84 DAHLGREN, THE DISCOVERY OF THE HAWAI1AN ISLANDS. 



storm which separated the two vessels from each other. "The almiranta suffered the 

 most terrible voyage that ever ship has suffered. For af ter a few blasts they had to c ut 

 down the mast, and, when they reached 36°, they löst their rudder. In such plight they 

 agreed to return, suffering destructive hurricanes, so that, had not the ship been so 

 staunch, it would have been swallowed up in the sea a thousand times. Finally God 

 was pleased to suffer it to return, as if by a miracle." The Governor, Don Nino de 

 Tabora, in a dispatch to the King, says that the accident to the rudder took place in 

 32° lat., af ter they had sailed 700 leagues from the Embocadero, and that, af ter the wind 

 had become fair for the return- voyage to the Philippines, they sailed "more than 600 

 leagues without rudder or mainmast, only with foremast and bowsprit", and that finally 

 they reached Cavite in February 1630, "without taking in a dröp of water and without 

 damage to the cargo". The other vessel, "San Juan", being a new and larger ship, on 

 perceiving the storm, went to a lower latitude. It continued to plough the sea, to great 

 discomfort for all, for it was six months on the voyage. In all the dead numbered 99 

 persons. Those who arrived were in such a condition that it was necessary to let them 

 regain their strength in the port of Valle de Banderas. Finally they reached Acapulco. 

 (Bl. & Rob. XXIV, p. 160. Colin. I, p. 238. Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 17625.) 



1630. The "San Juan" starts back from Acapulco on 8 or 9 April and reaches the 

 Philippines on 14 July. — The "San Luis" as capitana and another ship as almiranta sail 

 from Cavite on 4 August. They put back to the same port to lighten, and set sail again 

 as heavily laden as before. They experienced no better voyage than the last ones had. 

 The capitana cut down its mast on the high seas, and was all but löst. The other vessel 

 also suffered greatly, and between them both they threw overboard more than 140 people, 

 while the others were like to die of hunger, for the voyage lasted seven and a half months. 

 (Bl, & Rob. XXIV, p. 166.) 



1631. As the authorities in Mexico had given up all hope of the ships which had 

 left the Philippines in the preceding year, they dispatched from Acapulco two small 

 vessels, one of which bore the name of "Santissima Trinidad". Both vessels suffered 

 greatly. They löst their rudders, and their arrival — one in July and the other in August 

 — was a miracle. Meanwhile at Manila they had equipped and loaded a newly built 

 ship, the "Santa Maria Magdalena". When they set sail, one day in the beginning of 

 August, it went to the bottom in the port of Cavite with all the goods and cloth aboard it. 

 Although the cargo was taken out, it was after it had been in the water more than one 

 and a half months. Fourteen persons were drowned. Father Juan de Medlna, who 

 was on board at the time and escaped death with difficulty, gives a detailed description 

 of the event. Owing to this disaster, the almiranta, the "Santa Margarita", had to start 

 by itself; "but it put back with the losses of other times". (Bl. & Rob. XXIV, p. 167; 

 XXV, p. 67; XXVII, p. 197. Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 17625.) 



1632. The "San Luis" sails from Acapulco on 23 February and arrives at the 

 Philippines on 15 May. (Bl. & Rob. XLIV, p. 55.) In the opposite direction there sailed 

 the galleote "Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion". Although it was a very small vesse], 



