94 DAHLGREN, THE DISCOVERY OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 



everybody on board the galleon made confession to me, including the pilot, who af ter his cohfession 

 said to me in confidence, so as not to frighten the crew: "Sehor Padre, I have voyaged on many seas, 

 b ut ne ver in my life have I seen such weather and such a terrible hurricane." The storm increased, 

 and waves from both sides broke över half the deck of the galleon; sometimes seas struck the stern-post 

 with such a noise that it was like a salvo of artillery; the night grew so dark that it seemed that we 

 were in "a profound chaos". Everybody on board ship implored me to conjure away the danger, and 

 I answered that I should verv willingly do what they wished, on condition that they all j oined in 

 acknowledging their sins and praying for God's mercy, for there was no salvation except in Him. 

 Twice the galleon dipped her bow so much that the whole of the bowsprit went under, and the water 

 rose to the half -deck. Everybody began to cry ont " Misericordia, Sehor, misericordia!" They bcgged 

 me for absolution and acknowledged their sins aloud; and giving them general absolution, I cheered 

 them up with these words: "remember that we are GocTs creatures and Christians, and that it lies 

 within His power to deal with us after His will, and in His infinite mercy, to snatch us out of these 

 deep waves; away with tears, away with weeping and sobbing!" The storm lasted eighty hours, and 

 everybody on board was so terrified that for several days afterwards they could not walk without 

 trembling as if they had been working with quicksilver. At the request of the General and the crew 

 I threw into the sea on this night a piece of Lignum Crucis of that which his holiness the Pope had 

 given me. The rest of the wood of the cross and a relic from the body of St. Francis Xavier, the glorious 

 Apostle of the Indies, we tied fast to the stormsail together with many other relics, for next to God 

 our salvation depended exclusively on this sail. But as our almighty Lord and gracious Father — 

 in the words of the Prophet: Nolo mortem peccatoris, sed amplius, ut ad me convertatur et vivat — in 

 His infinite goodness and mercy is He who rules över all elements, He stilled them and delivered us 

 from these raging, proud, and deep waves. On the fourth day the heavens became bright and clear; 

 and, summoning all the crew, I exhorted them in a loud voice to render their thanksgivings to the 

 Lord and to the most holy Queen of the ängels, Mary our Lady, the comfortress of the oppressed and 

 the mother of sinners. Everybody on board united in this thanksgiving, and we sang Te Deum laudamus. 

 The same day I delivered a thanksgiving sermon; and after that we continued our voyage with joy 

 and satisfaction, expelling from our hearts our horrible terror and trusting in the infinite mercy of 

 God and under the protection of the most pure Queen of Heaven. 



On 27 November, in 37° lat., they descried las senas, the f loating algae of which 

 Antonio de Morga had already spöken. Cubero gives a detailed description of them 

 and adds that "during the whole of this time one sees nothing except sky and sea until 

 one comes upon these senas, which divine Providence seems to have placed here, 50 to 

 60 leagues from the mainland of New Spain, so as to warn the galleons so that they should 

 not be wrecked in approaching the coast". The navigation is now safe in shelter of land, 

 but it is now that the mortality becomes greatest. The crew is attacked by dysentery and 

 scurvy: in less than fifteen days 92 bodies were committed to the deep, and of the crew 

 of 400 men only 192 escaped with their lives, many of these being very ill. On 29 November 

 they saw land, some lofty, white, treeless hills, in 37° 27' lat.; on 5 December they 

 sighted Isla de Cedros; and on 8 Janaurv 1679, they finally reached Acapulco. 1 



1679. The "San Antonio" sails from Acapulco on 31 March (Cubero, p. 340). 

 On the day of the Apostle James (July 25) news came to Manila of the safe arrival of the 

 galleon "San Telmo" — probably this is a mistake and should be the "San Antonio" — 

 at these islands and of its being outside the Embocadero. The ship could not enter the 



1 Breve relation de la pereprinacion que ha hecho de la mayor parte del Mundo Don Pedro Cubero 

 Sebastian, predicador apostolico del Asia, natural del Reyno de Aragon. Madrid 1680, pp. 320 — 339. 



