CHAPTER VI. 

 The Voyages of the Spanish Galleons dnring the Seventeenth Century. 



After the digression made in the preceding chapters we resumé the account of the 

 Spanish voyages. 



1609. Three ships sail from Manila in July. All of them were exposed to dangers 

 and storms. The ship "San Andres", which was almiranta, and was the only onetoreach 

 New Spain, encountered such terrific storms that its bow was under water during most 

 of the voyage, and they were in such great danger that the pilot vowed never to embark 

 again — "a very rare thing". The ship "Santa Ana", almost entirely dismantled by the 

 violent winds and heavy seas, reached Japan; and its arrival there was through not a 

 little of God's mercy. Although it remained thirteen days aground in a port of the kingdom 

 of Bungo (Kiushu), still it did not go to pieces. On the contrary it was able to refit, and 

 to prosecute its voyage the following year, 1610. The ship "San Francisco", under 

 command of General Don Juan de Ezquerra, encountered a greater storm: it was com- 

 pletely wrecked, on 30 September 1609, at Otaki, förty leagues from Yedo. Thirty of her 

 crew or passengers were drowned; but the survivors were received most hospitably by 

 the Japanese. Among these survivors was Bon Rodrigo Vivero y Velasco, who in 

 1608 — 9 had been acting Governor in Manila and was now on his way back to Mexico. 

 He went to Yedo, and was there well received by the Shogun, and succeeded in concluding 

 a treaty with him assuring the Spaniards in Japan various privileges. Finally, he sailed 

 away in a ship built by the Englishman, William Adams (rechristened the "Santa Buena- 

 ventura"), on 1 August 1610, and arrived at Matanchel in California on the subsequent 

 27 October. (Bl. & Rob. XVII, pp. 132—7. J. Murdoch, Hist. of Japan, Kobe 1903, 

 pp. 478—480.) 



1610. The "San Francisco" and another ship sail from Acapulco on 25 March, and 

 arrive at Manila on 6 Juni. "Both vessels were very swift, and the winds strong." (Bl. 

 & Rob. XXIV, p. 58.) 



The capitana "San Juan Bautista" sails from Manila on 12 July; the almiranta 

 sails four days låter but cannot keep the sea and returns to the Philippines. (Bl. & Rob. 

 XVII, p. 144.) 



