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History of the Philippine Islands Vols 1 and 2

A >> Antonio de Morga >> History of the Philippine Islands Vols 1 and 2




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Attestation of Governor Don Francisco Tello of events in the expedition
against the Dutch corsair

Don Francisco Tello, knight of the Order of Santiago, governor and
captain-general in these Filipinas Islands, and president of the
Audiencia and royal Chancillería resident therein, etc.: I certify
to whomever may see this present, that last year, one thousand six
hundred, a squadron of Dutch war-vessels under command of Oliber
del Nort, after passing through the strait of Magallanes to the
South Sea, reached these islands, in the month of October of the
said year, with two armed ships. They entered among these islands,
making prizes and committing depredations, and at length stationed
themselves off the entrance of the bay of the city of Manila, with
the design of lying in wait for the merchant ships from China, and
for the galleon "Santo Tomas," expected from Nueva España with the
silver of two years belonging to the merchants of this kingdom. By a
decision of the said royal Audiencia, on the thirty-first of October
of the said year, Doctor Antonio de Morga, senior auditor of the said
Audiencia, was commissioned and charged to go immediately to the
port of Cabit, and place and hold it in a state of defense, and to
prepare and equip a fleet to attack the corsair. In this matter the
said auditor busied himself in person. Having, with great assiduity
and industry, fortified and put the said port in a state of defense,
he completed in the shipyard and then launched, a moderate-sized ship,
armed and equipped another belonging to private persons then in the
port, both of which he equipped with yards and rigging--all inside of
forty days. In order that the expedition might be made more quickly,
and with a supply of soldiers and the most necessary equipment,
inasmuch as affairs were such that it could be done by no one else,
on the first of December of the same year, I nominated and appointed
the said auditor to sail as general of the fleet in pursuit of the
enemy, and to fight him until destroying and driving him from these
islands. The said auditor performed and accomplished this in the
following manner. On the twelfth of the said month of December,
he sailed with the two ships of his fleet from the port of Cabit;
on the fourteenth of the same month, at dawn, he sighted the corsair
outside of the bay of this city, off the promontory of Baleitigui,
with his two ships--flagship and almiranta. He pursued the enemy until
he came close to him; and both fleets having prepared for action,
engaged one another. The said auditor in his flagship attacked the
corsair's flagship with great gallantry and resolution, and grappled
it. The latter was a large and strong ship, carrying a quantity of
artillery and many fighting men. The auditor immediately threw on
board the enemy the infantry colors with thirty arquebusiers and a
few volunteers and sailors, who captured the forecastle, after-cabin,
and the colors of the vessel. At the end of the action, these men
retreated to our ship on account of the violent fire which at the
last began to rage aboard the enemy's ship. Thereupon the action
and fight continued on both sides, and lasted more than six hours,
during which the artillery, musketry, and arquebuses were repeatedly
discharged in all quarters. In another direction the enemy's almiranta,
commanded by Lamberto Viezman, was defeated and captured, with the
crew, artillery and other things aboard it. The two flagships having
cast loose and separated on account of the fire which had broken out,
and the quantity of water that poured in our bows, the enemy took
to flight with only the foremast standing, with nearly all his men
killed, and having lost his boat, the standard and the colors at his
masthead and quarter. Stripped of his yards, sails, and rigging, and
the ship leaking in many places, the enemy ran before the wind. It
has been heard from various sources that he passed Borneo with only
fifteen or sixteen men alive, and most of them maimed and wounded,
and that a few days later, he was entirely wrecked not far from
the Sunda. [143] The said auditor and his companions suffered great
hardship and danger; for besides several men of note who died fighting,
the ship which was leaking at the bows as abovesaid, because of being
weak and not built for a war vessel, and as they were unable to stop
or overcome the leak, foundered that same day, and part of the men
on board were drowned on account of being wearied with fighting and
not even yet having disarmed. When the ship sunk, the said auditor,
who would never leave or abandon it, took to the water with the rest
of the men, and escaped by swimming, with some of the enemy's colors
about him, to an uninhabited islet, called Fortun, two leguas from
the place where the fight had taken place. The next day he took away
the people from that place in several small boats which he found,
and landed them in safety on this island. In all the above, the said
auditor acted with great diligence and valor, exposing himself to all
the risks of the battle and afterward of the sea. He did not receive
any reward for his services, nor any salary, expenses, or any other
recompense. On the contrary, he contributed and spent his own property
to provide all the necessary equipment for the said expedition,
and also assisted some volunteers who went with him. Of the booty
taken from the corsair's almiranta, which was brought to this city,
he refused to take nor did he take anything; on the contrary, the share
which should have fallen to him, he ceded and passed over to the king,
our sovereign, and to his royal exchequer. Thus our aim and object,
namely, the destroying and defeating of the said corsair, has been
accomplished, so much to the service of God and of his Majesty, and to
the welfare of this kingdom, as is more minutely set forth by acts,
depositions, and other inquiries concerning this expedition. At the
request of the said Doctor Antonio de Morga, I gave him the present,
with my signature attached, and sealed with the seal of my arms. Given
in Manila, August twenty-four, one thousand six hundred and one.

DON FRANCISCO TELLO

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In the same year of one thousand six hundred, two merchantships left
Manila for Nueva España: the flagship the "Sancta Margarita," with Juan
Martinez de Guillestigui as general, who had arrived the year before
in the same capacity; and the "San Geronimo," under Don Fernando de
Castro. On their way, both ships met with storms in the latitude of
thirty-eight degrees and at six hundred leguas from the Filipinas,
and suffered great hardship. At the end of nine months at sea, after
many of the men had died and much of the merchandise had been thrown
overboard and lost, the "San Geronimo" put back to the Filipinas, off
the islands of Catenduanes, outside of the channel of Espiritu Santo,
and there was wrecked, although the crew were saved. The flagship
"Sancta Margarita," after the death of the general and most of the
crew, ported at the Ladrones Islands and anchored at Zarpana. There
natives who went to the ships, seeing it so abandoned and battered,
boarded and took possession of it, and of its goods and property. The
few men whom they found alive, they took away to their settlements,
where they killed some and apportioned others to various villages,
where they maintained them and gave them better treatment. The Indians
wore the gold chains and other things of the ship around their necks,
and then hung them to the trees and in their houses, like people who
had no knowledge of their value. [144]

In the month of May of the year six hundred and one, the galleon "Santo
Tomas" arrived at the Filipinas from Nueva España with passengers,
soldiers, and the return proceeds of the merchandise which had been
delayed in Mexico. Its general was Licentiate Don Antonio de Ribera
Maldonado, who had been appointed auditor of Manila. A small patache
had sailed in company with the galleon from the port of Acapulco,
but being unable to sail as rapidly as the "Santo Tomas," after a few
days' voyage, it dropped behind. When they arrived off the Ladrones
Islands, some natives went out, as usual, to meet the ship in their
boats, and brought with them five Spaniards of the crew of the ship
"Sancta Margarita," which had been lost there the year before. The
loss of that vessel was learned from those men; also that as many
as twenty-six Spaniards were living in the towns of those islands;
and that if the ship would wait, the natives would bring them.

The religious and men with the general tried to persuade him, since the
weather was calm, to wait in that place, in order to take these men
from those islands, where they had lingered for a year. Certain more
courageous persons even offered to go ashore to get them either in
the galleon's boat or in the vessels of the Ladrones themselves. But
the general would not allow this, believing that time would be lost,
and his expedition exposed to peril. Without leave from the general,
Fray Juan Pobre, a lay-brother, who was in charge of the discalced
religious of St. Francis, who were coming on that occasion to the
Filipinas, jumped into one of the Ladrones' vessels, and was taken by
the Indians to the island of Guan, where he remained with the Spaniards
whom he found. The galleon "Santo Tomas," without further delay,
pursued its voyage, to the great grief and regret of the Spaniards on
shore, who saw themselves left among those barbarians, where some of
them died later of illness and other hardships. The galleon reached
the Filipinas, making for the cape of Espiritu Santo and the harbor of
Capul, at the conjunction of the moon and change of the weather. The
land was so covered with thick fogs, that the ship was upon it before
it was seen, nor did the pilots and sailors know the country or place
where they were. They ran toward the Catenduanes, and entered a bay,
called Catamban, [145] twenty leguas from the channel, where they
found themselves embayed and with so much wind and sea astern of
them, that the galleon ran upon some rocks near the land and came
very near being wrecked that night with all aboard. At daybreak,
the general went ashore with the small boat and had the ship made
fast to some rocks. As the weather did not improve, and the ship was
hourly in greater danger of being wrecked, and the cables with which
it was made fast had given way, he determined to disembark the cargo
there, and as quickly as possible, by means of the boat. They went
to work immediately and took off the people, the silver, and the
greater part of the goods and property, until, with native boats,
the Spaniards and Indians of that province carried everything to
Manila over a distance of eighty leguas, partly by sea and partly
by land. They left the ship--a new and handsome one--wrecked there,
without being able to derive any profit whatever from it.

The daring and audacity of the Mindanaos and Joloans in making
incursions with their fleets into the islands of Pintados had reached
such a state that it was now expected that they would come as far
as Manila, plundering and devastating. In order to check them, at
the beginning of the year six hundred and two, Governor Don Francisco
Tello, deriving strength from weakness, determined that the expedition
against Jolo should be made at once, without more delay, in order
to punish and pacify it, with the forces and men whom Captain and
Sargento-mayor Joan Xuarez Gallinato held in Sebu and in the Pintados,
together with more men, ships, and provisions, which were sent him,
accompanied by the necessary documents and instructions for him to
enter the island, chastise its king and inhabitants, and pacify and
reduce it to the obedience of his Majesty. By this means, until there
should be an opportunity to settle the affairs of Mindanao, which is
quite near Jolo, the audacity of the enemy would be checked; and by
bringing the war into his own country, he would not come out to commit
depredations. Captain Gallinato set out on this expedition with two
hundred Spanish soldiers, ships, artillery, enough provisions for four
months--the time which it was thought the expedition would last--and
with Indians as rowers for the ships and for other services that might
arise. When he arrived at Jolo, at the bar of the river of this island,
which is two leguas from the principal town and dwellings of the king,
he landed his men, artillery, and the necessary provisions and left
his ships under a sufficient guard. The islanders were all in the town
and dwellings of the king, which are situated on a very high hill
above some cliffs, and have two roads of approach through paths and
roads so narrow that they can be reached only in single file. They had
fortified the whole place, intrenched it with palms and other woods,
and a number of culverins. They had also collected provisions and
water for their sustenance, besides a supply of arquebuses and other
weapons. They had neither women nor children with them, for they had
taken them out of the island. They had requested aid from the people
of Mindanao, Borney, and Terrenate, and were awaiting the same, since
they had been informed of the fleet which was being prepared against
them in the Pintados. Gallinato determined to pitch his camp near the
town, before this aid should arrive, and to attack the fort. After
he had quartered himself at a distance of one-half legua, in a plain
facing the ascent, he sent interpreters with messages to the king and
chiefs of the island, calling on them to surrender, and telling them
that good terms would be given them. While waiting for an answer,
he fortified his quarters in that spot, intrenching himself wherever
necessary. He mounted the artillery in the best position for use,
and kept his men ready for any emergency. A false and deceptive answer
was returned, making excuses for the excesses that had been committed,
and for not complying just then with what had been asked of them, and
making loud promises to do so later. All this was with the object of
detaining the captain in that place, which is very unhealthy, until the
rains should set in, his provisions run short, and the arrival of the
expected aid. After this answer had been received the Joloans, thinking
that the Spaniards had become more careless on account of it, swarmed
down quickly from the said fort in a large body of probably somewhat
over one thousand; and armed with arquebuses and other weapons with
handles, campilans, and caraças, attacked and assaulted the quarters
and camp of the Spaniards. This could not be done so secretly as not
to be seen by the Spaniards, and allow them opportunity to prepare
to receive the Joloans before their arrival. This the Spaniards did,
and having permitted the natives to come all together in a body to
the very inside of the quarters and trenches, as soon as the Joloans
had discharged their arquebuses, the Spaniards opened fire upon them,
first with their artillery, and then with their arquebuses, killing
many, and forcing the rest to retire in flight to the fort. The
Spaniards pursued them, wounding and killing to the middle of the
hill. But seeing that farther on the paths were so narrow and rough,
they retreated before the heavy artillery fire from the heights,
and the large stones hurled down upon them, and returned to their
quarters. Upon many other days, efforts were made to reach the fort,
but without any result. Thereupon Gallinato, in consideration of the
war being prolonged beyond what had been expected, built two forts,
one where he kept his ships in order to defend them and the port;
and the other one-half legua farther on in a suitable place where
they could take refuge and communicate with the camp. The forts were
built of wood and fascines, and fortified with the artillery from the
ships. The Spaniards shut themselves up in these forts, whence from
time to time they sallied, making incursions as far as the enemy's
fort. The latter always remained shut up in their fort without ever
choosing to come down or to yield; for he was convinced that the
Spaniards could not remain long in the island. When Gallinato saw
that the rains were fast setting in, that his men were becoming ill,
and that his provisions were failing, without his having accomplished
the desired task, and that it could not be accomplished with his
remaining resources; and that the enemy from Mindanao with other
allies of theirs were boasting that they were gathering a large fleet
in order to drive the Spaniards from Jolo: he sent news of all that had
occurred to the governor of Manila, with a plan of the island and fort
and a relation of the difficulties which the enterprise presented. He
sent this in a swift vessel, by Captain and Sargento-mayor Pedro
Cotelo de Morales, toward the end of May of the year six hundred
and two, in order to obtain instructions as to his procedure, and
the necessary reënforcements of men and provisions. The captain was
charged to return quickly with the answer.

When the Moro Ocuña Lacasamana and his followers killed Diego Belloso,
Blas Ruyz de Hernan Gonçales, and the Castilians and Portuguese with
them in the kingdom of Camboja, we said that Joan de Mendoça Gamboa
with father Fray Joan Malclonado, and his associate, Don Antonio
Malaver, Luys de Villafañe, and other Spaniards who escaped by
embarking with him in his vessel, descended the river with his vessel
toward the sea, defending themselves against some Cambodian and Malayan
praus which pursued them until they crossed the bar. Joan de Mendoça
pursued his voyage along the coast to Sian, where his main business
lay. Having reached the bar he ascended the river to the city of Odia,
the court of the king, and the latter received the letter and message
of Governor Don Francisco Tello, although with less pomp and courtesy
than Joan de Mendoça wished.

Then he bartered his merchandise, and was so stingy in the regular
custom of making some presents and gifts to the king and his favorites
that he even bargained closely over the presents offered. The king
was even inclined to seize the artillery of his ship, for which he
had a great longing. Joan de Mendoça, fearing this, sunk it in the
river with buoys, so that he could recover it at his departure,
and for appearances left in the ship only one iron gun and some
culverins. There was a Portuguese of the Order of St. Dominic in
Odia, who had been residing in that court for the last two years,
administering to the Portuguese who carried on trade in that
region. Among these Portuguese were some whom the king had brought
from Camboja and Pigu, when at war with both kingdoms. These and other
Portuguese had had some quarrels with Siamese in the city, and had
killed one of the king's servants. The king, being little inclined
to clemency, had fried some of the delinquents and had forbidden
the other Portuguese and the religious to leave the city or kingdom,
although they had urgently asked leave and permission to do so. On
seeing themselves deprived of liberty, less well treated than before,
and threatened daily, they conspired with Fray Joan Maldonado to be
smuggled aboard his vessel at its departure, and taken out of the
kingdom. The religious took the matter upon himself. After Joan de
Mendoça had concluded his business, although not as he had desired,
since the king gave him no answer for the governor, putting it off,
and his merchandise had not yielded much profit, he determined, at the
advice of Fray Joan Maldonado, to recover his artillery some night,
and to descend the river as rapidly as possible. On that same night
the Portuguese religious and his companions, about twelve in number,
were to leave the city secretly and wait eight leguas down the river
in an appointed place, where they would be taken aboard. This plan
was carried out, but when the king heard that Don Joan de Mendoça had
taken his ship and departed without his leave and dismissal, and that
he was carrying away the friar and the Portuguese who had been kept at
his court, he was so angered that he sent forty praus with artillery
and many soldiers in pursuit of him with orders to capture and bring
them back to court or to kill them. Although Joan de Mendoça made all
possible haste to descend the river, the ship, being without oars and
its sails not always to be depended upon, and the distance to cover
more than seventy leguas, he was overtaken by the Siamese in the
river. When they drew near, Joan de Mendoça assumed the defensive,
and gave them so much trouble with his artillery and musketry,
that they did not dare to board him. Nevertheless, they approached
him several times, and managing to break through, tossed artificial
fire aboard, which caused the Spaniards much trouble, for the combat
lasted more than one week, day and night. Finally, when near the bar,
in order that the ship might not escape them, all the praus surviving
the previous engagements attacked with one accord and made the last
effort in their power. Although the Siamese could not carry out their
intentions, and suffered the more killed and wounded, the Spaniards
did not escape without severe losses; for the pilot, Joan Martinez de
Chave, the associate of Fray Joan Maldonado, and eight other Spaniards
died in the conflict. Fray Joan Maldonado was badly wounded by a ball
from a culverin, which shattered his arm, and Captain Joan de Mendoça
also received dangerous wounds. Thereupon the Siamese reascended the
river, and the ship put to sea badly misused. As the weather was not
favorable for crossing by way of the shoals to Manila or Malaca, which
lay nearer to them, they steered for Cochinchina, where they put in
and joined a Portuguese vessel lying there, for which they waited until
it should sail to Malaca, in order to sail in its company. There Fray
Joan Maldonado and Captain Joan de Mendoça grew worse of their wounds,
and both died. Fray Joan Maldonado left a letter, written a few days
before his death, for his superior and the Order of St. Dominic, in
which he related his journeys, hardships and the cause of his death;
and informed them of the nature and condition of the affairs of Camboja
(whither he had been sent), of the slight foundation and motives for
them troubling themselves with that enterprise, and the slight gain
which could be hoped from it. He charged them upon their consciences
not again to become instruments of a return to Camboja. The ship
went to Malaca with its cargo, where everything was sold there by the
probate judge. Some of the Spaniards still living returned to Manila
sick, poor, and needy, from the hardships which they had undergone.

The affairs of Maluco continued to assume a worse appearance,
because the ruler of Terrenate was openly waging war against his
neighbor of Tidore and against the Portuguese who were with the
latter. He had allowed some ships which had come to Terrenate from
the islands of Holanda and Zelanda by way of India to trade with
him, and through them had sent a message to Inglaterra and to the
prince of Orange, concerning peace, trade, and commerce with the
English and the Dutch. To this he had received a favorable answer,
and he expected shortly a large fleet from Inglaterra and the islands,
with whose help he expected to accomplish great things against Tidore
and the Filipinas. Meanwhile, he kept some Flemings and Englishmen
in Terrenate who had remained as pledges, and a factor engaged in
purchasing cloves. These people had brought many fine weapons for this
trade, so that the island of Terrenate was exceedingly well supplied
with them. The king of Tidore and the chief captain wrote yearly to
the governor of the Filipinas, informing him of what was going on,
so that it might be remedied in time, and aid sent to them. Once,
Cachilcota, [146] brother of the king of Tidore, a brave soldier
and one of the most famous of all Maluco, came to Manila for that
purpose. They always received men, provisions, and some ammunition;
but what they most desired was that an expedition should be made
opportunely against Terrenate, before the English and Dutch came
with the expected fleet. This could not be done without an order
from his Majesty, and great preparation and equipment for such an
enterprise. The same message was always sent from Tidore. At last,
during this administration of Don Francisco Tello, Captain Marcos
Dias de Febra returned with this request, and brought letters to the
governor and to the Audiencia from the king [of Tidore], and from
the chief captain, Rui Gonçales de Sequeira, in which were detailed
contemporaneous events, and the necessity of at least sending succor
to Tidore. The king wrote specially about this to the king [of España]
and to Doctor Antonio de Morga, with the latter of whom he used to
correspond, the following letter, which was written in Portuguese
and signed in his own language.

To Doctor Morga, in the Filipinas Islands, from the king of Tidore.

I greatly rejoiced in receiving a letter from your Grace written on
the eighth of November last, because by it I particularly understand
your great sincerity in remembering me and my affairs; for this, may
God reward your Grace with long life and prosperity for the service
of the king, my sovereign. For I understood that he keeps your Grace
in these islands with the hope of their increase, and I am aware that
your being there will serve as a remedy for this fortress and island of
Tidore. I have written to the governor and to the Audiencia in Manila,
concerning the succor for which I beg, for I have asked it so often,
on account of the great necessity of it; for through its means the
injury may be checked; otherwise it may later cost much to the king
our sovereign. I beg your Grace to favor me in this, or at least in
what may be necessary for the future, for thus it will render a great
service to God and to the king, my sovereign. May God preserve your
Grace with life for many years. From this island of Tidore, today,
March eight, one thousand six hundred and one.

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