KUNGL. SV. VET. AKADEMIENS HANDLINGAR. BAND 57. NIO 4. 99 



America, and in otlier regions; but not the least news of this ship was obtained. 

 (Bl. & Rob. XLII, p. 309.) 



1694. Don Fausto Cruzat y Gongora placed on the stocks the largest galleon 

 t hat had ever been built; for it was three yards longer than the largest that had been 

 built in the world. It was completed in less than nine months, to the astonishment of 

 everyone — although with some cause for scandal, since the men worked on it even on the 

 most important f east-days, not stopping even on Holy Thursday. He ga ve it the name of 

 "San José", and appointed Don José Madrazo its commander; and it was launched very 

 successfnlly. It sailed from this headland of Ca vite on the day of SS. Peter and Paul 

 (28 June), and on 3 July, in the night, it was dashed to pieces on the coast of Luban, and 

 more than four hundred persons were drowned. It was reckoned that if the men had not 

 worked on the feast-days the vessel would have been completed more slowly, and would 

 have sailed many days låter, and the furious hurricane that was the cause of its wreck 

 would not have caught it on the sea, with the death of so many persons and the loss of 

 the great amount of merchandise that it carried; for it is considered certain that no larger 

 or richer galleon had ploughed the waters of the sea, for the wealth that it carried was 

 incredible. (Bl. & Rob. XLII, p. 307.) Gemelli Carreri also mentions "the famous 

 galleon San José" and its total loss (op. cit. V, p. 249). 



From the same year we have the following account by Father Casimiro Diaz: 

 "Before the great galleon left Ca vite [before 28 June 1694], a small patache entered that 

 port, which the Viceroy of New Spain had sent with some slight assistance, in eliarge 

 of Don Andres de Arriola, a Sevillan gentleman of great courage and renown. He 

 returned to New Spain in a small vessel which was purchased for 6000 pesos from a 

 Portuguese merchant named Juan de Abreu; it was so small that the authorities ordered, 

 under heavy penalties, that no citizen should send in this vessel anything except letters, 

 a rule which was enforced most rigorously. 1 This patache made a very prosperous voyage; 

 for, having passed the Marianne Islands, which is the most difficult part of this navigation, 

 and finding that their provisions were nearly gone. and that it was almost impossible to 

 pursue their voyage, divine Providence aided them by revealing to them an unknown 

 island, not set down on any navigation chart. They found it uninhabited by men, but 

 abounding in certain birds, large and heavy, and little inclined to fly, and so easy to catch 

 that the men ga ve them the name of fool birds (pajaros bobos). . . The flesh of these 

 birds is very good, and so, by killing many of them and drying their flesh in the wind, 

 the sailors made a very good provision of food. They also found very good water and 

 firewood, so that they were able to continue their voyage to Acapulco. What they most 

 regretted was, that they could not fix the latitude and situation of this island, for lack 

 of seeing the sun; and thus the island became again unknown, and inaccessible for another 

 like emergency. If its location were known, it would be a great assistance in making 

 easier this arduous and severe navigation from the Philippines to Acapulco." (Bl. & 

 Rob. XLII, p. 310.) 



1 "The letter was sent by the patache which the Governor was dispatching as an express, so that the}' 

 might know in Mexico and Spain that the Islands were not destroyed.'' (Bl. & Rob. XLI, p. 36.) 



