Margarita de Orellana

PIRACY IN THE PACIFIC

Source: Artes de Mxico, No. 143, EL GALEON DE MANILA (1971), pp. 62-64
Published by: Margarita de Orellana
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/24316557
Accessed: 21-06-2017 21:54 UTC

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PIRACY IN THE PACIFIC
by Marita Martnez del Ro de Redo
Just as for the Romans the Mediterranean was
their Mare Nostrum, so the Pacific in the 16th and
17th centuries was a Spanish sea. By the middle of
the 16th century four separate expiditions had
crossed it from east to west and Legaspi and Urda
neta had established the definite route to the Orient,
a route which for an uninterrupted two hundred and
fifty years was followed by the galleons which took
the legendary name of Naos de China (or de Manila,
which was the terminus of the annual trip from Aca
pulco).
The raids of pirate ships under English, French
and Dutch captains in the Spanish sea have left their
traces on the Pacific coastan English cannon
marked with the crown of Edward the Confessor left
on a lonely beach, searches for buried pirate treas
ures which continue to this day, names of beaches
with piratical names such as El Corsario or Pichilin
gue. This last name has a quaint origin: "speak in
English" the arrogant pirates commanded the
frightened natives, which was corrupted into "pich
ilingue" as a synonym for pirate. There is a strong
afternoon breeze which blows in Lower California valuable charts and as Hakluyt records, "we found
called Corumwell which was used by the pirate a ship with a cargo of linen and fine plates of white
Cromwell to attack by suprise the shipping anchored
earth from China and a great quantity of silks, all of
in the bay of La Paz. These and many other details
which we took" in addition to "a gold falcon and a
are enduring reminders left by pirates on the Pacific
great emerald" which was worn by a Spanish gentle
coast. man. As he refitted in Guatulco bay on the coast
of Oaxaca the rumor spread that "el Draque" was
The galleons which at first sailed at their pleasure
sailing for Acapulco where a galleon was being
"as if they were in the river at Seville" soon became
more wary as the English began to find their loaded
wayfor the Manila trip. Viceroy Enrique de Al
into the Pacific. The first proposal for suchmanza
an inwas alarmed and sent two hundred soldiers
cursion was made to Henry VIII in 1540 but downit wasfrom Mexico City with orders to pursue the
Englishmen
not until 1578 that the first foreigner, no less than but Drake gave up his plan to attack
Sir Francis Drake whom the Spaniards of Newthe Spain
galleon and after sailing past the harbor mouth
and the Caribbean called "Draque", sailed the continued
South on toward California. When the Spaniards
Sea. In his ship, The Golden Hind, he proposed to out to hunt him down he was already beyond
sailed
their reach and heading for the Moluccas. He seem
find those lands which Marco Polo had mistakenly
called Beach and which were probably a part ed of to
theconsider that his score with Spain was settled.
Malay peninsula. Drake's voyage, which lastedDrake's
three booty was unsuccessfully claimed from
years, had the approval of Queen Elizabeth whoQueenhadElizabeth by Bernardino de Mendoza, the
issued him letters of marque. But Drake, who in his
raids in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico had
already seized a great amount of booty, was not
aware of the existence of the Manila galleons which
had been established a few years previously to bring
the riches of the Orient to America. His objective
was the gold of the Peruvian mines and he set his
course for the coasts of Peru. The success of his
encounter and the capture of the Cacafuego which Galen espaol armado para defen
was loaded with cordage and provisions for the derse del ataque de los piratas.
Spanish galleon armed to protect itself
Manila galleon waiting at Acapulco encouraged him from the attacks of the pirates.
to take the Nuestra Seora de la Concepcin which
was sailing from Acapulco to Panama with goods Barcos piratas ingleses.British pirate
brought by the previous Manila galleon. He obtained ships.

62

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Spanish ambassador. In 1588 after having been greatest prize was the capture of the Manila galleon
knighted by the queen for his exploits Sir Francis Santa Ana off the tip of the peninsula of Lower
Drage took additional revenge on the Spaniards California. The Santa Ana had no cannon and de
when with his swift ships and superb seamanship fended herself with such obsolete and ineffective
and the aid of the weather he participated in the weapons as lances and javelins and even stones which
defeat of the Invincible Armada whose heavy ships were thrown at her better armed toes. The booty con
were loaded with Spanish soldiers for the invasion sisted of one hundred and twenty-two thousand pe
of England. sos in gold and silks, damask, pearls and good
The ships which Drake had seized were not prop- wine and victuals worth two
erly Manila galleons or "China ships." In the two the capture Cavendish put a
hundred and fifty years of sailing this route the and ninety Spanish prisoner
Spaniards only lost four galleons to the English. The them food and weapons for d
first was the Santa Ana which fell into the hands dians. The famous navigato
of Cavendish in 1587. Thomas Cavendish was a was among the unhappy Spa
young man of twenty-two at the English court who skill they managed to salvage
decided to follow Drake's example and seek glory been set afire and abandoned
on the sea. Queen Elizabeth encouraged this form put out the flames and with grea
of warfare in which privately outfitted ships raided ship and sailed her to Acapulc
Spanish commerce and gave an important part of cruising in which he circumn
the booty to the Crown. Cavendish financed his entered Plymouth harbor in
cruise by mortgaging his lands and persuading his under sails of blue damask
friends to invest in the enterprise for a share in the celebrate the occasion.
profits. In this way he outfitted three small ships. Sir Richard Hawkins, son of
With this modest fleet he followed Drake's route, Hawkins (or "Haquines"
entering the Pacific by the Straits of Magellan and chronicles and the trial by
sailed up the west coast of South America attacking sailors he put ashore near
shipping and burning towns, as he himself declared, sailed the Pacific. His ship
and taking "great amounts of treasure". But his iards off the coast of Peru.

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63

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 HL

tt

The attempts of other Elizabethan seaanother captains

fleet under Admiral Wittert was also de
to imitate the successes of Drake and Cavendish feated. In 1616 Silva, the governor of the Philip
failed like the Hawkins expedition In the 17th cenpines, attempted to strike a decisive blow at the
tury the buccaneers, who unlike their privateeringDutch and organized a powerful fleet. But the sud
forerunners were no longer protected by the British den death of Silva was followed by a Spanish debacle
Crown, brought a new menace to the Manila of such magnitude that the Dutch were left in
galleons. Dampier, Henry Morgan and Clipperton uncontested supremacy in the East Indies.
were outside the law and never achieved the stat Other Dutch pirates under Speilbergen attacked
ure of Drake, Cavendish and Hawkins, althoughthe Fort of San Diego at Acapulco in the hope of
they were brave seamen who disguised their robbery seizing the Manila galleon but the ship did not arrive
and pillage as a patriotic hatred of Spain. until after the pirates had departed.
It was the cruise of Commodore George Anson, Later, in 1621, commerce between Manila and
one of England's greatest sailors, which ended theAcapulco was paralyzed for a year and a half due
Spanish monopoly in the Pacific. The Covadonga,to the combined activities of the English and Dutch
which he captured in the Philippines, was so weakly fleets which blockaded Manila.
defended that the Spanish government held an in Jacques L'Hermite, Hugo Schapenham and others
vestigation which last twelve years. Finally the King roamed the Pacific until the Dutch finally achieved
of Spain exonerated the officers of the Covadongatheir goal of controlling the spice trade and later
in view of the superiority ot Anson's war vessel, the on the Chinese silk trade as well as paying off old
Centurion, over a merchant ship. scores dating from the Spanish control of the Neth
The last of the galleons taken by the English, at erlands. The Peace of Westphalia which ended the
the end the 18 th century was the Santsima Tri Thirty Years' War in Europe also brought hostilities
nidad which was ingloriously sailed to Plymouth and in the Pacific to a close and the Dutch retired to
put up for sale. their bases in Java.
The Chinese, who were the principal suppliers To a lesser extent the French were also present
of the rich wares which the galleons brought to New in the Pacific in the middle of the 18th century and
Spain, maintained a pacific and inoffensive attitudeboth they and the English sailed at will in defiance
with the exception of such adventurers as Limahonof the Spanish laws of 1540 and 1558 that no for
(Li Ma Hong) who attacked Manila shortly aftereign ship should sail the Spanish Sea and that if it
its founding and the famous Chang Ch'eng Kung, did so it would be seized.
whom the Spaniards called Koxinga who after the Thanks to the courage of her sailors and her
fall of the Ming Dinasty established an independent powerful bases, Spain's commerce across the Pacific
state in Formosa and demanded submission by thebetween the Orient and the homeland lasted for two
Spaniards by threatening to attack the Philippines.hundred and fifty years in spite of enemy attacks,
Fortunately, Koxinga died of apoplexy on learningshipwerecks and storms until in 1813 Fernando VII
of the failure of the negotiations in which he hadabolished the trade. In 1815 the last galleon, the
sent the Jesuit priest Vittorio Ricci as his emissary. Magallanes left Acapulco for her home port in Spain
Next to the English the most feared enemies ofand brought to an end an era of great sailing tradi
the Spaniards in the Pacific were the Dutch who tions which brought to Mexico countless treasures
were determined to break up the trading connectionsin porcelains, silks, ivories and furniture in exchange
between China and the Spanish colonies. They madefor the gold and silver of New Spain.
their first appearance in the Pacific in 1597 when
Olivier van Noort with four ships and two hundred
and eight men attacked Valparaiso after various
raids on the coast of South America. At Valparaiso BIBLIOGRAPHY
he lost two of his four ships and three years later
Andrews, K. R., Elizabethan Privateering. Cambridge: Univers
returned to Philippine waters. Lying in wait in thePress, 1964. Corsarios Franceses e Ingleses en la Inquisicin
narrow straits he ambushed the Santo Toms gal la Nueva Espaa.
leon which was sailing to Manila with a cargo of ("French and English Corsairs in the Inquisition in New
Spain").
gold and silver. But Antonio de Morga, a member Mexico City: Imprenta Universitaria, 1945.
of the Audiencia was aboard and took charge of Hakluyt, Richard, Hakluyt's "Voyages". New York: The
Viking Press, 1965.
the defense and captured Van Noort's two ships.
Jenkins, Elizabeth, Elizabeth the Great, New York: Coward
Van Noort and his crew were executed by garrote. McCann, Inc., 1959.
The Dutch made other forays into the Pacific Parry, J. H., The Spanish Seaborne Empire, London: Hut
chinson, 1966.
but with little success. Their ambition to monopolize
Schurtz, William Lytle, The Manila Galleon, New York: E.P.
the spice trade was for a long time unsuccessful and Dutton & Co., 1939.
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