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Thomas Cavendish
On the heels of the upstart Nuestra Seqora de Buena Esperanza, the
official trade galleon of 1587 from Manila. the Santa Ana, approaced the
coast of California where it would swing down on a South-South-Easterly
course to Acapulco. The galleon was under the command of Tomas de Alzola
and it had left the port of Cavite the last week of June, some
four-and-a-half months earlier.
The Buena Esperanza left Macao two weeks later but had the advantage of
starting from a higher latitude and not having to navigate through close
islands.
In the meantime, there was concern in Peru that English corsairs might
have made their way up the coast after going through the Straits of
Magellan. In fact, they sent a ship to Acapulco to warn the authorities
there that incoming galleons were in danger of getting waylaid. The
warning was not taken too seriously although a token effort was undertaken
to send a launch to go up the coast of California and warn incoming ships.
In fact, two English ships under the command of twenty-seven-year-old
Thomas Cavendish were already stationed around San Lucas, then believed to
be the southern extremity of the island of California. Cavendish
The Santa Ana had 100 Spaniards and 60 people of color on board.
It was also heavily laden with goods. Galleons tended to be overloaded
with undeclared goods put on board with the assistance of corrupt port
masters. Alzola would later testify that he had to dump some cargo right
after leaving Cavite as the ship was nearing Mindoro in an effort to make
the ship easier to handle.
It was November 14th when the Santa Ana approached the coast in
clear weather. The Buena Esperanza, which had made landfall at a
higher latitude earlier, had come in when fog covered the whole California
coast. The very fog that had made it difficult for Unamuno had saved him
from the fate that befell Alzola.
A lookout on the Santa Ana saw sails between their ship and the
California shore. The crew and passengers were happy at the thought that
it was the Buena Esperanza, their sister ship from the
Philippines, and one of its launches. But as the other ships approached,
Alzola raised an alarm because the lookout saw the red and white standards
flown by the ships signifying their English nationality.
Alzola ordered camouflage netting to be deployed and distributed rocks,
swords, and two arquebuses to all able-bodied hands. The Santa
Ana had no cannons to defend herself. In spite of the fact that
Francis Drake has attacked towns and ships along New Spain and Peru nine
years earlier, the Spaniards were confident that they owned the Pacific
and that no harm, other than from nature, can come to ships that sailed
under her flag in that ocean. This was ironic because on its last trip to
Acapulco the Santa Ana was equipped with cannons installed in
Manila. Acapulco authorities decided to keep the cannons to defend their
city from potential pirate attacks.
As the Desire drew alongside, several Englishmen boarded the
Santa Ana and fierce hand-to-hand combat erupted. The initial
attack was repulsed and the Englishmen withdrew, many jumping into the sea
to escape the wrath of the defenders.
The Desire charged again, shooting artillery and ramming the
Santa Ana in turn. Some shells hit their mark and produced holes
below the waterline. The English ship drew alongside and some of her men
boarded the Santa Ana once more. One was able to climb the main
mast and cut down the main sail. He was killed by arquebus shots.
In spite of the fierce fighting that lasted some five to six hours, only a
handful of lives from each side was lost. Alzola knew that his ship was
sinking, announced to his crew that all was lost, and raised the flag of
truce.
Cavendish sent a launch over to pick up Pedro Bravo de Paredes who was
designated by Alzola to negotiate with the Englishmen regarding surrender
terms. Some officers from the Desire came back in a while and picked up
Tomas de Alzola, Fray Francisco Ramos, Don Juan de Almendrales, Antonio de
Sierra, Juan Baldonado, and Sebastian Rodriguez Cermeqo.
Don Juan de Almendrales, canon of Manila, would later be hanged for
fighting and using abusive language on his captors.
The next day the sinking Santa Ana was sailed to shore. The
passengers and crew were put ashore together with some thirty other
Spaniards who had been captured by Cavendish in earlier encounters. Some
indios and negroes were detained on board the Santa Ana to man
the pumps. Cavendish wanted the Santa Ana to remain afloat until
he recovered all its cargo.
Cavendish and his men spent the next several days sacking the ship. He
carefully chose what he wanted from the ship
The English account say they took 22,000 pesos in gold while one Spanish
account said 600,000. Total estimates for the total loss vary from
120,000 to over 2,100,000 pesos. More likely, the loss was in the range of
400,000 to 800,000 pesos. In any event, it would remain on record as the
largest loss ever suffered by a galleon during the over two centuries of
Manila-Acapulco trade.
After the sacking, the Santa Ana was beached and set afire. The
fire went on for four long days before dying out.
Cavendish gave arms and provisions to the men and women he had set ashore.
He left them arquebuses, swords, sailcloth, utensils, wine,
garbanzos, and other provisions. He returned to Alzola the
ship
Cavendish and his two ships sailed away to go west to the Moluccas. To
help him navigate the ocean he had never seen, he took with him two
pilots, Alonzo de Valladolid and Sebastian Rodriguez Cermeqo. He also kept
on board Miguel Sanchez, another pilot he had captured earlier. Valladolid
had a 19-year-old slave from Panay Island, Francisco Mangabay.
Cavendish also took with him two Japanese brothers (Cristobal, 20 and and
Cosme, 17) and three Filipino boys (Alfonso, 15, Antonio de Dasi, 13, and
one unnamed, 9).
Cavendish made one of the fastest Pacific crossings ever, reaching the
Philippines in 56 days, three to four weeks faster than normal. In Capul
(an island in San Bernardino Straits), he released some hostages,
including Mangabay. However, Valladolid was hanged after he was caught
writing a letter to the governor of the Philippines.
It did not take long for news to travel to Manila about the loss of the
Santa Ana. Causing further consternation among the authorities
was the seeming ease with which the small enemy ships with only a small
complement of men could enter their territory and how powerless they were
to drive them away.
Back in San Lucas, the marooned men and women made the best of their
situation. After 12 days, some of the men swam to the burnt-out hull of
the Santa Ana to check it out. The bottom part which was in the
water was intact.
The men spent the next few days bailing water out of the lower part of the
ship, scraping the wood, and making a few repairs until it floated again.
They fashioned a mast from some pieces of wood they salvaged and used the
material left them by Cavendish to make a sail.
After 36 days is San Lucas, they were underway again on December 21. They
spent Christmas at sea and reached the Port of Santiago on January 2, 1588
where they discharged 11 sick passengers. They reached Acapulco on January
6, 1588 just as Cavendish was only a week away from the Philippines.
The news of the sacking of the Santa Ana reached New Spain and
Manila almost simultaneously. It caused shock waves that would be felt in
years to come as Spanish authorities started to reexamine how they could
best protect their interests in the Pacific. It was not Portugal anymore
that was the enemy but a Protestant nation that would not take orders from
the Pope.
Francis Drake did not cause the Spaniards to worry too much. It took
Thomas Cavendish and the tremendous commercial loss of the Santa
Ana to wake everybody up to the fact the the Pacific was not a
Spanish lake anymore. Then, as today, commercial interests were the prime
movers of international policy.
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