KUNGL. SV. VET. AKADEMIENS HANDLINGAR. BAND 57. NIO 4. 53 



dition. During the stay at Manila Mendaha's widow married Bon Fernando de Castro, 

 a cousin of the Governor Dasmarinas. After the ship had been repaired and again placed 

 under the command of Quiros, the newly-married couple embarked for their return voyage 

 to Peru. Concerning that part of the voyage that alone interests us, nothing is known 

 except that the departure from Manila took place on 10 August 1596; that as they had 

 started so late, they "had to go through incredible hardships and troubles"; and that fin- 

 ally they reached Acapulco on 11 December. There is not the slightest hint of any disco- 

 very made in the course of Mendaha's second voyage wbich could be connected with 

 Hawaii. (The Voyages of Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, ed. by Sir Clements Markham. 

 Vol. I, Lond. Hakluyt Soc. 1904.) 



1597. In a letter from Manila, dated 14 August, we find the following: "This ship 

 of discover}^ under Juan Bautista Justiniano, which is about to go to New Spain, has 

 just returned, on account of lack of cables, and will sail again in the morning." I cannot 

 say about what ship this was said. (Bl. & Rob. X, p. 48. ) 



1598. In May some ships arrived at Manila from New Spain (Morga, p. 89); and 

 at the beginning of July in the same year, there sails in the opposite direction the galleon 

 "Santa Margarita", which, after a fortunate voyage of four months, reaches its destina- 

 tion. (Bl. & Rob. X, p. 163; XIII, p. 30.) 



1599. Three ships, the "Santa Margarita" under the command of Juan Pedro 

 de Losada, the "San Jeronimo" and "La Contadora", belonging to Don Fernando 

 de Castro and another private person, sail from Acapulco on 16 March and arrive at 

 Manila on 17 June. In the course of the voyage the "Santa Margarita" is within an ace 

 of grounding, but happily escapes the danger through the help of the saints, who had 

 been invoked by the missionaries on board; but it is not stated where this took place. 

 (Bl. & Rob. XII, p. 65.) In sharp contrast with Father Francisco Colin's pious effu- 

 sions about the miracle there is a letter from the Audiencia in Manila, dated 12 July 1599, 

 where there are bitter complaints about the breaches of law of which the officers and the 

 passengers on this squadron were guilty. (Colin. II, p. 208. ) 



The "Santo Tomas", Captain Juan de Alcega, and two other ships sail in 1599 

 from Manila to New Spain, from where they are expected back in the following year. 

 (Bl. & Rob. XI, pp. 255, 305.) 



1600. The "Santa Margarita", Captain Juan Martinez de Guillestigut, and the 

 "San Jeronimo", Captain Fernando de Castro, sail from Manila in July; but they are 

 attacked by a storm at a distance of 600 leagues from there in 38° lat. The "San Jeronimo" 

 was so badly battered that, according to the report, there was nothing left but to try 

 to get back to the Philippines "without masts, without rudder, without tackle, without 

 a pilot and without sailors"; and thanks to the skill of a Portuguese, Simon de Vega, 

 they succeeded in making the island of Catanduanes, "with only seven persons, one of 

 whom was a woman, and after eight months of an uninterrupted shipwreck". Though 



