo:l season which usually made it impossible June 2·1. the date which was :heo,etically ideal for for the vessels to remain in sight of each other, their departure, knowing that they might expect however much it would have given comfort to the te n:r. into foul weather at any time after raising people aboard. Veterans or the route argued that thei; anchor in Cavite. Thus a successful voyage companion sailiIlgs eastward were risky even depended on a stroke of good fortune as much as under less extreme conditions. On occasions navigational expertise. when ships were becaimed, "no human recourse in Seafaring Spaniards in the seventeenth the art of navigation" eould keep the ships from century called on a powerful tradition and separatiog.'86 By contrast, in sailing from elaborate set 8f religious symbolism in order to Acapulco, "you will on no account part ensure their safety aboard ship. 1\11 their company...for general experience shows weather seagoing vessels had religious names and is 'Jsually favorable !L'1d does not prevent particular patron saints. They carried images of yoU."187 the saints on the routes, were dutiful about obserying religious devotions during the trip and The Inter-Island Passage conducted formal ceremonies of thanksgiving at both the start and the close of their voyages, The first leg of the voyage toward Acapulco invoking the Almighty and the saints. All of these was the inter·island passage, "the great observances also served to help pass the time on corrt."ncrcia: artery of the archipelago,Hles from the long voyages. Marivelas. a harbor islet at the Bataan peninsula 'I'he annual galleon sailings, by a£ accounts in the North Channel entrance to the bay, to the the most important event in the life of the Embocadero, the mouth of the San Bernardino Spanish cornm:lIUty at Manila, were embellished Straits. over time 'with dramatic ceremony which ::"1oving first south by southwest, then east expressed both their civic mission and the faith by southeast seeking safe channels, the time their participants drew upon in setting out on spent on this stretch could become protracted their perilous course . Before departing );[a:-ll1a, on depending on weather conditions aod the Jl\lInher leaving the anchorage !L'1d dockyards at Cm·ite, of stopovers to lade additional cargo taken on as the galleons first crossed nine miles across the a courtesy to resident priests Or minor officials inner bay to present themselves to local posted to peripheral stations along the route. The dignitaries by the city walls, while a procession of galleons h'Jgged the Mindoro coast until the open friars from the Church of Santo Tomas escorted water above the Sibuyan Sea, plying eastward a statue of the Virgin toward the ships. They toward Tieao, beyond Masbate. Galleons often lay forma.l2y received their orders from the governor oyer at San Jacinto on Ticao waiting for and put the;,:selves under the protection of the opportune weather, '.Vind and tides before running Virgin as they accepted the venerated image of the strait. the patroness aboard the ship. After the Among the rare galleon passengers to archbishops's blessing. prayers spoken. shouts of publish an account of his experience, Gemelli long live the King accompanied by cannons in Caren made the crossing in 1696·1697 during his salute, they turned round, passed Cavite and round the world tour. He left Cavite on June 29 headed west out of the bay,19' aboard the galleon San Jose, which was fully In departing Cavite, it was customary for loaded with 2200 bales and considerable the galleons to sail together whenever possible. provisions. Six weeks elapsed in a leisurely trip This directive was strictly interpreted coming through the "labyTinth of islands, 80 leagues in eastward. length and very dangerous."'·' They sailed only by day for the best possible visual navigation If both ships sail equally well, you will be and dropped anchor each night. Stores of wood, well advised to sail in company, both water and greens were continually replenished. because of what may happen in some By the time they had reached the port of "Saint great emergency as for the Hyacinth" on July 21, they had taken on more

39 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES A CHART of !hI" CHANNEL in th~ PHILLIPPINE ISLANDS , ~"""" d,'£m,b 0_}!'f" 1 ¥,-J,---=~O:;::---J--l -:~~'-7

,1---"'""-",,,.. ;a

...... :1

1;, ,

\

Chart ofthe Philippines produced by the British Admiral George Anson wood and an additional 200 water jars at Cape ,Jacinto, a local official "presented the captain with Santiago. At Marinduque they sent a Chinese 20 hogs, 500 hens and fruit: Another sampan sampan, an open galley widely used within the arrived from Marinduque ''loaded with refresh­ islands, to gather more provisions. While at San ments for some Jesuits aboard." On a cruise up to

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 40 Ticao bay, they encountered an Augustinian priest coast, the anxiety of the first leg of the journey who made them a present of fruit and Gemelli subsided. Having reached the open ocean, the took the occasio!} to go ashore to bathe after crew coiled the anchor cables between the decks

"muster" was made, and after the inspectionl other end of the voyage, sixteen people were pta ashore, because they had Acapulco bound, in the passage north to failed to produce "licenses from the king to clear the Ladrones, the wind could blow hard ru1d travel," necessarily secured at Manila from the the sea might be rough, more "enchanted than governor at a cost of twenty pesos. Two hundred boisterous" according to Gemelli Careri,l91 passengers remained on board. AdditionaJ water, During alternate times, when calms left the "500 bombones of cane (eight spans in length and "dlleons d.rifting idle, the crew prepared for the thick as a man's thigh)" was taken on. At this greater hardships ahead. The damaging character point, provisions aboard the galleon were of the storms, apart from their severity and extraordinarily profuse, literaily hanging over the duration, was often in their frequency, coming in sides of native vessels tied up alongside her. "It unrelenting multiples in rapid succession, until the was pleasant to see the ship like a floating garden galleon, crew and passengers were all in such with such abundance of fruit and greens brought pitiful condition that there was no recourse but to from the neighboring parts, as also swine, ru1d attempt to limp back to port in the Philippines. hens in their caracoas.1t The Jesuit father Francisco Puig hit a In the tedium of a week passed at Saint particular bad stretch of typhoons in 1'768, After rryacinth, those aboard the galleon sought leaving the straits on August 19, they had sailed diversion in cockfighting, a popular activity in the on course for about three weeks, "rather Philippines, "there being abundance" of the birds sluggishly due to winds and calms." On On the ship. As chicken was the only meat they September 8, when they were about 100 leagues were eating, Gemelli Careri did not fmd the from the Marianas at 18 degrees north latitude, spectacle of the sport at all pleasing, lilleady the '\vinds and sea became enraged.... Such a complaints about the fcod begar:. The pile:'s dreadful storm .. ,the sun neither shone by day nor mate had words with a passenger he carried on the stars by night." By the third day of wild gales his account who complained that his table was too ru1d breaking seas, the structure of the ship begar: poor." The captain punished both of them with to give way, "What were then the four hundred of some hours "standing in the bilboes [sic - iron us to do in that struggle, battling against death in foot-shackles J." the darkness and tasting its bitterness the full in Finally on August 9, six weeks out of Cavite, every sway of the ship." For some time they a brisk wind from the southwest encouraged them withs:ocd the tort'll'ed play of the vessel, "wedged to hoist the anchors and prepare to rtm the in or fastened as we were by rope or lashing rings straits between the islands of Capul and so that the violent jolts of the ship weuld not dash Kaientan, The sailing orders obliged crew and us to pieces or toss us abou: like a ball from one passengers to take the sacraments from the side to the other." A pause ir. the storm during chaplain and priests aboard before they ventured daylight on the third day allowed them to repair onward to the next treacherous stage,19O With a pump and bale the ship, but they four~d in the its whirlpool banked by rocks and reefs, this retmn of the sun ru1 unexpected torment. 7heir would he even more dangerous thar: the route "skin began to peel," and their clothes, "wet with just traversed. Just as Gemelli Careri's galleon salt water fermented On [their1 bodies in the was getting out of the passage, violent storms of blazing heat," As if struck with yet another rain came up and the currents turned wild. He plague, a "severe eye flux" spread among them, became very frightened "to see the sea have a leaving all fom pilots temporarily blind. At this motion like water boiling over a hot fITe," knowing juncture, the junta aboard the galleon met, the that in these waters ships had been wrecked. pilots as well as the commercial agents representing the consigners of the goods they The Plnlippines to the Ladrones carried, to discuss the course of action, With "the slip unmasted, the supplies putrefied and the Once past the rock of San Bernardino and in goods ruined." they agreed to return. sight ofthe Cape of Espirito Santo on the Palapag Approaching the Philippines on September 29

41 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES they were hit by yet another hurricane, again of was chaos," In the general panic religiosity slid three days duration, Nevertheless they pushed dangerously into superstition. on obstinately, and ran the straits on October 11, where they lost an anchor in the currents, making All those on board begged me their return to Cavite on October 22, almost three to conjure the evil spell and I months from the time of their departure, '" told them that I would gladly do Those who stayed at sea endured tensions so if I could and then I asked which escalated with every succeeding gale, them to make an act of Every pitching and heeling movement of the ship contrition ",for their oniy hope was felt acutely; every oreaking of the masts was lay in God's ViilL Our galleon observed intently. All other routines abruptly plunged her bows twice in the slopped during these watohes, Cooking fires were waters until she buried her not lit, The mass was not said. The pilots ceased bowsprit and the water reached to take their periodic obse:-vations, On Gemelli halfway to the waist and all Careri's ship, while "the waves broke upon the aboard began to cry, "Mercy, galleon and beat terribly on its sides," groups Oh Lord, Mercy!" .... And all was huddled together through dark nights, During weeping, tears and SOb8193 the worst storms statues of patron saints were brought out and passengers and crews pr"yed E,en the aftereffects were severe, "All aboard before them, "We lay under the main sail the ship were so terror stricken that for days reefed", the image of St, Francis Xa,~er being afterwards they went about trembling as if they exposed. the captain vowed :0 make an offering in were being shaken."'" the value of the sail worth 200 pesos." The saL'lt The storms were fearful, but the raL") was prevailing, "three hours before day, the wind came dearly welcome, Gemelli Careri observed that on about fair,!! a day when much rain fell, "the sailors went out naked to cau,h the water so that they filled all the Crossing the Gulf emp:y vessels, therefore instead of shortening men's allowance of water after two and a half North and east beY0:1d the Ladrones, in lhe months sail, it was increased""', this despite third stage of the eastbound voyage, the Spanish the seasonably cold temperatures at latitude 25 crossed the mid· Pacific, an area they termed the degrees north, Gulf of St. Lazarus, Magellan had named the Between thirty-six and forty-two degrees first island on which he and his men landed in the latitude penetrating cold on sunless days caused Philippine archipelago the isle of St. Lazarus, the saddest spectacle: miseries suffered by the afler the biblical character who figured Filipino native crew and Afr:car, slaves who prominently in the gospel of the day they arrived, shivered miserably in the cold northern ...."'"ds and Here the galleons battled against variable :ook refuge in the chicken coops when the decks southeast V\wds with little relief from the storm were pelted with hail, A distribution by the patterns even above the thirtieth paralleL captain of palm wine Ito warm their stomachsH Gemelli Careri experienced bad weather b all but was the only relief to the sailors. Even warm lrine of his sixteen weeks in midocean beyond the clothing distributed at the king's expense soon Embocadero, after they had left the straits did not suffice. Father Cubero Sebastian, another There were times when a fme mist eastbound, round·the-world voyager, who enveloped the galleon and the bales on the rain· preceded Gemelli Careri by some thirty years, soaked decks began to dissolve before the faced a gale in late October at 34 degrees north elements, Still three months shy of Acapulco, on which lasted for eighty hours and came near to Gemelli Careri's ship "the rain which fell all these breaking the spirits of his companions, The pilot days wet many bales and chests of silk and other confessed to him in private afterwards that he goods from China to the great loss of the owners," had never seen "'such a storm or such vrild winds,1I Battered by the wind and sea, increasingly As the gale intensified it "became so horrible that sickened by the deterioration of the food, and with the ship running before it under the bonnets dismayed by the precarious condition of trade the waves came over the waist from both sides goods in which many had their entire life's and some over the poop with such noise that each investments, passengers and crew also needed to wave striking against our ship's sides boomed like resist a maddening tedium that set upon them in a cannon shot," In the dark night, "everythbg the moments when they were not contending with

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 42 the force of elements. games were of little avail, since wagering was so Shipboard life had a number of fIxed popular. Gemelli Careri lost a pair ofgold buttons routines which broke the long hours into smaller, on his voyage, while on another a general was seemingly less eternal units: the four-hour reputed to win handsomely at cards. watches by the ship's guard; the changing of the hourglass by the ship's boys; the morning and The Signs of Shore evening calls to prayers; and the pattern of endless tasks in repairing and maintaining the Like Lazarus being recalled to life, those galleon's hull, fIxtures and rigging which were aboard the galleons emerged into a new round of assigned to the crew. Any variation ofthe routine activity in anticipation of the approach of the \vas treated as a cause of celebration. Gemelli California coast. Mter many weeks of the Careri observed the bidding war at the catching of numbing sameness of cramped quarters in the the fIrst ocean fIsh, "exposed to sail [sic] to the weather-beaten ship, plowing through the vast highest bidder according to the custom... " The grey-green seas under stormy skies in the mid­ captain, who put up 50 pesos to make an offering ocean passage (typically three months), the to the Virgin, lost out to four sailors "who bid 5 galleon's lookouts studied the waters impatiently pesos more and carryed the fIsh." Although the for indications of the proximity ofland. A piece of catch offered a variation from the usual rations, seaweed or rotting driftwood floating past the the novelty paled. With "abundance of fIsh, the vessel generated intense debate about its seamen grew weary... "and then tried other games significance, but the truly authentic indicators, with the sharks, throwing one into the sea, "with called seiias or signs, were actually masses of a board tyed to his tail ... and it was pleasant to see seaweed they called the aguas malas and porras him s,>,[im about without being able to dive down. (kelp), in clumps large enough to be balsas Two others were tyed together...one .. being fIrst (rafts). They came upon playful seals, "fIsh the blinded..and cast into the sea opposed the other Spaniards caillobillo, with a head and ears like a that would have drawn him down. thinking dog, and a taillike that they paint the mairmaids himself taken." [sic] with." There were other diversions, sacred and The celebration which followed the secular, all of which enlivened the sense of appearance of the sefias had no parallel on the community on board and broke the tension of the crossing, not even the moment of the arrival of long voyage. Holy days of the church, like the day the galleon in port. On Gemelli Careri's ship, the of the namesake of a senior officer, were marked sailor who was fIrst to discover them "had a chain with special ritual, accompanied by feasting on of gold given him by the captain, and at least fIfty special treats distributed by the honoree. On pieces of eight by the passengers and others." Gemelli Careri's trip, they celebrated the day of Then the sailors customarily took the ship's bell St. Michael's, "that being our captain's name. up to the galleon's prow and proclaimed a day of Extraordinary allowance was given and a play raucous good humor in which the usual hierarchy acted," He observed other occasions for festivities and command of the ship was overturned. In as well. The senior officers and pilots rotated Cubero Sebastian}s account, "... the sailors dressed among themselves a series of devotional exercises. up in ridiculous costume and set up a mock court First the pilot, the pilot's two mates, then the and brought before it as prisoners all of the more master and the general, each made their personal important people aboard... " Three 'Judges" sat novenas, nine days of withdrawal from their usual beneath a canopy on the deck to preside over a responsibilities while they prayed for a good reading of offenses which expressed the sailors' voyage. There was celebration for all on the frustrations with the harshness or pettiness of evening of the fIrst day of each one, "abundance of their superiors. The captain general was accused lights," a distribution of "sweetmeats to all the of withholding the water ration, the ship's company," even "dancing and acting of parts made surgeon of too frequent bloodletting as a remedy extempore." for physical complaints, the pilot for "quarrelling However pleasurable and important were with the sun," and the chaplain, for seemingly observations of these formal events, many of the precipitating the untimely death of his mates. daily "ofIhours lT of the crew, officers, and "... [F]or it was said that those who visited [him] passengers, were often spent in less virtuous privately between decks were usually corpses to activities. Gambling especially was endemic and be thrown overboard on the following day."196 the innumerable efforts to enforce the Even passengers took their place in being prohibitions against all forms of cards and dice accused. Gemelli Careri was ragged for eating

43 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES "too much of the fish they call cachorettas.,1197 ameliorate the effects. There were some anti­ The sentences which were handed down were scorbutic qualities to the quince paste provided to meant to be commuted in return for the ~agellan's men. Lemon juice and lemon syrup condemned ones' sharing \vith the sailors and appear in the supply lists of Philippines fleets in lowlier grommets "mony (sic), chocolate, sugar, 1617-1618, but in such small amounts in all bisket, flesh, sweetmeats, wine, and the like," the likelihood they were considered to be remedies to daintier treats which the more affluent persons be administered after the onset of illness rather reserved to themselves, to the envy of most of the than preventatives to ensure against it.' 01 A crew, Reluctant offenders were threatened with Dominican friar heading west from Acapulco in keelhauling. But Ileveryone was laughing and it the 1640s supplied himself with tamarind, a was a day of much gaiety ,,19 8 which tropical fruit with an exceptionally high vitanlin C continued into the night, The joyfulness was a content, because it was "wholesome and very welcome respite, but in Gemelli Careri's opinion, medicinal."'02 Were it not for these sensible it was premature. provisions, however limited, the mortality would While the discovery of the senas alerted the no doubt have been even higher on the galleon crew to the approach of a sheltering coast where route. storms were less threatening, the fourth and fmal Severe dietary deficiencies which became leg of the voyage also had its somber aspect. The pronounced after many months might have been crew turned to a series of tasks to ready the tempered had the California coast been more galleon for arrival. The ship's boats were inviting, but hostile inhabitants, inadequate reassembled, and the cannons, anchor cables and anchorages, and the imperative to reach the mizzen mast were all hauled out of the hold terminus at Acapulco discouraged even a brief where they had been since the galleon had come layover. Despite the advantages which Spanish through the Embocadero. settlements might have offered, colonization of Sometimes the numbers of those aboard the California coast north of Mexico was delayed rapidly decimated due to the exhaustion of until late in the eighteenth century when the supplies. The mortality rate could climb to thirty galleon trade had already entered irreversible or fIfty percent in the fmal weeks, without respect decline. to anyone's rank or previous state of good Signal fIres couid sometimes be seen in the health.'" Corpses were thrown overboard, hills along the coast of New Spain where lookouts their feet bound ",ith earthenware storage jars, were posted to alert Mexico City of the arrival of with disturbing frequency. a galleon.

There are two dangerous diseases Upon the uncertain tidings of a in this voyage, more especially as great ship seen at sea, which they draw near the coast of may as well be an enemy, they America... berben [beriberi] which begin their prayers at Mexico, swells the body and makes the which are continu'd till the patient dye talking...and the arrival of the messenger with Dutch disease [scurvy] which letters from aboard. When he makes all the mouth sore, arrives all the bells ring for joy; putrefies the gums, and makes and this noise lasts, til a third the teeth drop out, The best express comes from Acapulco, remedy against it, is going who brings the viceroy advice of ashore.2oo the galleon from China, being come to an anchor in the Gemelli Careri, who was a man of port,20] metropolitan experience and an apothecary by profession, understood the cause to be IIstinking With obvious restraint to avoid the appearance of provisions which began to breed diseases. I' engsging in contraband, the ship did not enter Rudimentary knowledge of the connection ports anywhere along this stretch and paused only between the shortage offresh foods and the onset long enough "to land the messenger with the of severe physical deterioration did not mean that letters for Mexico and Madrid,,,,o4 accompanied seventeenth century seamen were able to discover by ailing passengers or anxious travellers who the appropriate antidote. Nevertheless the requested it, Occasionally the galleons were met Spaniards who sailed the PacifIc did attempt to by a "galiot sent out from Acapulcoll or "some boat

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 44 of Indians come off with refreshments" furnished village, "sm511 and of unpleasing aspect; the by coastal communities, but in Gemelli Cared's inhabitants are r:egros, similar to KamI's... In the middle of the plaza is ... a parish ehurch... and there are two chapels.... This is all there is to the renowned Acapulco.'''' The air, trapped by the surrounding mOlL'1tams, was considered unhealthy, and the heat unbearable in the months (January to March) when the galleons were at anchor. Passengers were advised to stay long enough to steady their health after the voyage, but not too long lest they become ill from the place. 2(n 1'.:ore L'um one conscientious royal officer sent to cus:oms duty at Acapulco fell victim while on the kireg's service there, The transients were a heterogenous lot. Mercantile agents arrived to deal w:th the galleon supercargoes, Clergymen gathered to prepare for their mission flelds. Troop regiInents assembled from the levies in New Spain to be sent as reiaforcements for the Philippine garrisons. The galleon crew mingled with the muleteers of the pack train from Mexico City.

Starving passengers experience, llmusket shots were f:rJd to give notice ... but it was aU in vah,"'" while they were held by calms and corltrary v.1nds in an agony of expec:.ation and "insufferable heat" for over a week just above Acapulco. It was not until they were in sight of the port that they were met by a great bark which brought "fresh pro,~sion, which were an ox, fowl" bread, sweetmeats and lemons, sent by the governor..."and the next day, with "the wind hold'ng fair, ,. they entered through the great chan:"!el an:! =e to anchor, in Gemelli Careri's case, 2C4 days from the date of their departure from Manila, Amid tears and congratulations on their safe arrival, the ceremonial routines, of gun salutes and thanksgiving Te Deums, initial cursarj cargo inspections and religious processions, were formalities endured with enormouS relief.

The Port of Acapulco

Acapulco had little to reconunend it beyond its fme harbor, a secure and deep anchorage for the galleons. The single towerir.g ship, so:::netbes accompanied by its companion vessel, could ride gently at anchor, its stern secured to the sturdy trunk of a ceiba tree on shore, The rest of the port facilities were as simple as the anchorage, as Plan of Acapulco harbor with location of ceiba the town was little mOre than a rude flshing trees used for securing the Manila Galleons

45 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES The town, from the chief officer of the fort between fairs by staging a mock funeral. and parish clergymen to the humblest Indian porter and African slave, lived on the galleon Thursday, the 7th the Porters trade, as did Manila, but on a considerably smaller of Acapulco made a sort of scale. Although willions of pesos came through Funeral, carrying one of their the port at the time of the commercial fair, number on a Bier, and amenities v;ere nonexistent and the few services bewailing him as if he were there werE:'. much in demand for the short season, dead, because their harvest was therefore cost dearly. Gemelli Careri complained at an end: for some of them had that no :aborer would work at all for less than a got three pieces of Eight a day, peso a day?CS As there ",vere no inns in the and the worst of them 21i area. passengers who 28..-::e down early from one. Mexico City to prepare for the galleon crossing had to lease rOOMS at high rates and poverty' Given the crude state of the port's facilities bound friars were encouraged to fmd housing wit!: in Gemelli Careri's time, it took as much as a the local cleYgJ·.229 week to remove the cargo from ship to shore. The most remarkable feature of the place Storage facilities were limited. Supplies to be was the extent and speed of its transformation sent out to Manila were protected under a during the galleons' layover. In the month makeshift pavilion which apparently also sufficed between Gemelli Careri's disemharkation on to shelter some of the people to be transported. January 20 and his departure for Mexico City on In the 16408, according to Fray Navarette: February 18, there was a rush of Perudan traders and ?!exica'1 merchants. the offioading of ... they make a sort of Hut or cargo a'1G its transfer to the ship for Litna or to Arbour of Boughs between the the pack trmn for Mexico City, before all Sea and the Governor)s Door as vanished, the Mexicans overland, the Peruvians a Shelter for the People and by sea. 210 The natives of the town COmmemor­ Commodities that are to be ated the sudden transition to the "down titne" ship'd....it consists of a dozen

Merchants at Acapulco trade fair

PACIFIC SE.A. RESOURCES 46 Poles stuck in the Ground, others through the San Bernardino straits. A winter across them at top, and over all layover that would deprive Manila of silver for a Boughs, Hay and Leaves ofPalm· year was unusual; the alternative, sailing late, and tree for a covering!" being required to put in at Samar, outside the straits, or forced by strong winds directly up to Unfortunately for the historiea1 record, Fray the north coast of Luzon, was also costly, in the Navarette, an exceptionally astute observer for risk it posed for shipwreck near the Philippines, his tL'TIe, missed seeing the commercial fair at or in the additional expense and time in portaging Acapulco, as the Manila galleons of 1647 were goods and people overland to Manila, held back because of the threat of attack by the Skimping on supplies was another potential Dutch in the Philippines, He sailed west in April cause of a hazardous trip even on the : 648, in a small vessel commandeered from the comparatively easy westbound passage (three Peru fleet by the Mexican viceroy in order to months on average), In a biting criticism of dispatch the official assistance to Manila, endemic defrauding of the state treasury, one The "China Road" from Acapulco to Mexico Spanish bureaucrat who sailed as admiral in 1635 City was the destination of most goods and people reported that he had discovered that his ship's who came aboard the galleons, but an optional boatswain's mate had invested funds for refitting detour at Puebla de los Angeles led directly for the ship at Acapulco in China goods. But he had the Atlantic port of Vera Cruz in order to make not found a good market for his wares and conrcections with the European bound fleets, consequently had lost the value of his purchase Even for those passengers who were relieved to without being able to replace the monies, put aside their "sea legs," the overland route held Consequently the ship had sailed with no spare another set of hazardous travelling conditions, salls and inadequate cables,214 nearly three hundred nriles up into the Sierra 'rhe westward run ahead of the northeast Madre mountain chain, across swollen rivers with trades brought galleons to the vicinity of the treacherous currents, through tropical heat and Ladrones, usually "dthin sixty days, where they territory thickly infested ,,-jlh biting insects and expected to rendevouz offshore with native poisonous snakes.213 Those who were "Chamorros" who approached in their outriggers, compelled to make a roundtrip on the galleons eagerly offering frults and water they were eager may have been inclined to think thebs was the to barter for iron goods, If supplies were not better lot. running low, however, or they were behind schedule in their approach to the Philippines, they The Return Voyage Westbound might pass by, After the establishment of a garrison and mission stations in the Marianas (as During the time of the commercial fair, the they were reruuned in 1668), a stop was usually galleon officers and local officials supervised the required, particularly if the galleon carried work of repairing the galleons and taking on supplies, troops, or recently appointed officials for stores sent from the capital or ordered from the the fledgling coiony, From there it was a matter region of Puebla for the westbound trip, March of weeks to the straits, and return to Cavite, was the latest departure deadline to ensure that where exhuberant welcomes greeted the "silver the return crossing was completed before the ship" with the same flourish of church bells and onset of typhoon winds near the Philippines, thanksgiving litanies which had celebrated its which would endanger the galleon's passage embarkation in the previous year,

47 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES THE MANTI"A-ACAPULCO TRADE IN THE TIME OF CORCUERA

Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera y Mendoza, in a tighter market and created another link in governor of the Philippines during the time ofthe the chain of transactions by middiemen, The N uestra Senora de !a Concepci6n disaster, lent a grievances of Manila merchants persuaded the colorful interpretation to the workings of the Crown to exert pressure on the Portuguese MaoiJa Galleon trade, His political leadersJ-Jp in 'iceroy to condemn such activity, which eventually Spain's far away colony was an indication of his lapsed after 1633, The junk traffic from mainland own powers and desires, and a reflection of the China returned in 1634 and quiekly climbed in the sentiment of the participants in the "dlieon trade next years to as many as 50 vessels in one in generaL season.21S =..ike the monsoon seasons which determined The Portuguese succeeded because of a the voyages of the galleons, the :\fanila-Acapulco sustained supply of silver from New Spain. The trade experienced only superficial regularity. The figures for Atlantic commerce suggest a 16208 and 16808 were volatile decades for Spain's depression in the European trade and declining Pacific commerce, containing several sources of output from /unerican mines. An alternative disruption. Increasingly the Dutch and English explanation for the smaller returns to Europe is expected to extend their activities in Asia at the shift of merchant capital into the Pacific Spain's expe"se, conspiring to divert Chinese arena, especially in the aftermath of the Dutch trade from Ma:Lla. Portuguese merchants were attack on the fleet at Matan7.as [Cuba] in more visible carriers of the Chinese goods to 1628,216 Manila merchants began to sense Manila, The resultant competition and greater growing investment pressures; the success of a risks bid prices up. Even so, losses to enemy prop~sal t~ create a permanent trade delegation ships preying on the Atlantic fleets led in Mexico on their behalf was one of the merchants in New Spain to regard galleon carg~es consequences of the new business activity, from Manila as a more secure investment than Another significan t indicator of an the trade with Seville. In addition, the Spa:rrish expansion of the galleon trade in the early 16308 state pressured its colonies to contribute more tax was the renewal of complaints by Seville's revenues, including those derived from trade, in merchants about the drain of silver to the East order to lllldenvrite a costly war in Europe. and flaunting of the ban on trade in CrJnese cloth These higher taxes were an incentive for to Peru. Seville had been aroused by the increased contraband; more 'vigorous collection of circulation in 1634 of allegations made by a duties provoked grievances and special pleading merchant of the city of Puebla de Los Angeles (in on behalf of a much battered commerce. 1:nder "ew Spain), Francisco Vitoria Baraona, who the circumstances offluctuating supplies and high claimed that three or four million pesos were risks, the complaints might well have minimized being exported to the Far East out of Acapulco, successful profiteering, The normally high level of and that the port continued to tolerate trade to smuggling in the galleon trade make any assess­ Peru in Cpinese goods,"" This rampant ment of its value subject to considerable caution, smuggling and gross violation of the permiso, by but the coincidence of a relative increase in the a fador ofsix or eight times the allowance, caused numbers ofvessels from China in Manila Bay and a deterioration of the market for European a new round ofcomplaints from Seville merchants textiles in the Indies and the destruction of suggests that the 1630s was a flourishing moment Spanish silk mar:ufactures, according to Seville, for contraband in an erratic period, In response to the Sevillan merchants' charges, In the 1620s the Dutch estsblished a trade the lobbyist for the Philippines at the Spanish factory on Formosa (Taiwan) and preyed on the court, Don Juan Grau y Monfalcen, dismissed junks en route to Manila in the China Sea; the Baraona's charges as ignorant exaggerations, Spanish retaliated by setting up their own trading defended the necessity of the Asian trade and station on Taiwan. Portuguese agents at Macae even advocated its expan.::;ion.21 B exploited the reluctance of Chinese shippers to This was the second of three important confront Dutch aggression and began to carry occasions in the history of the trade that Seville's more merchandise from the mainland to Manila in grievances resulted in immediate, vigorous disregard of prohibitions against their commerce responses by the Crown, In the 1590's their in the Philippines. Displacing multitudes of peUtions led to the fIrst wave ofrestrictions which Chinese, the Portuguese demanded higher prices remained in force for the duration of the trade.

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 48 Following a period of prosperity in Pacific in the Canaries. He had fought in the Spanish commerce, in 1718 Seville won a temporary ban army in the Flanders wars through the siege of on trade in silk cloth, nominally in effect until Breda (1626). He then received a series of 1726, and both sides were caught up in a fIfteen­ colonial appointments. In 1627, he was the year struggle of bitter polemics to renegotiate the military commander at Callao, the seaport below terms of the permiso. Lima in the Peruvian viceroyalty, where he also served as a treasury official. He was later promoted to the governorship of Panama (1632­ 1634), which included the key trade port of Portobello in the Isthmus. His responsibilities in these positions would have allowed him to acquire considerable knowledge of the practices of the Indies trade. Ambitious, astute, and at the height of his career at age forty-eight, he must have regarded the posting to the Philippines both as a military challenge and as a lucrative plum which he could artfully pluck and then expect to return to Spain and live in very comfortable retirement. Barely a year after his arrival in Manila, he petitioned the Crown in ,Tune of 1636 to grant his license to depart within four years. The permission was authorized in Spain in November 1638, but the appointment of a new governor and his travel to Manila was delayed? 19 Had Corcuera managed to adhere to his own agenda, he would have been spared at least some of the 17th Century engraving ofAcapulco harbor trcubles which followed. As it. bappened, Corcuera spent fourteen The Crown's reaction in the 1630s cut deep years in the Philippines (nine as governor, 1635­ and wide and centered on Acapulco. First, the 1644. and five, 1645'1649, imprisoned by his coasting trade to Peru was permanently curtailed successor, Diego Fajardo.) During this time his in 1634, except for ships licensed for particular career soared with the leadership of major purposes other than general merchandise trade. campaigns against the Moorish enemy in the Smuggling persisted but the official ban forced south at Mindanao and Jolo in 1636-1638, and merchants to adapt to the new conditions imposed t.hen plummeted as a result of his having to take on the market. The second measure was the responsibility for the Spanish loss of the outpost appointment of an external official for Now Spain, on Formosa in 1642. In the mandatory inquiry a visitor who was empowered to conduct an on­ into his term of office ur,dertaken by Governor site investigation of trade practices at Acapulco Fajardo in 1644, crimbal charges were issued in and to initiate reforms to ensure compliance with the case of the Formosa debacle, and the serious the regulations. The galleon traders had most nature of this charge was used by Fajardo to recently survived a special visitation and inquiry insist on Corcuera's incarceration, in 1628 that was made to investigate charges that The majority of allegations heard in the the Viceroy at Mexico City was heavily involvec in residencla, however, came from disaffected contraband. However the measures of Don Pedro residents' reports of the many ways in which Quiroga y Moya, appointed in 1635, were Corcuera was said to have drained public coffers considerahly more rigorous, and produced an and dipped into private pockets during his outcry from the merchants of both Manila and administration. Of course he consistently denied Mexico City. His visitation produced a ripple any reports of illegal trading. He insisted that he effect that marked the Pacific trade for many had pursued his mercantile endeavors ouly in the decades aftef\vards. interest of the Crown?20 Nevertheless his At about the same time that the visitor enemies charged that the proceeds of his multiple Quiroga was appointed, Governor Corcuera was activities in Manila allowed him to amass a en route to his new post in the Philippines. fortune, a portion of which he had been Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera y Mendoza (1587, systematically forwarding vla the galleons to New 1661) was of Basque origin but raised by an uncle Spain. English merchants who anchored in

49 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES Manila Bay On the eve of the transition in exerted pressme to order Coreuera's successor to government in 1644 were told that the release him from his imprisonment in Manila, and extraordinary dearness of gold in the port was the he retmned to Spain through Mexico in 1649­ consequence ofthe Governor's having "engrossed" 1650,223 'Ultimately, Corcuera was able to it all, its price not falling lmtil some lime after the demonstrate that Diego Fajardo had been new governor had taken office, The value of predisposed to judge him harshly and the Coreuera's estate in Manila in "goods and monies" residencia was overturned, He resumed his seized at the time of his arrest v:as estimated at career, serving for a time in Spain and finally as more than three million pesos,'" Wben a governor in the Canaries, where he died in office devastating fIre ripped through Acapulco in early around 1660 far from the tmmoil of the 1648 another cache of his property became public Philippines.' " knowledge. Thirty of thirty-six large chests of Corcuera's regime coincided with a goods stored in the port were completely tmbulent and occasionally prosperous period for destroyed: "All that was Brass remain \1, but the galleons, closing what has since come to be much disfIgur'd; a thousand Curiousit;es were regarded as Manila's golden years. An burnt, abundance of rich China Ware which to earthquake in 1645 nearly levelled the city. By save it from breaking was pack'd up with Cloves, midcentury, the trade had slid into the bottom of Pepper and China Ink, Corcuera lost several a trough which lasted at least another twenty thousand ducats,1I222 years. Fajardo reported to the King in August Coreuera's autocratic style and usmpation of 1650 that the Dutch wars had taken their toll; authority had alienated every branch of the local New Spain provided insignificant material and elite. Even the ecclesiastical establishment was human support for defense, The trade from aggravated, especially by his public conflict with China was reduced to only nine or ten vessels a the archbishop. which had culmir,ated in his year, ,,;tll little merchandise. Shipping losses banishment of the prelate to an 'sland in :'Ianlia continued and the works at Cavite needed repalr, Bay, and by his interference in disputes within A letter from the City of Manila conc1U'red: the and between the religious orders, including the Philippines were in a miserable state.'" favoritism he showed toward the Jesuits. Thus to Despite these setbacks, the Spanish held on to contemporaries the abuses connected to the the Philippines, defending the trade at the core of sailing of the Concepcion in 1638 wore merely her Pacific dominion, owing, as the historian part of a wider pattern of Corcuera's flagrant Charles Boxer has pointed out, to the "superiority misconduct in office. He may have been more of the Basque sea-officers, the loyalty of the arrogant and less discrete in his dealings than christianized Filipinos to the Spanish Crown, and other governors; but in matters of general the great strength of the :';[anila galleons built corruption and interference in the gallecn trade frorn 10cal hardwoods:t226 he was not unlike his peers. Advocates at Comt

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 50 THE GALLEONS OF 1638

Last Voyage of the Nuestra Senora de Ia ConcepciOn

On August 10, 1638'" two galleons stoneware jars were requisitioned for the L3 completed preparations at Cavite for a trans­ vesseIs. ::' Pacific crossing in the torpor of late summer. The acknowledged fraud and widespread They were the X uestra Senora de I a Concepcion deception which regularly accompanied the and her smaller consort, the admiral's ship San shipment of galleon trade goods was even more Ambrosio. deliberately applied in the sailing of 1638, so that The flagship Concepcion was one of the the exact nature of the cargo of the Concepcion great ships of her day, reputed to be :he largest remains especially contested. Special circum­ vessel which had been constructed up to that stances conspired to make the 1638 sailings time.""· Although the chronicles in wpjch 'ler particularly unusual. The official most account­ fate was later inscribed fail to provide detailed able for the galleons' fate, Governor Sebastian information on her dimensions, because of her Hurtado de Corcuera, in the third year of his legendacy reputation and the count of guns term, had set the conditions of thi. journey by a aboard her at the time of salvage efforts in the series of actions which defied local custom, law 1680s and early 17008, we can justifiably assume and nature. The ships were not carrying the that she was a 36-gun vessel with a lOG foot keel, usual merchant consignments, had no registration some 150 feet overall, broad in the beam at 50 of their cargo and were sailing late in the with a depth of 20 feet to the bottom of her season. hold, ample room for the 1.200 chests of trade Upon his arrival in Manila in June, 1635, goods she had carried on her most recent trip to the governor had imperiously cancelled the de­ Acapulco_22' parture of the two galleons his predecessor had Most prohably constructed for the galleon prepared. He declared his intention to introduce trade at Cavite between 1630 and 1633, she was a new system of bi-annual sailings and proposed christened for the Immaculate Conception of the that the level of permitted trade be doubled, Virgin Macy, the patroness of the city and raising it to 500,000 pesos in value of goods to cathedral ofManila, to whom seventeenth century Acapuico.'" His interventions had coincided Spaniards were especially devoted. Subsequent to with a renewed effort to control illegal excesses in the rOUIld trip of 1636-1637. she was likely to the trade by more thorough inspections and en­ have been one of the galleons commandeered for forcement of regulations at Acapulco, under the militacy transport to actions south of the supeT\rision of a visitor-inspector sent from Spain Philippines and to bring relief supplies to the fort to the port, Don Pedro Quiroga y Moga. While in Terrenate in early 1638. Those ships had Corcuera waited upon a reply from the Crown returned to port in mid May.130 This would which would authorize his plan, in 1636 he over­ have put her into the Cavite dockyards for repairs came the reluctance of the Manila merchants to and to be outfitted for the next Pacific crossing send goods in a year when rigorous customs through June and July. procedures might be followed and despatched two Expense reports for provisions for the heavily laden galleons. Upon their arrival, galleons of 1638 purchased through Chinese food contrary to what Governor Corcuera had assured pltrVeyors and suppliers of ships' stores record the merchants would be the case, Quiroga had in the acquisition of various staples between April fact proceeded with unusual zeal by weighing and August. For the stock of rations doled out chests and opening bales. Having found mer­ aboard ship there was wheat flour, dried beans, chlmdise improperly recorded and omitted from dried shrimp and fish, and cheese, sugar, lard and registers, the visitor-inspector declared the true wood for the cooking fltes, There were at least value of the goods to be four million pesos, as 566 live chickens, and some fresh pork, though no against the 800,000 which was claimed by the mention of live hogs. One hundred-ninety-five merchants, and moved to confiscate shipments, head of cattle were delivered from the local ranch impede sales and thereby block the return of of a Spanish woman, Dona Magdalena Ruiz. Reed silver for merchandise. In addition Quiroga had mats, cotton thread (for sail repairs), an assort­ exacted hea,"Y penalties, totalling 900,000 pesos ment of d.rugs to stock the ship's apothecacy for which the :Manila merchants refused to be chests, tobacco and at least 1,900 earthen and Iiable_ In 1637 and in 1638 they found themselves

51 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES short of silver to make payments to the Chinese The supervision ofillicit cargo was perhaps merohants, in suspense about the fate of their the uppermost concern of Corcuera in his appoint­ conf:scated goods, pleading pO\'erty and at odds ment of his nephew, Juan Francisco Hurtado de "ith Corcuera. Thus tho,,' had resolved not to Corcuera as General of the Galleons in 16.38. In ship goods until the issueE of their grievances addition to the General, Don Juan Francisco, a would be addressed.'" Coreuera wrote to the young man in his early twenties, the ship's King in ,July, 16:3&. that despite proclamations he master, Captain Juan de :V!ontoya, was also a had issued calling on the merchants to prepare protege of the governor. They were said to have their shipments they had refused and he had so been entrusted with trade goods by members of far put aboard only the rations and Seanle:1.·, the governor's inner circle to be delivered to chests.23~ Bartolome Ruiz de Escalona the correspondents at Acapulco'>36 The entire treasury official in Manila, reported that the cargo was reputed to be worth four and a half would sail without a register, for as yet, the million pesos.'37 According to further inhabitants have not registered a shred of cloth revelations made in the course of the later inquiry with which to lade them, as they do not know the into abuses in his administration, Corcuera had a condition of their property in New Spain:'35 great range of personal treasure on the A'though in later years several merchants would Concepcion, including exquisite valuables, like a present claims for their shares of cargo which gold ewer and plate of great worth which he had were lost in 1688, the report by Escalona at the acquired by dubious means at nominal cost from time and other documentation suggests that most an estate guarded in the probate court, He would of the goods aboard the Concepcion belonged to later claim to be sending it to Spain as a gift to 2 Governor Corcuera and his close friends at the King. " There were also more mundane ~~ETj]a. ~!l:"egistered merchandise passed as per­ trade goods, like 1,600 cakes of beeswax he was sonal property which went free of export duties. sending to Mexico.'"

Concepcion getting underway in Manila harbor

PACTFIC SEA RESOURCES 62 Passengers aboard the 1638 galleons may about in feverish activity in 1a.9t minute ladings, have been fewer than usual. The numbers of jostling for places, stowing possessions and bidding Spanish residents had been depleted in recent farewells, and can conjure up the grand dIsplay on wars."o The governor should have been the part of church and state which marked the reluctant to grfu,t licenses to return to Spain or departures of galleons from Manila bay, but Mexico as he was wanting for men and therefore details of the narration of the outset of the not eager to support emigration, despite the journey are lost. worries over the crisis in the trade) however much There is no evidence that the 1638 galleons he =y have been besieged V\';th requests from encountered unusuai or even the customary Manila residents. Surviving records provide hazards in the course of the first leg of the names of only five of the passengers in 1638: the voyage. In fact they must have had a strong Jesuit ,Juan de Barrios, an intimate of Corcuera westerly wind to have reached the Ladrones by 20 who sailed as the Concepcion's chap;ain; two September. It was only after they had emerged other priests, Father Pedro Rillz and Fray Pedro from the strait and headed into the open sea that Hernandez, the latter identified as a member of problems were later said to have developed. the Dominican order; Martin de Cassanova, about According to the surviving accounts of what whom nothing else is kno"m; and a couple, transpired after leaving the Embocadero, a few CaptaIn Joseph de Vides and his wife.241 days out of the Strait of San Bernardino, the Vides was returning to Spain after a sojourn in general "lost the respect and obedIence" of his the islands of at least fifteen years in the crew. The ship's officers aboard the Concepcion Philippines. 242 fell to quarrelling with each other, "each one The most important person on the wanting to give the orders and be obeyed." The Concepcion was the general of the galleons. issue in some accounts was specifically the course Although honorific, the position was the ultimate of navigation they were to follow. In any case, governing authority and required the exercise of the commander dId not intervene successfulIy, benevolent supervision in allaying fr;ctions among and the crew mutinied. "Factions formed. Parties a potentially mutinous crew. It begged for one of went at each other...there were deaths and experience in the command of men. Juan injuries." With no one at the helm to control the Francisco de Corcuera was one of several close ship, it broached in the ,vind. '''rhe masts broke relatives who had joined his uncle's entourage at up to the bowsprit and all the rig went into the the time of his appointment to the Manila sea in an instant," leaving the badly damaged post.'" He had another kinsman who vessel at the mercy of the wind and currents advocated for his interests at court, Inigo Hurtado which carried it toward the reef where it broke de Corcuera, uncle (and brother to Governor apart. The ship, its cargo and the people were Coreuera), who had petitioned the Crown to lost. "Ouly thirty and some Spanish people appoint ,Juan Francisco to the command of a escaped...all because of the lack of skill of the military unit to send to the Philippines, which he, general. This would not have happened if the Inigo, would sponsor'>" The best known of governor had appointed [instead] one ofthe many Governor Corcuera)s young relatives and proteges soldiers and deserving, experienced older was the other of his nephews, Pedro Hurtado de people... as general of the sbps."'·s Corcuera, whom he had raised in Banders, and In the course of the later investigation, the considered his most trusted supporter. Pedro, a principal point in contention was the cause of the veteran of SemL'B in Ecrope, was a leader in the ship's loss and the degree of responsibility to be military actions in the Philippines at Mindanao in apportioned to the commander, as opposed to the 1637, and dIed in Odober the same year.'·5 severity of the weather. A report on the tragic Although Juan Francisco had taken part in the episode issued later from Mexico dwelt on the campaigns in Mindanao and Jolo in the two latter: 'baYing reached the vicinity of the previous years, he apparently had no comparable Ladrones, three hundred leagues from Cavite, European record, but he was given the post of they were hit by a storm,11249 However; the officer of the Manila city regiment.2 « majority of accounts of the shipwreck brought Nonetheless he was still considered to be "young forward seven years later in the course of a and inexperienced in military and naval affairs" as rancorous investigation of Governor Corcuera~s it was said repeatedIy in the charges later brought administration emphasize the incompetence of 7 agaInst the governor.24 young Corcuera as the principal cause of the loss We can imagine the scene at Cavite, where of the ship. By failing to exercise the necessary workmen, sailors) officers and passengers scurried authority, Don Juan Francisco lost command of

53 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES the crew, his ship, a valuable cargo, and countless course. But "the blame for this could be lives, The governor himself was blamed for his attributed to the general, a person with little nephew's irresponsibility, and for having selected courage or experience who did not order the pilot a man with "too little experience" and 'lack of to follow the almiranta [the San Ambrosio1 nor courage." The fullest narratives tend to expose was he able to quiet the sailors who then the multiple failures of the general for lack of mutinied... ,,252 Captain Don Gaspar Pisarro de authority over the men in his command as well as Attellano, a soldier stationed in Manila, testified ignorant seamanship. that it was said that the general did not have the Evidence offered in the suit brought by the courage to overcome the disturbances. There had city council of Manila stressed the absence of had been deaths and "the ship was lost, without a weather. Those giving depositions insisted there storm" occurring,253 was no storm at all and ventured that they could The narrowly focused information contained

The wrecking of the Concepci6n at Agingan reef in these records supplied rew answers to many not remember when such a disaster bad occurred, obvious questions, sucb as the role of the chief implicitly on account of human error alone. 250 pi1ct aboard the Concepci6n, the point at which According to Juan de Campos y Rojas, Chief Clerk the vessels had abandoned their sailing in tandem, of the Mines and Registry, the talk around the what commuuication there might have been with city was that there had been much dissension the San Ambrosio up to that point, how far north aboard the ship and as a result the sailers had they had gone, and whether they had been blown mutinied. "It had been many years since a ship hack down or directly toward the Saipan coast. on this route had been lost for lack of governance Also missing were descriptions of the loeation of rather than the great storms which are the site of the shipwreck, the circumstances of feared.'" 50 Captain Pedro de Mora Salcedo the vessel and its people in the final moments, a had heard from some sailors that the ship had count of survivors and their immediate fate. been lost because it had not stayed ",ith the N one of these points can be addressed with any almiranta. The chief pilot had taken another certitude. There could be any number of

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 54 explanatiol1ll for these omissions; one is that there The Ladrones Islands was a conscious suppression of factual materiaL If in the aftermath of the wreck, a court of The Spanish in the Philippines in the mid inquiry had been commissioned to probe the seventeenth century actuaily knew very little circumstances, surely these elementary features about the chain of the Ladrones (Thieves), of the event would have come to light. That although they had been very aware of them since there was none may be laid to the governor's the time of Magellan's discoveries in 1521, Early political influence and all but d:ctatorial power in on they were cailed the Western Isles, but they tte colony. or to the time that elapsed between had been put on the map as the Islands of the the \\Teck and confirmation of the disaster and to Lateen Sails in recognition of the distinctive the general confusion reigning in Manila in those seaworthy c,anoes with their triangular sails, the years, Ignorance of the area that prevailed up to flying proas. so called because of their speed, that time may also have contributed to tte failure which appeared in small squadrons when any ship of Manila residents to offer more specific put in among the Islands, Gaileons en route from information about the circumstances ofthe wreck, New Spain called regularly to take on water and The reports based on hearsay of what wa~ provisiol1ll offered to them in exchange for iron, known in Manila at the time conflicted in fact which to the Spaniards' astonishment the witb the limited information furnished by islanders prized even above gold and silver. survivors who returned to Cavite in July 1639. Their story as it was taken down by the chronicler of local events in the Jesuit house in Cavite beg-cll:

The ship was wrecked."by the fury ofa tempest in the I..adrones Islands...on an island thirty-five leaguas (sic) away from the islands where our ships generally land on the return voyage, Besides those who were drowned, many were killed by the lance thrusts of the natives,' 54

In Slim, the ship was V>Tecked along the shore of Saipan'8 southwest coast in a coral­ fringed area open to the southwest that was only partially protected, At Agingan Point the winds Galleon and proas and currents could come up unexpectedly strong, In these rushing currents, despite the proximity The name "Ladrones" stuck from the time to shore, no effort to restore order nor recover of earliest contacts because of the eagerness of control of the ship had been effective in the natives to acquire goods, especiall,y iron, from preventing the grounding of the vessel. Of the Europeans and the plea.UTe they seemed to take persons aboard. many must have gone to their in surreptitiously snatching whatever they deaths qulte suddenly in the sea, Of the admrred, The extent of native thievery was remaining survivors who swam or drifted to the exaggerated but '.Iidely believed, According to close shoreline. only twenty-eight Spaniards and Gemelli Careri, for example, when European ships an unknown number of other nationalities put in. "the inhabitants stole all they could, and managed to avoid the fatal slings and spears of then fled to the mountains.',255 An Italian waiting islanders, '!'he latter eagerly salvaged the merchant traveller who passed through the iron they so highly prized, as well as other islands en route to Manila in 1596 wrote that they valuable cargo within range of beachcombing and would oall out "Chamarri, her, her." which he diving, The history of these islands perhaps thought meant, rlFriends, iron, iron.11256 explains the reaction of the natives to the wreck Decades later. the Europeans began to call the of the Concepcion. inhabitants Chamorros. and therr language Chamorro, after a term which they understood the islanders themselves used for individuals of

55 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES high status in their society.257 under the water as above it,'·'" Spanish galleon navigators were not aware An industrious and cooperative society, they of secure anchorages in any of the islands and lived simply, fIshing, building boats, and regarded the inhabitants as potentially hostile, so cultivating their gardens. The islands were they did not remaln lcng when they made their thickly populated, but the communities were watering stops. Marilla governors discouraged relatively small, villages of ten to one hundred early colonization proposals and efforts by houses, woodeil constructions set on stone pillars, religious orders to be authorized to land in the thatched with coconut leaves. 26 ° Although islands, but eager missionaries occasionally fIshermen from the shoreline settlements traded conspired ,0 minister to the heathens. A their catches for the surplus agricultural produce Franciscan missionary, Fray Juan Pabre, jumped of residents of the interior's hilly high country, ship in 1502 to live for seven months in a village the communities dwelt in comparative isolation at Rota with the family of an indio principal, his from each other. The early missionaries regarded captor and . master." He consulted ,,~th a surdvor them as ··pacific, but neighboring villages did of the 1601 wreck of galleon Santa Margarita, engage occasionally in periodic warfare. The and compiled an account of local society.,s8 weapons in use, principally for fIshing and According to their own legends, the islanders hunting, were slings, with shaped stones or dried had come from the south. As cultivators of rice, mud missiles, and spears, whose sharp ends were they were closer to the Philippine people than pointed by close shaving or had pieces of human they were to the southern Micronesian societies. bone fastened to them.'" The robust, naked inhabitants who Castaways. deserters and shipwreck approached visitffig ships were considered to be survivors captured by the Chamorros lived as generally peaceful peoples, admired for snperior prized war booty retained by their masters in s\\'l.mmlng and diving skills. IIThese islanders are anticipation of future ransom for iron. They were expert underwater divers because, from the time prisoners, for they eould not easily escape the they are born, they bathe and swim as much islands, but in their condition of relative liberty

Life in a Cham.orro village in the 19th Century

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 56 Fishing techniques of the ""1anana Islanders in the 19th Century they were free to move about and to adapt to have been the case, the vacuum of information native life, in practice not very different from about the victims of the incident is certainly what Spaniards ul1derstood as criados,2" The enigmatic. On the other hand, considering that climate was benign, and the islands were rich in Manila in these years was rocked by a series of provisions, In fact, Fray Juan expressed a certaio misfortunes, the loss of the galleon was rendered, disquiet when he discovered that a number of while not insignificant, simply one more disaster, black slaves had "chosen voluntarily to remaio We only know that most of those aboard were among the barbarian iofidels",[s]ince the lost. Spaniards treat them so badly"" ""ben they are informed that the ships are coming and are asked Initial Reactions if they want to return to Manila, they flee to the rnontes."263 The alarm for the Concepcion was first The fate of the survivors of the Concepcion sounded in Acapulco upon the arrival of the disaster in 1638 was discovered gradually, No admiral ship San Ambrosio, 30 January 1639, records of the ship have been located which Consternation was rife over the state of affairs in estimate the numbers aboard who perished, nor the Philippines under Governor Corcuera with list any individuals, prominent or otherwise who this his third consecutive dispatch of vessels in were lost, besides the general of the ship, Don violation of trade regulations, The Concepcion, Juan Francisco de Corcuera, Unless he withdrew reported to be carrying unregistered cargo of before departure, Father Barrios, the Jesuit about 800 toneladas, continued to be expected, as chaplain, was on the capitana, No mention ofhis no one knew for certain whether it had put back survival has come to light. Other persons to Manila and would come the following year, had identified as booking space on the galleons--clergy, been lost to the enemy, or had made instead for Vides and his wife--have disappeared from the the coast of Tierra Firme (panama) or Peru,264 documentation, Even if the ship carried less than The senior royal officer had his orders not to a full complement of passengers, which might allow any unregistered cargo to be landed from

57 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES the San Ambrosio, nor from the Concepcion sampan for Luzon. "The Indians of Guam sent should it arrive.'65 But in the end the admiral these Spaniards so that they could give the news ship was allowed to return along 'With the patache and send for the other twenty-two Spaniards and which had sailed in 1637. The galleon of 1639, some Indians and mulattos who remain alive which reached Acapulco 8 February 1640, at last there and also to carry them iron .... II270 brought the confirmation that the Concepcion had After months of concern, the confIrmation been lost in the Ladrones. of the loss of the rest of those who had been In Manila the time after the sailing of the aboard was devastating, affecting many of the galleons was filled "ith reports that repeatedly families in the neighborhood of Cavite and Manila. raised and dashed hopes. Anxiety over the galleons of 1638 fIrst emerged in March 1639 As soon as the tidings were told when news arrived that "large pieces of plankillg, in this port of Cavite, the sobs masts and the ribs of a vessel which had suffered and cries were so many that all shipwreck had been found near Paracali on the were stunned, for there is no east coast of Luzon, opposite 1ranila. From one who has not lost a son, a appearances it [was] thought [to be] the San father, a brother, a brother~in~ 256 Ambrosio.II More disturbing evidence law, a father~in~law, a son-in­ appeared at the end of "fay. A shipment of nails law, or a husband. The loss has forwarded to Cavite was said to have been taken been one of the greatest that from a ship run aground on that same coast. has ever visited these islands, More disheartening was the news of June 25: "the because of the loss of men sea of Camarines is continually floating ashore [sic/tulia de genie ~ lack of there fragments of the wrecked ship which some people] and the poverty of the think that they recognize as belonging to the island.271 flagship ... others are of the opinion that the wreckage shows unmistakable signs of the two As for the San Ambrosio, there was still hope ships, both the capitana and the almiranta."'67 that it would reach Acapulco and return with the One month later, in the afternoon of July overdue relief. The Concepcion survivors 24, 1639, six Spanish survivors from the capitana reported that "they saw it but shortly before they arrived at Ca,ite. From the date of the wreck, were wrecked, sailing on a good tack; and that it September 20. the survivors had made their way was a swift sailor, and seaworthy. They swear from island to island until they reached Guam. that it should reach New Spain. Pray to God that There they were "well-treated," by the natives this has happened."'72 because lithe Spanish are good men, and leave The lateness of the season, however, them iron when they pass here." From there, overshadowed this generally optimistic report. The galleon of 1639, the Concepcion Cambojana, the natives dispatched six had been undergoing preparations for an August Spaniards and two Indians in two departure for at least a month. These were now boats, furnishing them with food completed in an atmosphere of mourning and from what they had. They profound anxiety about the immediate future of commended themselves to God the islands, in the fourth year of limited aid from and crossed the open stretch of New Spain, and the second in which no ship had more than three hundred leguas returned. (900 miles) ...in but one fortnight­ The Chinese community at Manila was a wonderful thing if one will but pulling back to the mainland. "On account of the consider these small boats are of lack of succor in these two years, many were much less burden and steadiness returning, leaving their houses and shops than pirogues and canoes and deserted." While making their exodus in early even smaller than they.268 August, two of their great ships in a fleet of fIve "were driven ashore by the great force of the They reached the Philippines at Samar, on the wind," only twelve miles or so out of Manila. "Six Palapag coast, where the Jesuits had a modest hundred Chinamen were drowned, although a still mission residence near concentrations of native larger number escaped [to land].,,'73 villages.'69 They arrived "almost dead with Set for August 4, the same storm also hunger, thirst, and lack of sleep," but after some delayed the Cambojana's sailing for three days they had recovered and set out in a Chinese days.'7' Just at the time of her departure, the

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 58 tension broke over the fate of the vessels resources and attention away from a mission to returning from Acapulco. Customarily lookouts rescue the Concepcion '8 survivors. positioned on the east coasts ofLuzon and Samar The fmal blow in the series of disasters to sent news of the sighting ofships approaching the strike the Philippines in 1639 was 311 upheaval in islands. A report arrived in :Manila on August 7 late November involving the 35,000 Chinese in that two vessels, identified as the polache of 1637 central Luzon. A contributing cause to this and the San Ambrosio, had been sighted, not at uprising was said to be Governor Corcuera! s the approach to the Embocadero, but ofT Cagayan implementation of extensive licensing fees as a on the north eoagt of Luzon, Wives removed revenue-rrusing measure. The immediate cause of their mourning, as the city exploded incelebration the insurrection was his levy of Chinese for "'It utmost joy, and all the bells were rung.,,275 agricultural labor in the Calambaya province 36 With this, "the Chinese, who learned the news on miles from Manil", "by force, and entirely against board their ships, disembarked, and returned to their will; many of them fell sick ,.. more than their shops and trading.,,'76 three hundred of them died.... The time came... to The general jubilation accompanying the pay their license-money and rent, which in all was belief that there would at last be some resolution more than twenty-five pesos for each one, II of the current crisis was of very short duration. Harassed by the officials, they broke loose in On August 21 another message was received that revolt.'so Searching for ways to explain the both the potache and the San Ambrosio had chaos, which evolved into a civil war, deeper and subsequently been wrecked while putting in at more sinister signs of perfidy were sought. A the Cagayan coast at the port of Nueva Segovia. pamphlet published at Madrid in 1642 alleged that Although a portion of the cargo had already been Chinese had conspired with a pirate compatriot landed, including some privately owned silver and and plotted to capture the galleons from New chests containing the funds of 6e situado (the Spain?81 Lasting from November 21, 1639, government subsidy), much treasure was lost, until March 15, 1640, the war resulted in the including an estimated 550,000 pesos from the following casualties: 40 - 45 Spaninrds; 300 accounts of persons in the city, in addition to a Indians; 22,000 - 24,000 Chinese, "including those considerable loss of life. One hundred filty who died in the provinces."'" The rivers ran persons, many of them new troop reinforcements, with blood and decomposing bodies for six drowned.277 Coming on the heels of the news months.' OJ As the French traveller Legentil of the loss of the Concepcion, it must have would remark with great Gallic understatement seemed a disaster of incomprehensible from his more remote vantage point 130 years proportions. hence, "the year 1639 was not favorable for In this state ofaffairs, apparently little help Manila." 2B4 could be mustered on behalf of the Concepcion survivors in the Ladrones. The Acapulco·bound JWmajning Coru:epci6n Survivors Concepci6n Cambojana may have left in ignorance about the shortlived good fortune ofthe Abandoned for a time, the situation of the returning relief ships. Intending to make its way Spaniards and other survivors who remained in as rapidly as possible to advise New Spain of the the Ladrones was precarious. desperate condition in the islands, it is unlikely to Varying amounts of information are have been directed to cruise the Ladrones en available on the fates of the six original returnees route in the hope of picking them up. The first and the twenty-two Spaniards remaining in the vessel designated to undertake this mission was islands. Juan de Montoya, master of the ship and the Bon Nico/as, a relief ship for Ternate, the protege of Governor Coreuer", was the only Spanish outpost in the Moluccas, dispatched in identified occupant of thet frrst boatload to leave early l'iovember with an experienced chief pilot the Ladrones in :Mayor June 1639 ·""th the aid of with orders to pass the Ladrones on its return Guamanians. Implicated along ",ith other from Ternate to collect them, but the captain of intimates of the governor in his network of the San Nicolas, Andres del Urbin",27. was corruption,2.5 Captain Juan de :Montoya not able to complete his assignment. His ship ran distinguished himself in the repression of the into a storm, suffered serious damage, and made Chinese insurrection of 1639-1640.'96 an emergency return to port where it had then Other survivors probably despaired over a lost its cannon, an event which earned Governor quick recovery. Nicholas del Pino, a sailor Corcuera yet another rebuke from his originally from Cadiz, and Francisco Ramos, the superiors.'" Other events at home directed boatswain'8 mate aboord the Concepcion, were

59 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES two Spaniards to have returned by April the islanders. While they were said not to value 1640.'" In the case of Ramos, his papers read gold and silver as Europeans did, adornments that he had been a captive in the Ladrones until among them were limited. Moreover their 8 April 1640 and had "reached the port of Cavite expertise in diving was notorious. with some sailors from the lost ship in a boat Thirty years later, however, interest in the which they had made."288 The natives would Concepcion was revived by the .Jesuits, under the have been tuilikely to have given them much leadership of ..father Diego Luis de Sanvitores assistance as they were hoping to exchange the who was determined to initiate a new field of captives for iron upon the arrival of a rescue ship. missionary work in the Ladrones. Sanvitores had A fourth Spaniard, Esteban Ramos, chief begun to plan a Ladrones mission field in 1662 on pilot of the Concepci6n, and another sailor, his first trip to the Philippines.'93 Good nationality unknown, were among those who connections at the Spanish court were waited to be picked up by a passing galleon instrumental. The intervention of the Jesuit sometime after,2.' It may be assumed that confessor to the Spanish Queen, Mariana of Ramos' recovery occurred relatively early in the Austria, helped Sanvitores win her support. The 1640s as he returned to his profession and was islands were renamed in her honor.'" His serving as pilot aboard a ship which engaged the other illustrious benefactress was the Portuguese­ Dutch enemy in 1646.290 Misfortune continued born Maria Guadalupe de Lencastre (1630-1715), to stalk his career as he WE'> also pilot of the San Duchess of Aveiro and wife of the Spanish Duke Francisco Xavier which ran aground at Boronga of Arcos.'" In 1666, the mission's in 1655. In both 1660 and 1661, galleon general authorization papers arrived on the Acapulco Esteban Ramos failed to make the voyage from galleon'" and in 1667, he made a quick round Cavite to Acapulco in the newly built, and trip to Mexico, returning with the workers he coincidentally named, N uestra Senora de la needed. Concepci6n,lsl On the westbound galleon which brought This completes the roster of those known to Sanvitores from Mexico to begin his work was a survive among the "people of account,n a category Tagalog who had lived for seventeen years in the which generally designated "gentleborn Ladrones, from 1638 tmtil1655, He passed on his Spaniards, whose naming rescues them from knowledge of the Chamorro language to the complete obscurity. The "others," exact numbers missionary who in turn prepared a grammar and lmkno\\TI, are nameless, They :r.clude a sailor, translation of the catechism into Chamorro while perhaps the one mentioned above who spent some en route. years on the island along ,,'ith Esteban Ramos. He was possibly the same Tagalog-speaking As I write this aboard ship, I Filipino sailor who provided important assistance am setting down the oral to Father Diego Luis Sanvitores by teaching him explanation of an interpreter -­ the local language before he arrived in the islands a Ta.,"'alan both by nationality and founded the Jesuit mission in 1668. and by language. The man is ir,telligent enough and knows Thirty Years On: The Jesuit Mission and the how to express himself, but Wreck of the Concepcion cannol write even in Spanish letters. He luckily escaped The indifferenee of Manila to the fatc of "the from the shipwrecked richest ship... ever seen on that route"'" can be Concepci6n and remained in the explained by the general distress of the colony in Marianas seventeen years living the years immediately following the "Teck and and dealing with the the cloud of corruption which h.mg about natives.,,297 Corcuera's role ill the lading of the Concepci6n. It is possible that in 1639, the details received at San.itores' band, five priests, a lay brother Manila of the extent of damage to the ship when and thirty lay catechists, encountered two it smashed against the reef had persuaded survivors of the Concepcion when they landed on officials that virtually nothing aboard could have Guam in the middle of June 1668, Pedro Casor, a been recovered. The temporary incapacity at Christian native of the Bisayan region of the Manila in 1639 to furnish ships or men to retrieve Philippines who became a trusted companion of survivors and cargo had left the vessel and the Sanvitores, and Lorenzo, a native of booty of its treasure to be plundered over time by Malabar."· The fIrst accounts by the Jesuits

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 60 also publicized the variety of small ornaments the the Jesuits understood it, yet a third, celestial natives had in their possession, which it was "Maria" had showered favors on their mission and understood were the legacy of booty from the her intercession continued through the flrst Concepci6n. In his letter to the Queen about difficult years, evidence enough that the Marianas events on their arrival, Marcelo Ansaldo were now ready for conversion. 304 remarked: Quipuha, present when the Jesuits arrived in 1668, was baptized and given the Christian ... [Tlhirty years ago a ship which name ,Juan. 305 In August two priests were carried many little gold chains sent by request to Saipan and Tinian, where the and many ivory crucifIxes and Taga family also remained loyal supporters of other statuettes was wrecked Christianity far beyond Sanvitores time. here and many of these According to local legend their homestead on the statuettes and chains were south coast of Tinian was said to be the site of "a salvaged. To this day the natives great Christian convert house.,,3c6 barter these little gold chains Or Although flve churches were constructed ivory images for iron. 299 and 30,000 were baptized in the flrst two years,307 the missionaries found the souls of The survivors were instrumental in helping their converts "inconstant" and their efforts to create the record of certain miraculous events regularly compromised by "the Devil" who which entered in the contemporary Jesuit "inflamed the natives." A four month war in chronicles. The evidence of divine intervention Tinian spread to Saipan and Anatagon. which they perceived at every turn stiffened the Implicated in these outbursts of violence was a resolve of the priests to persist in conversion in nemesis of the missionaries, Choco, "the Chinese the face of increasing resistance from the natives. Idolator" whose vessel, a sampan enroute from The Jesuit mission was believed by the Fathers to Manila to the Moloeeas, had to put in for repairs be the long-awaited fullillment of the promise to in the islands in 1648. He had failed to leave with bring the faith to the Ladrones which had been his shipmates because, in the missionaries' black made by Spanish Christian castaways of the account of his past, he had allegedly murdered Concepci6n. one of his companions and would have faced In Sanvitores J accounts, the missionaries' charges upon his return to Manila. 309 Since discovery of the Concepcion '8 survivors was a then he had lived among the Chamorros, propitious event, mediated by the Blessed Virgin preaching Buddhism and, upon the arrival of the Mary.3OO When the Concepcion wrecked at ,resuits, resistance to Christianity, spreading the Saipan in 1638, the Virgin had appeared in a horrific "rumor ... that the holy baptism was fatal vision to Taga, a chieftain on the island of Tinian, to man because the holy oil and water were mixed across the channel, urging him to care for victims with poison, with which the Fathers intended to of the wreck.'Ol Subsequently Taga was !eke the life of anyone they baptized, especially baptized by Don Marcos Fernandez, a Spaniard the children, who being more delicate, could not from the ship, and given the name Corcuera, after resist its power.""9 Increasingly the priests the governor, a name which his descendants sensed their peril, "menaced by death from sling continued to use, and to associate with all stones, spears, and poisons, for wanting to baptize 30 governors of the Philippines. ' The Virgin creatures many of whom think baptism is fatal for had encouraged Taga to become a Christian and, them," and believed themselves spared "many it was said, Marcos Fernandez promised Tag-a that times only by miraculous pro\~dence."31o he would ask for missionaries to be sent to the Increasingly they relied on force of arms pro'~ded Ladrones on his return to l'v1ani1a. Taga arr811ged by the occasional despatch of a few soldiers, many for the group of six Spaniards to make their way from Pampanga units in the Marianas to secure to Guam from which, at Tag-d'S intercession, the their gains. A token force was "sufficient to Guamanian chief Quipuha prepared the boat to introduce a healthy fear, as well as justice and send them across the sea. 303 Marcos government..."'" In the midst of the violence Fernandez is not elsewhere identifIed among the at Tinian in [1668], ten of the secular comp811ions six in this group, those who 1811ded at Samar and of the priests had put themselves between the arrived at Cavite in late July in 1639. The silence warring camps. The group, captain Don Juan de conceruing him is surprising, considering his ties Santa Cruz, one young Biscayan Spaniard and the to the Governor. In any case after an interval of rest Filipinos, had but "three muskets and a small thirty years, his promise was carried through. As fleldpiece:

61 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES The latter had been ;ef' (as if out about a musquet shot from reserved by God for such the land.... You can see four occasions) on !he celebrated anchors on the nearby wreck in these islands of the ship beach,'" Concepcion b the year of 1638; it had been salvaged and was found From 1671 onward, the Crown also pressed by chance in a house on the directly through the Viceroy at Mexico for the island of Saypan during a search recovery of the artillery. Philippines' Governor for : he head of an image of 0:11' Manuel de Leon y Saravia reminded the Cro,,'Il T ttar some said tvas in that in order to comply ,,1th the salvage orders i' ­ armed mon would be needed, for otherwise the inhabitants of the area wouid not perruit it, nor Early Salvage Operations could the islanders be expected to help as they were not much given to work of any sort.31 7 The Jesuit reports also re,ived the interest 'l'here were other obstacles as well The waters of the government in the srDl'wreck, especially in were very rough and unpredictable near Agingan he heavy artillery which had been aboard, Point. Father Gayoso had related his moment of Although the discovery of the fieldpiece may haye peril there on a trip between islands in 1671. been a godsend at the time, it was part 0: a more systematic search through the islands, bcluding From Opiarl I embarked for the remains of the Concepcion, undertaken by the Fumon, where with the favor of Spanish from about 1670. The Jesuits the:nselves God I arrived, although I was were not especially interested ill salvage nearly drowned on the point of operations, but as the nominal superior authority Agingan, where the ship was in the islands they flied reports describing and lost, by the rushing of the narrating places and events of interest to the CUlTents l'U'_d waves, helped by a government. Sanvitores had seen wreckage by brisk "ind,'" H,e village of Agingan during his trip to Saipan in 1669,313 Other narratives gave more detail. However desirable the bronze guns were, experts were uneil>J' about projected salvage plans, Saipa.'1, now St. Joseph, where considering Dot a iittle has been left behind by the tide and struggle of the the unsheltered IDeation and sea, in whose narrow the lack of ports, the hurricanes straiL.perished a Spanish ship and storms whlch continuously called Concepcion .... even now strike the islands, the known refuse is seen in the houses and risk that would be suffered by guns and anchors on the shore the people as well as the boats, and round about.314 instruments and equipment necessary for such a laborious In June 1670, the Governor at Manila, Don and long,lasting job. the little Manuel de Leon y Saravia, passed on this ,Jesuit hope of success a.'1d the great information t~ the Crown and suggested the cost which the royal treasury recovery of the weapons,315 In :\iay 1670, the wouid have to bear,"'" Marianas' ruilitary commander, Don Juan de Santa Cruz, who had recently completed a trip to The side Df reluctance prevailed. From the reconnoiter the isiand for safe anchorages for the Marianas in 1673 the Jesuit Fathers assured the Manila-Acapuico galleons, was able to confIrm Crown that the projected salvage wouid be easy with greater accuracy the site of the wreck and enough, provided they had boats, because the the situation of the guns. wreck was in shallow waters. 320 As the years passed, boatbuilding for inter-island and The guns... are visible in nine Philippines communication made salvage more brazas (about fifty feet) [of feasible,'Ll An expedition was planned in water1 about a league and a half 1683, but a stretch of severe weather aborted from the port of St. Joseph of it.322 Finally a successfui efTort was launched Raurau.. _in front of... Agingan, .. in April 1684, in the ruidst ofa larger operation to

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 62 pacify the islands north of Guam. Two Jesuits, attention to salvaging the guns Pedro Coomans and Mathias Cuculino and having salvaged five of the accompanied Don Jose de Quiroga and 60 armed smaller ones, on the next day men and islanders. More than forty·five years found sixteen and another in since the disaster, sections of the ship's hull, the form of a crassior which weighted down by the heavy cannon. were visible they call a mortar, designed for just off the shore of the village. The inhabitants firing bombs high in the of Agingan had stocks of timber planking, anchor air... 324 shanks and damaged anchors stored in their community, the refuse seen in earlier years. One In addition to these small ones, they were intent of the Jesuits, Fr. Cuculino, sounded for the guns on retrieving the largest, each weighing about and found them all in 7 fathoms (forty·two feet 4300 lbs. capable of firing 24 lb. balls. Although deep) of water, placed on top of the ribbing and it was believed that the ship might have carried planking of the ship.'23 As Father Coomans as many as 40 gunS'25 they reported from the reported to a correspondent at Rome, although site that they could see only about twenty-five rainy weather and harassment from a few hostile large guns. They proceeded to bring up one islanders set them back a day or two, their task, cannon per day each through the end of April and "to extract the guns which had lain for so long an early May, but were cut off on May 5 by an interval in their derelict grave in the sea," proved islanders' attack. Accounts of the total number of to be relatively easy. cannons retrieved ranged from sixteen to twenty smaller pieces (pedreros) and ten to fourteen ...Then [18 April], in our fmal larger ones (cu/verins), all of bronze. 326 advance, we reached the village Subsequently, two boats each loaded with called Agingan at the narrow ten pieces of artillery were delayed by the channel between this island and weather at Tinjan where the men were ambushed Tinian ... a government ship sailing in a careless moment. The boats were burned, from the Philippines Islands to and the guns were abandoned on the beach. New Spain was wrecked .... The Another twenty years elapsed before the governor inhabitants had fled from the at Guam, Antonio Villamor y Vadillo set about to place and we had quiet and no retrieve the Concepci6n's guns at Tinian. The danger to our bodies, beyond the certificate fIled in 1709 confirmed that he had emission of some missiles from sent to Manila a total of seventeen pieces of slings ... the next day [21 April] bronze artillery (four recovered in 1704 and having returned to camp ... before thirteen in 1705) as well as eight anchors, all from vespers he [Quiroga] gave the Concepcion. 327

63 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES '!'HE GALLEON TRADE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CEN'l'URY

In the long run the galleon trade remained alternative investments to galleon trading by the staple of Spaniards in the Philippines for at promoting export crops and Philippine least another one hundred years after the time of manufactures; it marginalized the more passive Governor Corcuera. It even experienced some­ merchant practices at Manila by aggressively thing of a boom in the 1690s, permitting a bridge pursuing trade goods, setting up contracts with of transition to :he ",odest good fortune of trade the Dutch and English East India Companies for througbout the Spanish Empire in the eighteenth spices and India cottons, respectively, and sending century. The ecO::lamic historian Pierre Chaunu its own factor to purchase silks in the Chinese has argued :or the significance of ,he revival of market at Canton; and it made incursions into the trade f:rst in the Pacific, and the possibility that galleons' prized Spanish American market by it had even acted as a catalyst for recovery after sending Asian textiles via Cadiz to Vera Cruz, 1700 in the Atlantic trade. with the result that the next galleon cargo from The old system of galleon trading persisted :Manila would frnd its sales much reduced in New until the impact of the policies of the Bourbon Spain."9 dynasty, which succeeded the decrepit Hapsburgs However, the twilight years of the galleons, in 1700, and took hold after 1750 to change the those after 1785, were aiso marked by a more terms of the trade and expand the base of the general transformation of the commercial system economy by promoting agricultural development. of the Spanish Empire under Bourbon direction, The projects originated in Spain, fmally tipping which ended the antiquated pretense to trade the balance in the struggle for control of the trade monopoly and replaced the fleets by "free trade" away from the colonists and toward Seville and throughout the colonies between 1748 and 1789. Ciidiz. With the initiation of direct sea voyages The entry points to colonial markets multiplied between Cadiz and ~fanila in the late 17605, the and the trade at Acapulco was no longer a unique character ofthe galleo:1 as the sole regular prindple axis of exchange. With the declared link to the eastern and westerr: sectors of the opening of the port of Manila to friendly nations Spanish empire was destroyed. The second major in 1790, the privileged position of the galleons innovation which undermined the traditional receded into the past. mechanisms of the trade was the establishment of Finally in the last years of the eighteenth the Manila Consulado in 1769.'" For the Hrst and in the flrst decade of the nineteenth t.ime, a body of established merchants a~sumed centuries! conditions of war and revolution, not control of the annual galleon sailing at the simply administrative reforms, spearheaded expense ofthe direct supervision and interference change. The movement for independence plunged of governors and treasury officers. Just as:1O one New Spain into rebellion beginning in 1810. The official could engross the cargo, the old burning of Acapulco by patriot forces in 1813 pe'qrnsites, especially those which had allowed for razed the last of the colonial structures which the distribution of shares in the voyage to a underpinned the galleon trade in Mexico. In the variety of,esidents of Manila, were extinguished. same year, liberal revolutionaries in Spain The third attack upon the customary trade was declared a defmitive end to the galleon line. The the establishmel1t of the Royal Pbilippine 'Chi'lli Ship" of 1811, detained in port for several Company b 178.5, bringing to fruition an idea years because of the hostilities, fmally sailed from which had a number of supporters in Spab since Acapulco in 1815 as the last of the galleons, at least the 1730s. The Company had a wide area ending the 2.50·year history of extraordinary ofactivity, but its principal consequel1ces for the navigation. galleon trade were the following: it created

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES LIST OF CREDITS

~ Description

4 Manila Galleon Under Full Sail, painting by Roger D. Morris, Apex Collection

5 The Pacific Ocean by Abraham Ortelius, 1589, Map Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

6 Manila Bay, engraving by De Bry, 1616, Rare Books Collection, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

6 Chinese and Filipino Traders, painting by Cesar Legazpi from the Collection of Alfredo Roces

8 Biamba, Namban Screen attributed to Kano DOnll 1593 . 1600, Courtesy Instituto Portugues do Patrim6nio Cultural for the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon

17 Jewelry a.od Spices, photograph by Sisse Brimberg, National Geographic Society, Washington, D.C.

20 Gold Chains, photograph by Sisse Brimberg, National Geographic Society, Washington, D.C.

20 Gold Shoe Encrusted with Diamonds, photograph by Sisse Brimberg, National Geographic Society, Washingt.on, D.C.

21 Silver Mines at Potosi. Bolivia, engraving by De Bry 1602. Rare Books Collection, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

21 Silver Bars from the Wreck of the Alacha, Sunk in 1622. Courtesy Dylan Kibler and the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society, Key West, Florida

21 Silver Coins from the Wreck of the Atocha, sunk in 1622, Courtesy Dylan Kibler and the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society. Key West, Florida

28 The Padfic Ocean by G. Tatton & B. Wright, 1600, Map Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

30 Cutaway of Loaded Galleon, painting by Roger D. Morris. Apex Collection

31 Shipyards at Cauite, painting by Noel Escultura from the Collodion of Alfredo Races

36 Recovered Storage Jars. photograph by Maura Rinaldi

38 Magellan on Voyage of Discovery to Philippines, engraving by De Bry, Rare Books Collection, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

40 Chart of the Philippines, from George Anson's Voyage Around the World, Printed 1928, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

45 Starving Passengers, painting by Robert E. McGinnis, Courtesy National Geographic Society, Washington, D.C.

45 Plan of the Harbour ofkapulco, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

46 Merchants at Acapulco Trade Fair, painting by Robert E. McGinnis, Courtesy National Geographic SOCiety, Washington, D.C.

65 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 49 Acapulco Harbour, engraving by De Bry, 1616, Rare Books Collection, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

52 Concepcion Getting Underway in Cooite Harbor, painting by Roger D. Morris, Apex Collection

54 Wreck Scene at Agingan Reef, painting by Roger D. Morris, Apex Colledion

55 Galleon and Proas, engraving by De Bry, Rare Books Collection, Library of Congress, Washingt.on, D,C.

56 Guam Island Practices of the Old Inhabitants, engraving from drawing by A. Pellion, around 1818, while on a voyage around the world with Captain Louis de Freyeinet 1817 - 1820, Courtesy Special Collections, UCLA Library, Los Angeles

57 Mariana Islands Practices ofOld Inhabitants Fishing, engraving from drawing by A. Pellion, around 1818, while on a voyage around the world with Captain Louis de Freycinet 1817 - 1820, Courtesy Special Collections, UCLA Library, Los Angeles

NOTES

Abbreviations Used In Endnotes

AGI Archivo General de India., (Seville)

AGN Archivo General de la Nadon (Mexico City)

ARSI Archivum Romanorurn Societas Iesu (Rome)

BR The Philippines Islands, 1493-1898, Blair and Robertson, cds.

L On the Spauish colonial commercial system see Clarence Henry Haring, Trade and Navigation in the Time of the Hapsburgs (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1918) or the more recent review in Geoffrey J, Walker, Spanish Politics and Imperial Trade, 1700-1789 (Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1979), pp. 1-15, The Pacific trade has been relatively understudied with the exception of the classic account of William Lytle Schurz, The Manila Galleon (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1939; Dutton Paperback, 1959), a masterful and entertaining work, The intent ofthis essay Vias to re1urn to original materials used by Schurz in order to impart, as he does so engagingly, much of the tone of the contemporary sources, as well as to look more closely at the trade as it was in the second quarter of the seventeenth century. Thus while his contribution is generally acknowledged he is not extensively cited, The author also relied on archival notes supplied to Pacific Sea Resources by other scholarly researchers, The reports and materials provided by Dr, Peter Earle and Dr. David D. Hebb were especially helpful and their contribution is most gratefully acknowledged,

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 66 2. Juan Grau y Monfhlcon, "Memo"ial of 1640," in The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Emma Helen Blair and.James Alexander Robertson, eds. (Cleveland: Arthur Clark, 1903-1909), vol. 29, p. 66 (hereafter cited as BR volume number:page).

3. "Admiral HieronL"no Banuelos y Carillo's Relation [l63B]," BR 29:66.

4. Diego de [Aniega], "Relation of t.he Western =slands called Filipinas," [Mexico, 1573], BR 3:190.

5. ?>L A P. :'.1eilink-Roelofsz, Asian Trade and European Influence in the lndonesian Archipelago (The Hague: :\[artinus Nihjoff, 1962:; The Chinese in the Philippines, 1570-1770, ed, AJ[onso Felix (Manila: Sotidaridad Publishlng House. 1966).

6. ~yle N. :\'!cAlister, Spain and Portugal in the New World (ML-meapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1984).

7. Survey of early \'oyages in Nicholas P. Cushner, Spain in the Philippines (Quezon CityiRutJand, Vt.: Institute of Philippines Culture, Marcila University/Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1971) pp. BIT.

8. Meilin.1t-Roe:ofsz, p. 120.

9. Fernand Braude!, The Wheels of Commerce, Civilization and Capitalism, 15-18th Century, vol. 2, trans. Sian Reynolds (New York: Harper & Row, 1982), p. 221.

10. Fernand Braudel, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, 2 vols., trans. Sian Reynolds, (New York: Harper & Row, 1972) 1:553 citing Earl,J. Hamilton, American Treasure and the Price Revolution in Spain.

11. Cushner, p. 50.

12. "Letter fro,"" royal officials" BR 2:191.

13. Cushner, p. 64.

14. "Relation .of the Filipinas Islands," BR 3:58.

15. Letter to Philip July 8. 1569, BR 34:225.

16. "Relation of the Voyage to Luzon," BR 3:76.

17, Cushner, p. 76,

18. Ib:d., p. 97.

19. John Leddy Phelan, Hispanization of the Philippines Cvfadison: University ofWisconsin Press, 1967), pp. 41,100.

20. Hernando de Riquel, Manila, [1573]. BR 3:243, 245.

21. BR 3:247-248.

22. Viceroy to the King, December 5, 1573. BR 3:214.

23. Ibid., BR 3:212.

24. Ibid, pp. 212-213.

67 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 25. Spanish ollicers fresh from the American conquests believed China could be conquered with "60 good Spanish soldiers." Hernando de Riquel et ai, "News from the Western Islands" [1573], BR 3:247.

26. Juan Pacheco Maldonado to Philip II, Manila [1575], BR 3:299.

27. BR 3:313-314.

28. P. Pablo Pastelis, "Histona general de las Islas Filipinas," in Catalogo de los documenlos relativos a las Islas Filipinas e.ustentes en el Archivo de Indias de Sevilla por D. Francisco Nava•• del Valle, 9 vols. (Barcelona, 1934), 7(1): ccxxv-ccx! (hereafter cited as Pastel\s, HistonaICataiogo).

29. BR 17:27.

30. BR 34:399-401.

31. BR 17:28.

32, BR 17:29-50,

33. Schurz, p. 155.

34. Woodrow Borah. Early Colonial Trade and Navigation between Mexico and Peru (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1954).

35. Casimiro Dfaz on the interim governor, D. J= Manuel de ]a Pella (1669-1670), BR 37:273-274.

36. Phelan, pp. 136, 144-45.

37. Cushner, p. 1.07.

38. Phelan characterized "Hispanization" as indirect, partial, but in the end more successful than the Spanish conquest in Mexico and Peru, pp. 153·159.

39. Robert R. Reed, Colonial Manila: The Context ofHispanic Urbanism and Process ofMorphogenesis, University of California Publications in Geography, v. 22 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979), p, 33. The population of Mexico City [1683] was ar01md 400,000, including 72,000 Spaniards. Irving Leonard, Baroque Times in Old Mexico (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1966), p. 159.

40. Tomas de Comyn, "State of the Philippines in 1810," The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes, ed. Austin Craig (Manila; Philippine Education Company, 1916), p. 358,

41. Antonio de Morga, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, ed. J.S. Cununins (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1971), p. 30L

42. "Father Juan Cobo's Account," The Chinese in the Philippines, 1550-1770 pp.134-135.

43. Reed, p. 62.

44. Morga, pp. 281-287.

45. Simon Lopez [15861 in Reed, p. 56.

46. Cobo [1589J, The Chinese in the Philippines, p. 137.

47. Ibid., p. 126.

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 68 "i8" Alberto Santamaria, 'The Chinese Parian," ibid., pp. 67-118; Gregorio F" Zaide, The Pageant of Philippine History, 2 vols. (j,faniia, Philippine Education Company, 1979), 1:435-439.

49.. Reed, p. 53: So'1'J~z, p" 117; 1620 legislation on size of population, BR 22:157.

50.. Phelan acgued that the Philippines were relatively unscathed by effects of conquest, but see Magino Sola, S.J. 'Ir,forme al Rey ... [1659l: native population in the Pintados under Jesuit jurisdiction fell from 50,000 to 12.000 in the seventeenth century.

51. '.iacao in the same period had a population of 850 Portuguese families, "Macao in 1635, by Antonio Bo~acro.' Seuenteenth Century MacaD, ed. and trans.. CR Boxer (Hong Kong: Heinemarm (Asia), 1984), P? :4-:6,21-22,24"

52. George Bryan Souza The Survival of Empire: Portuguese Trade and Society in China and the South China Sea (Cambridge: Cambridge Urjversity Press, 1986), p .. 4.

53. William S. Anvell, "Notes on Silver, Trade and the Late Ming Economy," Ching-shih wen't'i, III, 8 (December 1977), 7. On the districts of the potteries, see Rinaldi elsewhere in this report.. On Fukien, see Eyelyn S .. Rawski, Agricultural Change and the Peasant Economy of South China, (Cambridge. :'.lassachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1972), pp. 66-68.

54. Raws;U, p .. 66..

55. :'.Iorga, pp. 305-306.

56. Ibid", p. 306.

57.. BR 29:307-308"

58. Morga, p. 307.

59. Peter Boyd-Bayman, "Spa'1ish and European TextCos in Sixteenth Century Mexico," The Americas, 29:3 335

60. Ibid., p. 334.

61. Grau y Monfalcon, Memorial of 1637, BR 27:55-212. On goods and prices in ohe eady seventeenth century, see "Appendix: Buying and Selling Prices of Oriental Products," BR 19:303·319.

62. No other Philippines products had commercial value in "ew Spain, see 17208 arguments in BR 44:287 ..

63. Ibid. "Chiaese porcelain is shipped in small quantity, being mainly an article of luxury..... ; moreover it is bulky and fragiJe." Elsewhere, porcelain is considered "low-priced ballast goods' along with zinc, altun, and radix China." See Souza, p .. 46"

64. Thomas Gage's Travels in the New World, ed. J. Eric S. T'lompson (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1958), pp.. 67-68.

65 .. Ibid., p .. 70 ..

66. 'Extracto Historial," BR 44:287. The "Extracto Historial" is a collection of material on the history of the galleon trade, comprised of papers considered by the Council of the Indies in its deli'oerations on its regulation. It was originally published as Extracto Historial de! expediente que pende en el Consejo Real, y Supremo de las Indias, a Instancia de la Ciudad de Manila.... (j,fadrid, 1736). A modem version is Antonio Alvarez de Abreu, Extracto Histarial del Comercio entre China, Filipinasy Nueva Espana, intra., notes and ed. Carmen Yuste, 2 vols" (:'.iexico: Instituto Mexicano de Comercio Exterior, 1977). Sections

69 PACIHC SEA RESOURCES of lete 1736 edition are excerpted in English translation in BR, vols. 30, 44 and 45.

67. On efforts to increase spice trade at Manila in the 16708 see Diaz, Conquisias in BR 37:235. But in the 17208 Manila comidered that the Mexican spice market was fully satisfied by Spauish merchants at Vera Cruz, Extracto Historial, BR 44:287.

68. See Tapan Rauchauduri, Jan Company in Coromandol, 1605-1690 (S'Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1962), p. 128; on cloth trade at 1>fanila in the governorship of D. Manuel de Leon Saravia (1669-1677), see Diaz, Conquistas, in BR 37:276-277.

69. On varieties and markets for East India cottons, see Holden Furber, Rival Empires of Trade in the Orient. 1600-1800 (Mirmeapolis: University of Mirmesota. 1976), p. 241.

70. Peter Boyd-Bowman, 'Two Country Stores in XVII Century Mexico, ' The Americas 28:3 (1972), 246­ 248.

71. Fernand Braudel, "'''heels, p. 200.

72. Ibid. p. 198.

73. Om Prakash, 'Precious Metal Flows in Asia and World Economic Integration in the Seventeenth Century," in The Emergence ofa World Economy, 1500-1914, ed8. Wolfram Fischer et al. Part I (Stuttgart: Steiner, 1986!, p. 87.

74. Braudel, v."heels, p. 199.

75. Ibid., p.198, citing Boxer, The Great Ship, p. 6: "Como oS chinos sentirao prata, em montoes trouxerao fazendas. u

76. The expression was "plata sa sangre in the pidgin Spauish of the Chinese at Manila, according to Fray Sebasti§.o Manrique. cited in Charles Ralph Boxer, "'Plata os Sangre': Sidelights on the Drain of Spanish American Silver to the Far East," Philippine Studies, 3 (1970), 462.

77. Gov. Juan NiflO de Tavora to the King, Manila. Augus: 4, 1628. BR 22:248.

78. Boxer, The Great Ship from Amacon: lvwals ofMacao and the Old ,Japan Trade, 1555-1640 (Lisbon: Centro de Estudos Historieos Ultramari:lOs, 1963), p. 1.

79. Braudel. p. 204.

80. Ibid., p. 196, quoting P. Boisg1.lilbert.

81. Boxer, Great Ship, p. 1.

82. Harry E. Cross, "South American Bullion Production and Export, 1550·1750" in J. F. Richards, ed., Precious Metals and the Later Medieval and Early Modern Worlds (Durham, North ('.arolina: Carolina Academic Press, 1983), pp. 403·404.

83. Ibid., pp. 399-400.

84. Pierre Chaunu, us Philippines et Ie Pacifique des Iberiques (Paris: S.E.V.P.E.N., 1960), p. 269.

85. Souza. Survival of Empire, p. 74.

86. The Travels and Controversies ofFriar Domingo Navarette, ed. J.S. Cummins (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1962), 1:142.

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 70 87. Morga, p. 305.

88. Schurz, p. 76.

89. Souza, Survival ofEmpire, p. 68; see Gaspar de Acebo, notary public of the city, "Statement regarding the fulfillment of the decree of his Majesty. Cited in clause 31 of the governor's letter of July 12, 1599," BR 10:289.

90. Morga, p. 307.

91. Schurz, p. 78.

92. ~lorga, p. 307.

93. King to Palafox, Madrid, February 14, 1640, "Informatory decree regarding the question to what extent and on what plan shall the commerce of the islands with Nueva Espaila hereafter proceed," BR 30:81-92.

94. Meilink-Roelofsz, pp. 182-185, 264-265.

95. Morga p. 307.

96. See discussion of business act.ivities as source of livelihood of Manila colonists in 1599-1600 and the 1620s, Luis Merino, The Cabildo Secular (Iloi!o:University of San Agustin, 1980), p. 57.

97. On the consulado, organized 1769-1771, see Marfa Teresa Martin Palma, El Consulado de Manila (Granada: Universidad de Granada, 1981).

98. Population lists discussed in Merino 1) drawn up in 1599-1600 under the governor Francisco Tello, pp. 49-53; 2) the municipal list of 1634. pp. 106-118.

99. Tenorio was denounced around 1634 for carrying 13,000 pesos to invest in Macao, see, Interim Gov. Juan Cerezo de Salamanca, Manila, 10 August 1634, BR 24:313; Custiner, p. 108. Venegas was said to have once been a good man when he was just a rich merchant, but was hated as a powerful figure in Fajardo's regime. His mansion in the city later became the governor's palace.

100. Merino, p. 56; Capt. Joseph Navada Alvarado, et al, ''Discussion regarding Portuguese trade at Manila," BR 25:111 If.

101. Merino, p. 56.

102. In 1726 the junta of five men was officially increased to seven "ith the addition of a merchant representative. Extracto Historial, 1:320.

103. Le Genti!, p. 157.

104. Grau y Monfalcon, Memorial of 1637, BR 27:176-177.

105. In 1634 there were 421 adults (230 males), and 200 children (below the age of eighteen), plus 44 widows. See the TTMatricula de los vecinos efectivQs, espailoles residentes en Manila y pueblos extramuros de la ciudad, hecha por el Cabi!do, Justicia y Regimiento de ella, por orden de su Governador Don Juan Cerezo de Salamanca, en 25 de Julio de 1634," Pastells, Historia/Cat61ogo, 7 (1), ccxxxv-ccxxxviii.

106. See "Memoria de las viudas que hay en esta ciudad de Manila, 25 de Julio 1634," ibid., ccxxxix-ccx\.

107. Rios Coronel, BR 18:291.

71 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 108. See request for information about the custom ofgiving toneladas to the city council, King to Governor, Madrid, 27 March 1637, Pastells, Cat{dogo, 8, 108, and the affirming their rights, 28 August 1641, ibid., p.173.

109. Carmen Yuste L6pez, El Comercio de La Nueva Espana con Filipinas, 1590-1785, Colecci6n Cientifica, 109. Fuentes Historia Econ6mica (Mexico: Departamento de Investigaciones Historicas, Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, 1984), p. 31.

110. Pastells, COla/ago, 7(2):440, 8:105.

111. Pastelli, Catalogo, 8: 17.

112. Archbishop Serrano to the King, August 1622, BR 20.

113. Memorandum, Council of the Indies, July 15, 1633, Pastells, 7(2):356.

114. Memorial from the city of Manila [1640J, Pastells, 8:163.

115. Carletti, pp. 69-91 is on the Mexican and Philippine portion of t.heir journey. This merchant of Florence (b. 1573--d. 1636) went from Seville, with his father, Antonio, to the Indies in 1594, passed through the Philippines in 1596. en route to Japan, China, Macao (where his father died), Malacca, Goa, and returned to Europe via the Cape, St Helena, Holland, and finally to Florence by 1606. The Ragionamenti (Chronicles) were first published in 1701. See tra!lslator's note, p. xiv.

116. Carletti, p. 70.

117. Le Gentil, pp. 154-155.

118. Fr. JoaquIn Martinez de Zuiiiga, O.SA, Status ofthe Philippines in 1800 (J\Ianila: Filipiniana Book Guild, 1973), p. 219.

119. Ibid" p. 215.

120_ Ibid., pp. 205-206.

121. Ibid., pp. 205-206, 215, 219.

122. eushner, Spain in the Philipp;nes, pp. 139-152.

123. Murdo McCleod, Spanish Central America: ASocioeconomic History, 1520-1720 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973), p. 169.

124. Ibid., p. 166.

125. Ibid., pp. 165-170.

126. Gemelli Careri, A Voyage Round the World, Part VI, A Collection of Voyages and Travels, edB. Awnsham and John Churchill, (London, 1704), 4:501 fr.

127. Louisa Schell Hoberman, "Merchants in Seventeenth Century Mexico City: A Preliminary Portrait," Hispanic American Historical Review, 37 (1977) 479-503.

128. BR 23:48-49; Merino, pp. 55-56.

129. BR 23:49.

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 72 130. BR 23:48-49; Merino, p. 56.

131. Juan Nino de Tavora to Philip IV, Cavite, August 1, 1629 BR 23:50.

132. Pastells, Cat61ogo, 8:65.

133. Pastells, Cata/ago, 8:107.

134. !>femorial ofthe Consulado of Andalusia of 1723: : "... se debi6 aquletar la mano 0 direecion, que Mexico mueve CO:1 voz de Manila" (see Extracto Historial1:241) has previously been translated as "check the hand which 'Mexico moves at the command of Manila. BR 44:304. The interpretation that it is Mexico which moves but allows Manila to speak seems more to the point.

135. On the Atlantic galleons in the seventeenth century, see Carla Rahn Phillips, Six Galleons for the King of Spain: Imperial Defense in the Early Seventeenth Century (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986), pp. 44-45.

136. On the history of sailing ships in the Pacific see Roger Morris, Pacific Sail: Four Centuries ofWestern Ships in the Pacific (Southhampton, England: Ashford, 1987).

137. Discussion of size and variatio!:s in Spanish and Portuguese terminology for carracks, naos and galleons in C.R Boxer, The Tragic History ol the Sea, 1589-1622, The Hakluyt Society, Second Series, No. CXII (Camhridge: The Hakluyt Society/Cambridge University Press, 1959), pp. 1-5.

138. Ibid., p. 4.

139. Schurz, p. 340-ML

140. The Andalusian merchants in 1735 complained that between deck space in Manila galleons did not conform to usual dimensions because it was left to "the discretion of the builders and according to the end for which :1 was being constructed." Extracto Historial 2:438.

141. Joseph Gonzalez Cahrera Bueno, Navegaci6n Especulativa y Practica [Manila, 1734]. intro. and ed. Michael Mathes, Collecion Chimalistac de Libras y Docmnentos Acerca de la Nueva Espana, vol. 31 (Madrid: Ediciones Jose Porrua Turanzas. 1970), p. 316.

142. As an alternative to the typical European formula, Cabrera Bueno provides one in use in the Philippines in his era a7308): (Keel + Length) , 2 x (Beam + 2) x Depth of Hold - .05 + 8, in Navegad6n, p. 316. Compare Phillips, pp. 30-31, 229.

143. Extracto Historiai, BR 45:82.

144. Cabrera Bueno, p. 317.

145. In 1723, a representative of the Consulado at Cadiz, a group of Spanish metropolitan merchants opposed to Pacific trade, declared that the practice of overloading the vessel by constructing sheds on the half-decks (combes) made the ship look like a "lugar poblado." Extracto Hislarial, 1:205,

146. Grau y Monfalcon, Memorial of 1637, BR 27:130.

147. Calculated from records of accounts, ibid., 133-134.

148. Pablo Emilio Perez-Mailaina Bueno and Biblano Torres Ramirez, La Armada del Mar de/ Sur (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-Americanos, 1987), pp. 100-109.

149. "Feodor Jagor's Travels in the Ph:ilippines," The Former Philippin.es thru Foreign Eyes, p. 75.

73 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 150. BR 18: 169-188.

1.51. "Events in the Philippines, 1643-44," BR 35: 176; Letters from the ship Seahorse at Manila in 1644, The English Factones in India, 1618-1669, ed. Sir William Foster, 13 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906-1927), 7:224.

152. Navarette, 1:92.

153. Jose Vila, O.P. et al. BR 44:125'127.

154. Fray Juan de Medina, "Histona de la Orden de S. Agustin de Estas Islas Filipinas [1630]," BR 24:113.

155. Grau y Monfalcon, Memorial of 1637, BR 27:131 If; Corcuera to the King, BR 26:231-251.

156. Pineda [1619], BR 18:171-172.

157. Navarette, 2:39.

158. Alexander de Humboldt. Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown, 1811), 4:73-74.

159. Perez lIIallaina on the same practice in seventeenth century Peru, pp. 26-27.

160. Guillaume Joseph Hyacinthe Jean Batiste Le Gentil de la Galais;ere [Le Gentill. A Voyage to the Indian Seas [1761-1769J (Manila: Filipiniana Book Guild, 1964), p. 160.

161. Ibid., p. 135.

162. "Banuelos y Carillo's Relation," BR 29:83.

163. Sebastian de Pino, BR 18:184.

164. The instructions by Fray Alavaro Benevente for Augustian commissaries in the late seventeenth century has been puhlished by Manuel Merino, O.S.A., "EI alista:nento misionero en el siglo XVII 0 avisos para los comisarios reclutadores," Missionalia Hispanica II, 5 (1945), 359.

165. D. Pedro Manuel de Arandla y Santestevan, Ordenanzas de Marina para los Navios del Rey de las Islas Filipinas que en Guerray con Reales Permissos Hacen Viages al Reyno de laNueua Espana, u Otro Destino del Real Servico (Manila, 1751).

166. Charles R. Boxer. "Sailing Orders for the Manila Galleons of 1635·1636," Terrae Incognitae. IV (1972), 7-17.

167. Shurz, p. 271.

168. Arandia y Santestevan, Ordenanzas, pp. 10·12.

169. Carla Ralm Phillips, "Life at Sea in the Sixteenth Century: The [,andlubber's Lament of Eugenio de Salazar (University of Minnesota, The James Ford Bell Lectures, Number 24, 1987), p. 8. Journal from a 16th century Atlantic crossing.

170. Philippine Jesuits in Exile: The Journals ofFrancisco Puig, S.J., J 768-1770, ed. and trans., Nicholas P. Cushner, S.J (Rome: Institutum Historicum S.L, 1964), p. 64.

171. Arandla y Santestevan, Ordenanzas, pp. 61-67.

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 74 172. Ibid., p. 63; Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri, A Voyage to the Philippines, (Manila: Filipiniana Book Guild, 1963). p. 139.

173. ":';1 Galeon de Manila". in Artes de Mexico, p. 27.

174. Arandia y Santesteyan, Ordenanzas, p. 61.

175. Julian de Zulueta and Lola Higuera., "Health and Navigation in the South Seas: 'l'he Spanish Experience," Stan;ing Sailors: The Influence ofNutrition upon Naval and Maritime History (Green"ich, England: National ;\laritime Museum, 1981), pp. 90·91.

176. George lUlson, A Voyage Round the World, ed. Glynd"T Williams (London: Oxford University Press), p.222.

177. Gemelli Careri, p. 127.

178. Anson, pp. 222·223,

: 79. :1ferino, "Alist=:ento," p. 355, 359.

180, Francesco Carletti, My Voyage Around the World, trans, Herbert Weinstock (New York: Pantheon Books, 1964), p. 79.

181. Anson, p. 222.

182. Harry A ~lorton, The Wind Commands: Sailors and Sailing Ships in the Pacific (Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University :975~. p. 173.

183. Gemelli Careri, p. 131.

184. Le Gentil, p,162; Arandia y Santestevan, Ordenanzas, p. 7.

185. Boxer, "Sailing Orders," p. 13,

186, Extracto Historial, 1:270.

187, "Sailing Orders," p. 13.

188. Jagor,Travels," p. 80.

189. Gemelli Cared's is the most extensive description of a seventeenth century voyage. Book Three of his Giro del Mondo appears in the Manila (1963) edition, pp. 131·173.

190, Boxer, "Sailing Orders," p, 12.

191. Gemelli Careri, p, 139.

192. CuslmeriPuig, pp. 63 If.

193. Cubero Sebastian in Jose Miguel Quintana, "A Joumey from the Philippines to New Spain in the XVII Century; Artes de Mexico, No. 143 (1971),47.

194. Ibid.

195, Gemelli Careri, p. 148.

75 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 196. QClintana, 48.

197. Gemelli Careri, p. 161.

198. Quintana, 48.

199. The most extrer::e case of deaths aboard the galleon was the fate of the San Jose which was dlscovered drifter:;; past Acapulco after a year at sea in 1657. All aboard had perished of dlsease or starvation, Schurz. p. 266.

200. Gemelli Careri, p. 163.

201. De Zuleta and Higueras, pp. 90·9~.

202. Xayarette, 1:41.

20:3 Gemelli Careri, p. 169.

204. ''The gentleman come ashore," that is the anticipated arrival of the galleon, was regularly remarked u~on in the mid· seventeenth oentury Mexico City dlary of Gregorio Martin de Guldo, Diario, 1648·1664, 2 vols. (Mexico: Edltorial Porrua, 1953)

205. Gemelli Careri. ~. 168.

206. Quintana, 48.

207. Merino, "Alistamento," 308.

208. Book rv of Giro del Mondo in A Collection of Voyages and Travels, cds. Awnsham and Johu Churchill, (London, 1704), 4:501 ff.

209. Navarette. 1:38: :'lerino, "Alistamento," 308.

2~j. Gemelli Careri, A Coilection, 4:474 ff.

211. Ibid., 478.

212. Xavarette, 2:391.

213. Navarette, 1:32-36; Humboldt on the "Asiatic Road," 4:4"5.

214. "Banuelos y Carillo's Relation," BR 29:83.

215. Chaunu, pp. 156·157.

216. "It is certain, and has been observed in Manila, that since the loss of the trading fleet of the year ,1]629 [sic], and their unfortunate experiences with [storms in] the Northern Sea, the winterings, the disasters, the averias, the embargoes, the delays, and the burdens Cimposedj at Sevilla, the merchants in Mexico have decided to export more to Filipinas than to Espana." Grau y Monfalcon, Memorial of 1637, BR 27:156.

217. J.1. Israel, Race, Class and Politics in Colonial Mexico, 1610-1670 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1975), p. 101.

218. "Memorial to the King by Juan Grau y Monfalcon in the Year 1635; BR 25:48 ff.

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 76 219. Pastells, Cata/ogo, 8:30 and 8:99.

220. Corcuera to Quiroga, 20 August, 1637, Filiipinas 21.

221. English Fcctories [1644] 223, 226.

222. Navare:te, 1:40.

223. See Guijo's notes on the Philippines governor's arrival aboard the galleon and sojourn in Mexico City in 1650, Diario 1:86-109 passim.

224. A portion of the papers relating to the efforts ofCorcuera to reverse the judgement of the residencia appears in Pastells, HistorialCatalogo 8:xix'xlii,

225. See letter of the governor to the King, 4 August 1650, and letter of the City ofManila [16501 in Colin­ Labor Evangelica de los Obreros de fa. Campania de JesUs en las Islas Filipinas, ed. Pastel1, S,J. (Barcelona, 1904), 1II:540·543.

226. Boxer, Jan Compagnie in War and Peace, 1602-1799: A Short History of the Dutch East India Company. (Hong Kong: Heinemann Asia 1979) p. 23.

227. The actual sailing date of the g-alleons of 1638 is not rl:110wn with certail'lty. Copies of the annual official correspondence beM dates between July 80 and August 31. A departure on or about August 10 is assumed since the ships had to have reached the vicinity of the Ladrones by the second part of September, the time of the Concepcion's loss.

228. Casimiro Diaz, Conquistas de laB IsiaB Filipina.. (Valladolid, 1890), p. 402.

229, The Concepcion, the admiral ship in 1636. was larger in the hold t1'"an her companion, the capitana San Juan Baptista. Corcuera to the King, Cavite, August 11, l636. BR 26:288-289. The San ,Juan Baptista was seen at Macao, in September, 1638, by Peter Mundy, an English merchant adventurer, who described her as "about 700 tunnes." "Shee had about 500 Men and 24 peeces ofbrasse ordnance:' The Travels of Peter 1fundy in Europe and Asia, 1608-1667 ed. Lt. Col. Sir Richard Carnac Temple, The Hakluyt Society, Second Series, No. XLV (London: The Halduyt Society, 1919), 3:60.

230. [Juan Lopez, 8.J.], "Events in the Philippines, 1637-38," BR 29:43,

231. AGI, Contaduria 1218 (1638),

232. Corcuera to the King, Manila, June 30, 1636, BR 26:137; Cavite, July :1, 1636, BR 26:288-289.

233. Cabildo of Manila, 2 August 1638, Pastells, Catalogo 8:89; Ediet of the King, Madrid, 14 February 1640, BR 30:88; Extracto Historial, 1:84.

234. Corcuera to the King, July 31, 1638, AGI, F'ilipinas 8.

235. Escalona to the King, Manila, August 31, 1638, BR 29:59.

236. "Testimonio en Relaci6n de la Residencia que el Senor D. Diego Fajardo est'; tomando a Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera," AGI, Filipinas 22, ramo 2 no. 19 (1645) fol. 47.

237, Francisco 'l'irollmonti] to the King, Mexico City, 8 July 1641, AGI, Mexico, 152, r.2.

238. AlJegediy he had made the purchase out of the estate of the Auditor Alcaraz, using 5,000 pesos obtained as a gratuity from the Sangley community for rescuing Chinese hostages, BR 29:28; later he was charged in the residencia for obtaining it at a low price (1,872 pesos) from the probate court, Pastelis,

77 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES HiBlorialeatalago, 9:xxv.

2-39. A published summary of the charges in the "Residencia" of Corcuera appears in Pastells, Historia/CatCdogo, 9:xix·xxx.

240. Bafiuelos y Carillo, BR 29:69, 77. Cushner, Spain in the Philippines, p. 250.

241. AGl, Contaduria 1218.

242. Pastells, Callilogo, 6:239-240. Vides may have been kin to Silvestre Aybar, merchant, ibid., 7(2):359. Vide. and Aybar appear in "Matricula de los vecinos efect;vos ...16M: ibid. 7(1):ccxxv-ccxl.

243. Council of the Indies, 26 May 1634, ibid. 7(2):386.

244. Pastells, ibid 7(2;:370.

245. 'The Conquest of Mindanao," BR 27:254, 270, 279; "Events in the Filipinas, 1637-38: BR 29:30. According to Navarette, his death was caused not by wounds received in the military campaign, hut tbe misfortune to have been pwUshed for his role in Governor Corcuera's scandalous conflict with Manila's archbishop in 1636. See Navarette, 2:392.

246. "Relation of 1635-36, BR 26::31-32; Diaz, p. 395.

247. "Testimonio, AGI, Filipinas 22, r. 2, no. 19 (1645), f.46.

248. Ibid.

249. Tirol[montiJ to the King, 8 July 1641.

250. See "Probanza fecha por parte desta ciudad de Manila en 1a demanda de capitules contra D. Sebastian..... AGI, Escribania de Camara 409c, Quademo 17, fs. 486-557.

251. Ibid.

252. Ibid., f. 528v.

253. Ibid., f. 539.

254. "Events in the Philipinas from the Year 1638 to that of 1689," BR 29:168.

255. Gemelli Cared, p. 141.

256. Catletti, p. 75.

257. Mission in the Marianas: An Account of Father Diego Luis de Sanuitores and His Companions, 1669-1670. Trans. with commentary, Ward Barrett (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1975) p. 22.

258. See Matjorie G. Driver, 'Tray Juan Pobre de Zamora and His Account of the Mariana Islands," Journal of Pacific History, 18 (1983) and "Fray Juan Pobre de Zamora: Hitherto Unpublished Accounts ofhis Residence in the Mariana Islands," Journal ofPacific History. 23 (1988); both articles were reprinted as "Fray Juan Pabre in the Marianas 1602," Micronesian Area Researcb Center Cy[ARC), University of Guam, 1989.

259. Driver, "Juan Pabre," [MARC], 1989, p. 15.

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 78 260. Mission in the Marianas, p. 21.

261. Gemelli Careri, p. 144; Driver (1983), 21:; :\1ARC (1989), p. 29.

262. Driver, 'Fray Juan Pobre: (1983), 205,213.

263. Driver, (1989;, p. 26.

264. AGI, Mexico 35, Viceroy to the King, Mexico, 28 February 1639, f. 13; AGI, Mexico 75, Audiencia to tbe Kir.g. 4 "farcr. 1639, AGI, Mexico 152 (1641), Francisco Tirolmonti to the King, Mexico, 8 July 1641,

265. AGI, Mexico 326, Oficios reales (1639).

266. [Juan Lopez, S.J.1, "Events in the Philippines, 1638·39,' in BR 29;157.

267. "Events... 1638-39,' BR 29:166.

268. "Events... 1638-39, 29;168-169.

269. Palapag is just beyond Cape Espirito SarI to. a frequent first landfall in the Philippines. If necessary g'alleons entered port at BorQngan. Descri;:Jtion of Jesuit establishments in the region in Colin,-Pastells, 793-794.

270..:2:vents... 1638·38," 29:171.

271. Ibid.

272. BR 29:171; Ayer Ms. Newberry Library, Academia Real de la Historia, Madrid, "Papeles de los Jesuitas;' T. 84, n. 35.

273. ":2:venrs in the Filip;nas Islands, from August, 16S9, to August, 1640," BR 29:194.

274. Ibid.

275. Ibid.

276. Ibid. 29:195.

277. "Events in the Philippines, 1638·1639," BR 29:196.

278. Ibid. 29:200-201.

279. King to Coreuera, Zaragosa, August 4, 1643, BR 35: 165- 166. The episode figured in one of the charges brought against Corcuera in the residencia. See Pastells, IIistoriaiCatlilogo, 9:xxiii.

280. "Events... 1639·40," BR 29:202·203.

281. "Relation of the Insurrection of the C'ninese," BR 29:257.

282. Ibid., ER 29:249.

283. Ibid., citing Diaz, p. 427.

284. Le Gentil, p. 119.

79 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 285. Charge seventeen mentions him in connection with murder of Don Bartolome Tenorio as Corcuera's "Theniente de la Compafua de Arcabueeros"; charge thirty five, Juan de Montoya, his "criado," Pastells, Historia/Cat61ogo, 9:=iv.

286. "Insurrection of the Chinese," BR 29:215 and 253.

287. See requests for back pay and certifieation of service in Escribania de Camara, 409D, ramo 4, on del Pino [1643?] ; and 409A, fol. 4018 on Ramos.

288. Ibid.

289. Diaz, p. 402.

290. "Affairs in FilipiIlas, 1644-47," BR 35:230_

291. Diaz, pp. 578-571; Ana Maria Prieto Lucena, Filipinas durante el Gobierno de Manrique de I,ara, 1653-1663 (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-Americanos, 1984), p. 47_

292. Baltazar de Santa Cruz, '''The Dominlcan Missions, 1635-39,' BR 35:44.

293. Mission in the Marianas, p_ 4.

294. Marjorie G, Driver, "Cross, Sword, and Silver: The Nascent Spanish Colony in the Mariana Islands," Pacific Studies, II, 3 (July 1988), fn. 18, ·14·45.

295. Mission in the Marianas, p_ 8.

296. Luis de Ibiulez y Garcia, Histaria de las Islas Marianas (Granada, 1886), p. 32.

297. E. J. Burrus, "Sanvitores Grammar and Catechism in the Mariana (or Chamorro) Language (1668)," Anthropos 49 (1954), 936,

298. Mission in the Marianas, pp. 5, 36; "Noticias de las Islas Marianas, 1670-1672," ARSI, PhiL 13, fol. 56; Sanvitores to Jesuit Provincial in Manila, 14 May 1671, ARSI, Phil. 13, fol. 68v. "Some Historical Figures in the Marianas During the Seventeenth Century," Appendix, Vignettes ofPhilippinas Marianas Colonial History, No.1 (Manila, 1962), 48.

299. "Events that happened on June, 15, 1668 on the arrival of the Sanvitores Mission at Agana Bay: An Eye'witness Account by Brother Marcel Amaldo, S.J,' crans. Felicia Plaza, Guam Recorder, I, Second Series (lIJ71), 16.

300. • ... the Most Holy Virgin preserved [them] for thirty years...when we found them ready to [help us] ... " Letter to the Father Provincial at Manila, 14 May 1671, _AJlSI, Phil. 13, fol. 60.

301. Mission in the ly[arianas, p. 32.

302. Franciseo Garcia, Vida y Marlyrio de el Venerable Diego Luis de Sanvitores (Madrid, 1683), p. 207; Sanvitores, 1671, ARSI, Phil. 13, fol. 68.

303. Ibanez y Garda, p. 33.

304. Garcia, p_ 207.

305. Ibanez y Garcia, p. 33.

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 80 306. Kotondo Rascbe, "Saipan, Timan ryoto no ibutsu oyobi iseki [Ruins and relics in the Islands of Saipan and Tinian); Jinruigaku zasshi [Journal ofthe Anthropological Society ofTokyo), 43, 6 (June, 1928),263.

307. Mission in the Marianas, p. 29.

308. Fr. Gayoso, 24 May 1676, ARSI, Phil. 13. fols. 145-146.

309. Mission /0 the }'['Il1anas, p. 35.

310. Ibid., p. 31.

311. Ibid., p. 3.5.

312. Ibid.. p. sa.

313. San'.i~ores to the Father Provincial. 14 May 1671, ARSI, Phil. 13, fol. 66.

314. K&rrative of those who were in the :\!arianas, 1667-1673, ARSI, Phil. 13, fol. 97v.

315. :\!anila, 10 June 1670, AGI, Filipinas 10, r. 1.

:316. Don Juan de Santa Cruz to Governor oflhe Philippines, 21 May 1670, Real Academia de la Historia, Yadrid (RAB), Col. Cortes.

317. AGI, Filipinas 10, r. 1; AGN, Reales Cedulas Originales, vol. 12, expo 87 and voL 13 expo 122.

318. ARBI, Phil. 13.

319. Queen to the Viceroy at Mexico City, 30 April 1672, AGN, Reales Cedulas Originales, vol. 13, expo 122.

320. Yewberry Library, Ayer Collection, Coomans to the Queen, 1674.

321. Maggs Bros. Catalog, 1869.

322. Solorzano to Duchess of Aveiro, 20 May 1683, Maggs Bros. Catalog 1892,

323. Fr. Coomans to Fr. Noyelle, May 19. 1684, Lilly Library. Bloomington, Indiana.

324. Coomans to Yoyelle, 17 May 1984, ARSl, Phil. 13, 272v.

325. Manuel Solorzano, S.J. to Joseph Vidal, Agadna [Guam], 25 April 1684, Maggs Letters, 1903 (London).

326. Father Gerard Bouvens to the Queen, I May 1685, AGI, Filipinas, 3.

327. Manila, 9 January 1709, AGI, Ultramar 561, 204.

328. See Martin Palma, EI Consulado de Manila.

329. On the foundation and development of the Company, see Maria Lourdes Diaz-Trechllelo Spinola, La Real Campania de Filipinas (Se,ille: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-Americanos de Sevilla, 1965).

81 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES