The Philippine Islands, 1493 to 1898 by Various

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When the enemy saw himself alone, with the few men that he had, he
hastily began to put out the fire on his ship; and with the foresail,
which he had had up all the time, he took flight toward the island
of Luban, where he has not appeared since that day, nor in any other
of the adjacent islands. From this and from the fact that he was so
broken and so stripped of men and without any long-boat, it may be
inferred that he went to the bottom. Some indications of this have
been seen since in the shape of yards and sails, and bodies of the
enemy's men, so that we may presume that it is so.

When the flagship of the fleet on which I was went to the bottom,
there was no shallop or boat to saye the men, because the boats had
been taken by some sailors and soldiers, who to escape the danger, had
gone with them to the aforesaid island of Fortun. Consequently when the
ship sank I was left in the water, and saved myself at the end of four
hours by swimming with great exertion to the island of Fortun, which
was a legua and a half away, against many waves and a high wind. The
same thing was done by two hundred other persons, including Spaniards
and slaves, but the rest drowned and perished, with what was left in
the ship. Then I made haste to take all the people from that island,
because it was without inhabitants and without water, and I started
them on the way to this city. After that I went along the coast to
get information about the enemy which had fled, and in search of the
admiral's ship and of the captured vessel; but I could not find them,
nor could I in the islands of that district, although I searched among
them in light vessels, for they had departed thence. At last, having
heard that they were near Mariveles, I came to claim them, but did
not enter them because your Lordship wrote to me, at just that time,
to come to this city on other business in the service of his Majesty.

Thus that expedition ended. It is true that the desired end was
accomplished--namely, to destroy the aforesaid corsair so that he
should not be able to do the damage which he was doing in this sea,
and to conquer him, which was done. Nevertheless it could have been
accomplished fully without the loss which there was, if my orders
had been followed in the aforesaid fleet, and if there had not been
other transgressions and irregularities--which I should have proceeded
against and executed justice upon if I had had opportunity to return
to the aforesaid fleet, as I tried to do. Since on my part this is
all ended, it remains for your Lordship, as captain-general of this
realm, to take action in this cause--not only to execute whatever
may be just in the matter, but also in order to give an account to
our lord the king of what has happened. I have had this in mind in
giving to your Lordship so faithful and exact an account of the case,
and of the aforesaid irregularities, of which the ones that need
particular attention are the following.

First. When the fleet was on the point of setting out from the port
of Cavite, although it was already scantily equipped with seamen
and artillerymen (which was a matter of the greatest importance),
the majority of those who had been provided and supplied absented
themselves and fled from the aforesaid fleet at the time of setting
out, so that they could not be reached; and the fleet had to go
without them, which was the cause of a great deal of suffering and
loss. It can be determined who were guilty of this through the lists
of allowances and apportionment which are in the possession of the
factor of the royal treasury, and through the register which the
accountant afterwards made of both fleets at Mariveles.

_Item_: Although your Lordship, at my request, had some seamen sought
out in this city, and had them sent to me with the sergeant Pedro Lopez
to Mariveles (where the fleet was anchored) on Wednesday, December
thirteenth, and although the aforesaid men arrived on Wednesday,
they refused to go on the expedition because they were men of wealth
and property; and they did not go to the fleet that night, but went
to the settlement on the island. There they remained until the fleet
had gone in pursuit of the enemy in the early morning, when they left
the village and returned to this city.

Third. The Sangley nation of this city offered themselves, with three
ships, according to their custom, to go in the service and convoy of
the aforesaid fleet. They were armed and set out after it from Cavite
for that purpose, but when they reached the station at Mariveles,
where the fleet was anchored, they left it; and it was necessary to
send to them and order that on the following day they should join the
fleet and follow it without moving off, under pain of their lives. Not
only did they not comply with this, but on the following day, when
they saw the battle, they remained more than three leguas behind,
looking at it; and although they could have been of great assistance,
when they saw my flagship founder, they returned toward the bay,
ringing bells and beating drums, as is their custom.

Fourth. The aforesaid captain Joan de Alcega, admiral of the fleet, did
not obey the orders and instructions which on the day before the battle
I gave to him in writing, signed with my name, according to which
both ships, flagship and admiral's ship, were to board and fight with
the enemy's flagship, because it was a strong vessel. Nevertheless,
though he had seen me board, he passed by without having an order
from me to do so, and still less having any order to follow and to
fight with the opposing admiral's ship, and thus abandon me. If he
had done as he was under obligation to do, the flagship would have
been made to surrender completely without the loss of one of our
men; and we could have captured for his Majesty a beautiful ship
and twenty-six pieces of artillery, and many other things of price
and value for all, and my flagship would not have been lost, and the
people of worth who died in it would not have perished. After that,
it would have been a sure and easy thing to capture the admiral's
ship, which was a small boat, of no strength. Your Lordship should
send promptly to the admiral to write the instructions which I gave
him originally in Mariveles on the thirteenth of December by the hand
of the captain Joan Tello y Aguirre, who came for them--signed with
my name, without any erasures or changes whatever--because through
them the above matter will be verified, without any fraud or deceit.

Fifth. After my flagship had foundered, the enemy in his, as broken
as it was, took to flight with only the foresail up, and passed
within sight of the admiral's ship of my convoy, and although the
admiral was aware of my loss, and that that was the enemy's ship,
and made sail after her, he did not try to follow her; and so he let
her go, although he could easily have overtaken her, as she bore only
the foresail, and could have captured her, as she was so broken and
without men. Most of us who were on the island of Fortun saw this
from there; and the captive Flamenco admiral will say the same thing,
as well as those who came in our admiral's ship and remained in it.

_Item_: Although our admiral's ship ought to have come in search of its
flagship, which it saw sinking in the sea from its companion ship--or
at least in aid of its men who had escaped to the island of Fortun,
which was near, in order to rescue us from that island, uninhabited
and without water, where we were in evident risk of our lives--yet
he did not do it. On the contrary, he went away with all speed, and
returned to the mainland to the station of Mareyuma; consequently
we could not find him, and he could not receive orders from me, his
commander, concerning what he was to do in such matters as following
the aforesaid enemy (in which a great opportunity was lost), as well
as in other things in the service of his Majesty which ought to have
been done.

Seventh and last. Although the aforesaid admiral ought not to have
allowed out of his convoy the vessel which he had captured and taken
from the enemy, so that it might not be lost again on account of
his having put very few men on it, he left it; and, under pretense
that he was sending it to be repaired, he ordered it to the island of
Luban with other intentions--where on the same day, near night-time,
there appeared the flagship of the enemy, which, if it had seen this
ship, could have seized and taken it easily, because it was without
defense. Then, without having been repaired, it left Luban and returned
to the aforesaid admiral's ship at Mareyuma.

Of all this your Lordship is sufficiently informed through the reports
which have been sent to your Lordship about the aforesaid event, and
through the investigations made by the alcalde-mayor of the province
of Balayan, in whose territory and under whose jurisdiction the event
took place. Your Lordship will also be informed by the searchings
and investigations which your Lordship ought to make concerning the
aforesaid case and every particular of it, personally and very soon,
before the guilty ones pervert them so that the truth may not be
understood. They have been preparing for this, holding investigations
before themselves in the admiral's ship, about their own affairs
and business; but opportunity ought not to be given for these,
nor any attention paid to them, for they are void and fraudulent,
and malicious.

I ask and pray your Lordship to do and perform in this matter, since
it is of such quality and importance, whatever may be proper in the
service of God and of his Majesty, so that those may be punished who
are guilty in a matter of such harm and loss, and that our lord the
king and the gentlemen of his Council of the Indias may be informed
faithfully of all that has happened and of what has been done--since,
as far as I am concerned in this matter, as there no longer remains
to me any authority or jurisdiction of commander in the fleet, I have
done my duty. For this I have, etc., and ask it for testimony.

_Doctor Antonio de Morga_

In Manila, on the fifth of the month of January in the year one
thousand six hundred and one, before the governor and captain-general
of these islands, Don Francisco Tello, appeared the doctor Antonio
de Morga, and presented this petition; and when his Lordship had
seen it, he ordered it to be joined with the investigation which
the alcalde-mayor of Balayan made, in order that the other proper
verifications may be made according to what is provided, and that
whatever is just may be done.

_Tello_

Before me:

_Gaspar de Azebo_

This copy was made, as has been said, from the aforesaid original
petition, which is in the aforesaid suit of petition and mandate by the
aforesaid auditor, and is exact and correct. In the city of Manila,
on the twentieth of the month of November in the year one thousand
six hundred and two; the witnesses being: Joan P[ablo?] Monfredo,
and Gregorio del Castillo, and Josephe de Naveda Alvarado.

In testimony of truth, I have affixed my seal.

_Joan Paez de Sotomayor_, royal notary.

We, the notaries who sign here, certify and give our word that Joan
Paez de Sotomayor, by whom this testimony is signed and sealed, is
a royal notary, as he signs himself, and commissioner of the royal
Audiencia of these islands; and, as such, complete faith and credit
has been given and is given to all acts and writings which have passed
and do pass before him, in court and out of it. And, to certify to
this, we give these presents in Manila on the twentieth of November
in the year one thousand six hundred and two. I have affixed my seal,
in witness of truth.

_Francisco de Valencia_, notary-public.

I have affixed my seal, in testimony of truth.

_Jhoan Francisco Aparicio_, notary-public.

Annual Letters from the Philippine Islands

_From Father Francisco Vaez, [32] June 10, 1601, to Reverend Father
Claudio Aquaviva, general of the Society of Jesus._

Amid all the calamities and miseries which it has pleased the Lord to
inflict on these islands, the chief has been the loss of some ships
which were wrecked, including among others the flagship and the ship
of the second in command. They set sail from this coast during the
last year, 1600, for Nueva Espana, being laden with a large amount of
treasure and merchandise; and by them the records of this province
and the letters from Japan for your Paternity were sent. But, after
sailing for eight months, these ships encountered a violent contrary
wind, and, having on board a great number of sailors, were gradually
driven back by sickness, hunger, and the fury of the waves, which
swept the men from the very decks of the ships to be drowned in the
waters. The vessels struck on rocks and were wrecked, a few men only
being rescued, like the servants of Job, from the immediate danger,
to announce the destruction--which, being increased by one misfortune
and mishap in war after another, heaped sorrow upon us. On one of these
ships, called the "San Geronimo," was Father Pedro Lopez de Parra, a
professed religious of our Society--who, as we trust, after this long
voyage (or rather that longer one of thirty-seven years in religion),
has entered the gate of eternal life, laden with a rich treasure
of good works. He taught philosophy and theology in Nueva Espana,
having been one of the first members of the Society formerly sent
thither; he trained our ministers with fruitful results. Although we
have heard nothing certain with regard to the details of his death,
yet, as he took great delight in the duty of hearing confessions and
helping souls, it is likely that with great devotion he aided all in
that extremity of danger. [33]

In another disaster we have lost another priest and a brother, if loss
be the proper name to give to the death of those who have been slain
for the gain of souls, and while aiding their brethren in a just war
against heretic pirates. These were Hollanders and Zeelanders who
were driven to the Philippine Islands in the year 1600, and came to
get booty on the sea called the Northern Ocean, or "Mar del Norte"
(for they had already made spoil of a Portuguese ship), and, after
passing the Strait of Magellan, had, in that southerly ocean called
"Mar del Sur," done likewise with a small vessel from Peru. Their
leading vessels, the flagship and the almiranta, took a station six
leagues from Manila, where the Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese ships
had to unload their cargoes, and to which all the smacks and other
small boats that left the city had to hold their course. Against
these ships of the enemy there were sent out from Manila two ships
provided with three hundred of the best soldiers of these islands,
together with many bombards and other equipments of war. In the chief
ships were Father Diego de Santiago and Brother Bartolomeo Calvo,
at the request of the general, Antonio de Morga, auditor of the
royal Audiencia, and of other officers of rank, who were accustomed
to confess to the said father.

Now when the father had exerted himself to receive the confessions
of the soldiery, and had exhorted them to fight bravely, on the
fourteenth of December they came in sight of the enemy; and the
flagship spread its sails and bore down so swiftly on the other
flagship that the passage from one to the other was easy. In the
conflict our men tore away the enemy's flags and carried them back to
their own ship, shouting, "Victory!" with joyful voices. Just then
our ship, having taken in a great quantity of water from all sides,
was by the permission of God suddenly swallowed in the waves with
all the sailors, except a few who by the help of a skiff captured
from the Dutch, or by swimming, made their way to land. The general
was one who threw himself into the water with two flags of the enemy's.

Then the almiranta, having encountered the enemy's almiranta,
captured it, and carried it away to Manila, where punishment was
inflicted on all the sailors. Among the number of those on our side
who were slain or drowned, a hundred and fifty-nine in all, Father
Diego was drowned. He had heard, as it appeared, the confessions of
all; and as he was making the effort to throw himself clear into the
sea, he was called back by the voice of a captain desiring to make
his confession. While he was hearing the confession he was drowned,
with the brother and the rest. The father was in the twenty-ninth year
of his age, and had lived fifteen years in the Society. The brother,
his companion, was of the same age, and had lived in the Society seven
years; he had entered it in these regions. He was a man endowed with
every virtue, being especially noteworthy for his obedience, to which
he was always greatly inclined.

Of the brethren there has also died Martin Sanchez, a native of these
islands, who was for a decade a member of the Society, and who left a
glorious example in life and death. There remain in this vice-province
thirty priests and twenty-nine brethren (of whom two are scholastics
and four novices)--those nine being included whom your Paternity has
sent hither with Father Gregorio Lopez, in whom this vice-province
assuredly receives a great assistance. As it is of later birth, more
scantily supplied with workers, and further from Rome, it is likewise
poorer; and, as the younger daughter, ought to be the dearer and more
precious to your Paternity.

College of Manila

There live in this college (the leading one [34] in this vice-province)
seventeen of Ours--seven priests and ten brethren. All of them, by the
favor of divine Providence, have by their example and labor brought in
a rich harvest from the spiritual tilling of this city. This has been
added to on account of the war and the earthquake, the loss of the
ships, and other calamities; and we have learned by experience that
piety grows more rapidly in adverse than in prosperous fortune. The
earthquake has made us hesitate to go on with the completion of the
college buildings, for we are compelled first to repair what has
already fallen or is on the verge of ruin. Last year we wrote that
on the twenty-first of June the main part of the nave of the church
had fallen; but in this year of 1601, on the sixteenth of January,
the other part corresponding to it was overthrown, and the rest so
shaken that it had to be leveled with the ground. We regard it as
a great blessing that these buildings fell without injuring anyone,
although the first of the earthquakes came while the people were in
the church at mass, the other when it was least expected. The people
of Manila have accordingly been warned by Ours of the daily peril
of life on earth, and have begun to lift up their hearts to heaven,
and to pray for its care and protection. By a happy lot it has been
obtained for them by the patronage and advocacy of St. Polycarp,
[35] bishop and martyr, the disciple of St. John the Evangelist;
and in his honor they have begun to celebrate an annual feast with
a solemn procession.

The beginning of another pious work has been made this year with
marked results. This is the practice of scourging, not as hitherto
on three days in Lent, but every Friday throughout the year, in our
church. There is a great concourse of people at that time to hear the
fiftieth psalm, _Miserere_, by the melancholy harmony of which they
are most moved to devotion and to doing penance. Not infrequently
the royal auditors and the governor himself have been present, as
well as other leading men.

Those in prison also have been aided by the reception of sacramental
confessions and by pious exhortations; and--a thing that has edified
the people not a little--the necessary food was for some days carried
all the way to the prisons on our shoulders. From children, too,
the food of Christian doctrine has not been withheld on Sundays;
and with the children arranged in the form of a procession we went
out during Lent to the military barracks, where after delivering
sermons we reaped fruit not to be ashamed of.

The congregation of scholastics begun this year has made the best
of progress. Every month, according to the rules, they make their
confession to the priest, and partake of the divine food. On feast-days
they spend the afternoons in listening to spiritual reading and in
commemorating the examples of the saints. The solemn feasts of the
Blessed Virgin they celebrate with the greatest fervor and joy. On one
of these they go with their cloaks cast off, each with a silver ewer
and basin in his hands, and carry food to the prisons, marching in the
finest order and system; and with great readiness and humility they
serve the unhappy men. They are believed to have taken their manner
of procedure, in all respects, from the congregation at Rome. The
privileges of the Sodality, also, have so much attracted laymen that it
has been necessary to divide them into two orders. As for the adult men
and householders who look forward to spending Sundays and feast-days
to advantage in the Sodality, the father-visitor has made a beginning,
by delivering to them familiar exhortations, and narratives of pious
examples taken from the Lives of the Saints; and we have every reason
to hope that the undertaking will succeed to the greater glory of
God, with the most noble of advantages to the city. Even now there
are some who, having heard one or another sermon, have entered upon
more holy and profitable ways of living than they followed before.

A beginning was also made this year in selecting some saint's name
by lot (a custom introduced in some towns); and there has been a
great concourse of people. One man was plunged into the sea along
with many others in the naval battle with the Dutch already spoken
of; but because he invoked the name of his patron, St. Nicanor, who
had fallen to his lot that month, he was rescued from that danger in
which the others were swallowed up; and by swimming a whole league
at last got to shore, to his own great wonder.

The number of those confessing and communicating this year has
surpassed that of any previous year, for upon their old devotion has
been heaped up new, kindled by the torches of calamity. The quarrels
of many have also been brought to an end. In Lent, moreover, their
zeal for all piety flamed forth in the confession of many evils, and
in doing penance for them with daily scourgings, and other exercises
of devotion.

The chastity of a certain woman was assailed by some of the wicked,
with entreaties and the bestowal of gifts; but by the weapons of more
frequent communion and confession she repulsed the attacks of the
enemy. Yet even then the enemy was not made entirely to desist. One
day, after the holy communion, which she had devoutly taken in our
church, she was walking in a lonely place; and there he came up to
her, and with his dagger at her bosom, he threatened her with death
unless she consented to wickedness. But she answered with firmness
that she preferred death to offending God. Then with blows and words
of insult she vanquished the beastly desires of her adversary, barely
escaping with her honor.

Another, giving up all thought of God and of his own salvation, had
spent many years in dreadful sin, and especially in a disgraceful
lust, which was so deeply rooted and fixed in his innermost heart
that he regarded our priest, who strove to lead him away from this
vile manner of life, as only less than a fool. So completely had he
plunged himself into the filth of these pollutions of his soul that,
like a sow in a wallow, he seemed to take pleasure in nothing else. Yet
at last this obstinate man yielded to argument and persuasion, and
not only gave up visiting his harlot, but tore all lust from his
heart by the roots as completely as if he had had no knowledge of
it; for by a general confession of the lapses of his past life he so
corrected his morals that all those who knew him before were amazed
at the sudden change in his life.

When the Dutch pirates of whom we have spoken were condemned to death
in Manila by the judges, the governor thought it well to entrust
them to several religious, as they might perhaps abjure their errors
and be reconciled to Holy Church. It pleased the divine goodness to
restore all, to the number of thirteen, except the admiral, who as an
obstinate heretic was hanged and cast into the sea. The others with so
great sorrow for their crimes subjected themselves to the obedience of
the holy Roman church that it seemed good to the religious fathers to
admit them to the holy communion. Of five commended to our Society I
can affirm that they greatly edified all, for they made a confession
of the sins of all their life and approached the holy communion with
many tears, having previously made public profession of the Roman
Catholic faith and abjured their heresies, being prepared to live
and die in the said faith. Two days later, with rosaries around their
necks they were led forth to the place of execution in great joy of
mind that they could atone for their sins by death.

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