648 THE HISPANIC AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW 



immunity from capture by flight to the altar and other sacred 

 places. Thereupon the king promulgated a law against such 

 immunity, and ordered that such deserters should be taken from 

 the altar and returned to Spain. 86 



These were the conditions under which Spanish sailors lived 

 and labored. If Spanish officials complained of the scarcity of 

 mariners, the cause of the scarcity is readily to be found in the 

 conditions which prevailed in the calling. 



THE MERCHANT SEAMEN OF THE PACIFIC 



The discovery of a return route from the Philippines to Mexico 

 by Urdaneta in 1565 made possible for the first time the estab- 

 lishment of a direct trade route across the Pacific Ocean. A 

 regular trade was soon opened between Manila and Spain, by 

 way of Mexico. The Pacific commerce was restricted to one or 

 two annual galleons sailing between Manila and Acapulco, in 

 Mexico. These Manila galleons, as they were called, were fitted 

 out at royal expense and commanded by a royal officer. In 

 size they ranged from small pinks 87 to galleons of 2000 tons, 88 

 but the more usual size, when there were two annual ships, was 

 not larger than 500 tons, carrying crews averaging about 115 

 men. 89 The last galleon sailed from Manila in 1811, and re- 

 turned in 1815. The commerce then fell into private hands, and 

 the ports of San Bias, Guayaquil, and Callao were opened to 

 engage in it. 90 



" Ibid., Titulo IV, Libro I, Ley III. 



87 Domingo Fernandez Navarrete, An account of the empire of China. Trans- 

 lation in [Churchill, Awnsham] comp., A collection of voyages and travels (London, 

 1752), I. 1-311. Seep. 213. 



" Admiral Sir Samuel Cornish, to Cleveland, Manila Bay, November 10, 1762. 

 In Blair and Robertson, XLIX, 57-59. See p. 58. 



19 Antonio Jose Alvarez de Abreu, Extracto historial del expediente que pende en 

 el consejo real, g supremo de las Indias, a instancia de la ciudad de Manila, y demds 

 de las Islas Philipinas, sobre la forma en que se ha de hacer, y continuar el comercio, 

 y contratacion de los texidos de China en Nueva-Espana (Madrid 1736). Transla- 

 tions of parts of this work are in Blair and Robertson, XLIV. 227-312, and XLV. 

 29-88. See XLIV. 279. 



90 Edward Gaylord Bourne, Historical introduction in Blair and Robertson, 

 1.66. 



