2 10 12 https://apconf-much.org/proceedings/files/original/14c8f3ea381590237f3f41e259b4b766.pdf d3965fcb793511b47d282a0415f9f200 PDF Text Text The outfitting and sailing of early sixteenth-century vessels in the Pacific: The Loaysa and Saavedra expeditions (1525-1536) Jose Luis Casabán Nautical Archaeology Program Department of Anthropology Texas A&M University College Station, TX, 77843-4352 USA Email: jlcasaban@tamu.edu Abstract This paper examines the information provided by primary written sources in relation to the outfitting and sailing of the ships used in the Loaysa and Saavedra expeditions, which took place between 1525 and 1536. On July 24, 1525, seven vessels, under the command of Garcia Jofre de Loaysa, departed from La Coruña, Spain, to take the Moluccas for the king of Spain, Charles I. Only one nao reached its destination where the Spanish managed to thwart the Portuguese for several years with the help of the natives. In 1527, Hernán Cortés sent Alvaro de Saavedra with three ships from New Spain to find Trinidad, a ship from the Magellan’s expedition, and to find out the outcome of the Loaysa expedition. He never returned. A close examination of eleven documents written by survivors of both expeditions revealed one hundred and twelve references regarding the use of nautical technology and operational aspects of seafaring in the Pacific Ocean in the early sixteenth century. This data includes ship typology, rigging, navigation techniques, equipment, provisions and containers, ballast, hull maintenance, seagoing disasters and their remedies, ordnance, and naval warfare. This type of information is useful for nautical archaeologists since it can be compared with the data provided by contemporary nautical and shipbuilding treatises and be used to interpret the archaeological data. The analysis of such primary documents is analogous to the way an archaeologist approach an excavation site – the data is gathered and then interpreted by the nautical archaeologists. Keywords: Loaysa, Pacific Ocean, Outfitting, Saavedra, Sailing Introduction This paper examines the information provided by primary written sources in relation to the outfitting and sailing of the ships used in the Loaysa and Saavedra expeditions, which took place between 1525 and 1536. Between 1825 and 1837, Martín Fernández de Navarrete, a Spanish Navy Officer and historian, published a collection of five volumes about the voyages and discoveries of the Spanish since the fifteenth century. 1 �The original documents used for this collection were compiled and transcribed by Navarrete in different Spanish archives and libraries since 1789.The Loaysa and Saavedra expeditions were narrated in the fifth volume published in 1837. The account was based on the original manuscripts written by members and survivors of both expeditions and published as an appendix in the same volume. Navarrete cited thirtyseven documents to narrate both expeditions although only eleven of them provided references related to ship outfitting and sailing in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans (Table 1). The data gathered includes references to ship typology, rigging, navigation techniques, equipment, provisions and containers, ballast, hull maintenance, seagoing disasters and their remedies, ordnance, and naval warfare. Loaysa and Saavedra expeditions (1525-1536) On July 24, 1525, seven vessels, under the command of García Jofre de Loaysa, departed La Coruña, Spain, where a Casa de las Especias (House of Spices) was briefly established (Spate, 1979). The objective of the expedition was to occupy the Moluccas and to control the spice trade. The expedition was a succession of disasters and only one ship, the nao Victoria, reached its destination where the Spanish managed to thwart the Portuguese for several years with the help of the natives. In 1527, Hernán Cortés sent Alvaro de Saavedra with three ships from New Spain to find the nao Trinidad, a ship from the Magellan’s expedition, and to find out the outcome of Loaysa’s expedition. He never returned. In 1532, the Spanish survivors learned through the Portuguese that king Charles I had sold his rights on the Spice Island to the king of Portugal in exchange for 350.000 ducats in 1529 (Pigafetta, 2002). Between 1534 and 1535, the last survivors of both expeditions were taken to Cochin (India) and from there to Lisbon, where they finally arrived in 1536. Types of ships The ships that took part in Loaysa and Saavedra expeditions are the typical oceanic vessels of this period such as naos and caravels although there are also a pataje and a bergantín (brigantine) (Table 2). However, the term nao (ship) is also applied to all these vessels in a generic manner. Moreover, the caravel Parral is defined as a galleon in some documents while Saavedra’s ship, Florida, is named caravel in another document (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837). With respect to the other two ships of 2 �Saavedra expedition, they are simply called navíos (vessels) without providing any other details about them (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837).The documents also refer to two fustas built at the Moluccas by the Spanish, and one galera (galley) used by the Portuguese in a naval combat. The variety of definitions for the same types of vessels reminds us that the debate about sixteenth-century ship typology still needs to be addressed. Additionally, the Spanish and Portuguese also adapted local boats from the Moluccas such as paroles (prahu) and caracoras (kora-kora). Sails The types of sails mentioned in the documents are the main, fore and mizzen sails. These references provide useful information about the sailing techniques during this period. For instance, all ships used the fore course for sailing while the nao Victoria’s main mast or Parral’s mizzen mast were repaired (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837). Moreover, the nao Victoria sailed 20 leagues only using the fore and mizzen sails while crossing the Pacific Ocean due to the bad weather (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837).The documents also inform us about the sailcloth carried on board the ships. The nao San Gabriel transported cañamaza (hemp canvas) and holandesa (Dutch canvas) which might be used to tailor new sails during the voyage (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837). During this period sailcloth was known in Spain as olona because a large proportion of sails mentioned on shipbuilding contracts came from Brittany’s towns such as Nantes and Olone (Smith, 1993). The word holandesais indicating a Dutch origin for this material. The San Gabriel’s pilot also tells us about the ship’s rigging lifespan that he estimates up to seven years (Smith, 1993). Navigation In his logbook, the pilot of the nao Victoria mentions that the position of the sun was measured every day at noon to determine the latitude. This routine was only interrupted when the sun was not visible because of the clouds. However, he does not indicate the type of instrument used for the observations, probably an astrolabe. In the same document there are several references to the use of sounding leads. This instrument was used to measure the depths and to identify the type of seabed. This data was crucial when ships navigated close to shore and it also helped to establish the position of the ship in relation to the coast (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837). 3 �An emergency communication system was proposed by Elcano before the fleet crossed the Atlantic (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837). If any ship got separated from the fleet before reaching the Strait of Magellan because of the weather, or any other reason, it would have to wait for twenty days at All Saints’ Bay (Brazil). After that time, a letter would be placed inside a clay pot buried under a cross placed on a visible spot. Then the ship would continue the voyage until the next meeting point where it would leave another message. This system was employed by the pataje Santiago which left a letter at Santa Cruz River that was found by the naos Victoria and San Gabriel. The letter informed the other ships that the Santiago and the rest of the fleet were on their way to the Cape of the Eleven Thousand Virgins (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837).The same system was employed in the Pacific by Saavedra. On his way to the Moluccas he left a letter buried in an island of the Marshals where his ship got separated from the rest of his fleet (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837). Richard Hawkins used a similar system during his expedition to the South Sea in 1593. He left the messages inside a musket barrel place on the top of a hill instead of in a pot (Hawkins, 1970). Ships equipment The documents often mention the ships’ pumps although they do not indicate their type. Pumps are normally cited in plural so it is possible that the ships were equipped with two pumps or carried a spare pump in case the main one failed during the voyage. Two pumps were recovered from the Sancti Spiritus wreck at the Cape of the Eleven Thousands Virgins (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837), and the nao Victoria used two pumps while crossing the Pacific Ocean because of the heavy leaking of its hull (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837).It has to be noted that the House of Trade issued an ordinance during the reign of Charles I which made mandatory for oceanic vessels to carry two pumps, one of them as a spare (Consejo de Indias, 1943). On the other hand, archaeology provides examples of ships equipped with two operational pumps such as the Highborn Cay shipwreck, an early sixteenth century caravel, and the Emanuel Point I wreck dated in 1559 (Oertling, 1996). Saavedra also mentions how exhausting was working at the pumps and how he had to transfer men to his ships to helpwith the work (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837). In the same way, the naos San Gabriel and Victoriakidnapped natives from various islands to work at the pumps (Fernández de 4 �Navarrete, 1837). This could indicate that the ships were equipped with burr pumps that require a lot of manpower to ensure their effectiveness in comparison with the suction pumps. The documents also include references to small service boats such asesquifes and bateles. According to O’Scanlan (1974), these terms were equally used to name both types of boats although bateles were larger than esquifes. During the Loaysa expedition, esquifes were used to carry people and messages between ships, to explore the shore and provisioning, and to transport materials and equipment from one ship to another such as during the salvage of the Sancti Spiritus remains (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837). The loss of a small boat meant that the crew of a ship could not go ashore to get provisions because the larger ships were unable to anchor in shallow waters. In that case, the crews depended on the natives to get food and supplies which was often uncertain. That was the case of Saavedra’s first attempt to return to New Spain across the Pacific. He had to return to the Moluccas because of the contrary winds and the loss of the batel that prevented him to get provisions during the journey (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837). Moreover, various ships had to share one esquife after theirs were lost during a storm in Bay of la Victoria (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837). The references to the ground tackle provide information about the number of anchors carried on board the ships, their effectiveness, and strength. In several occasions, anchors started to drag even when more than one had been deployed. That was the case of the nao Victoria that ran ashore in Bay of la Victoria despite deploying five anchors (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837). A few days later, the same ship was at risk again in Gallegos River when its anchor broke near the stock and had to set sail to Santa Cruz River (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837). Saavedra’s ship also experienced difficulties with its ground tackle while anchoring at the Marshalls. In this case, two anchor cables were damaged due to the rocky bottom and the ship had to kedge off to abandon the anchorage (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837). Moreover, a few days later the natives stole one of the two anchors he had deployed without a marker buoy (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837). On the other hand, there are no references to the weight and dimensions of the anchors. 5 �Table 1. List of documents containing references to ships outfitting and sailing. (Navarrete, 1837) 6 �Provisions, containers and ballast These types of ships could not carry all the provisions needed by the crews to sail across the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. The documents tell us how the Loaysa’s fleet had to get provisions from various islands before crossing the Atlantic and once they reached the American coast, the crew of nao Victoria killed a sea lion in Santa Cruz River to get fresh meat (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837). After leaving the Strait of Magellan, the fleet got separated. The crew of the pataje Santiago realized that part of their provisions was carried on board the nao Victoria because its hold as too small. The ship only carried four quintales of biscuit and eight pipas of water that were insufficient for a journey of 2,200 leagues (12,100 km) across the Pacific Ocean. Moreover, the ship had lost its esquife getting provision before arriving at the Moluccas seemed almost impossible. For that reason the crew decided to abandon the expedition and to sail to New Spain that was only 1,000 leagues away (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837). Finally, when Saavedra arrived at the Marshalls, he ordered to fill some pipas with saltwater to be used as variable ballast (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837). This was an unusual procedure because this type of ballast generally consisted of cobbles and pebbles of rock, or even sacks of sand (Smith, 1993). Hull maintenance Although the documents indicate that emergency repairs were carried out on the ships of both expeditions, these references are not common. The lack of facilities such as shipyards, tools and materials limited the type of repairs that could be made. For example, the nao Victoria had to be abandoned in Moluccas because its hull was so damaged that it could not be repaired. Frames and knees were broken after running aground at Bay of la Victoria, the seams between planks were opened while navigating across the Pacific, and the vibrations produced when the naval ordinance was fired on board (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837). Additionally, the documents also indicate that the ships carried materials for hull maintenance such as the cauldron of pitch that caught fire on board the nao Victoria (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837).On the other hand, the expedition members adapted local materials to repair their ships or to build new vessels. That was the case of the solution provided to mitigate the effects of the ship worms on the hull of Saavedra’s ship before departing from the Moluccas to New 7 �Spain. A sacrificial planking layer was added to the ship’s hull with a coat of local bitumen used by the natives to caulk their own boats (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837). Table 2. Types of ships used in the Loaysa and Saavedra expeditions. (Navarrete, 1837) Seagoing disasters and their remedies The demanding sailing conditions of the oceanic voyages increased the chances of seagoing disasters. The texts provide several examples and also show the vital importance of the ships’ carpenters in these expeditions. Carpenters were sent on 8 �anesquife from the Sancti Spiritus to fix the mainmast of the nao Victoria when it broke after departing from La Gomera. It took them three days to repair it. Meanwhile, the nao Victoria rammed the stern the caravel Santa Maria del Parral and, once again, an esquife with carpenters and planks was sent to repair the ship (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837). Storms could also disperse damage or sink the ships. The caravel Lesmes was driven south by a storm before arriving at the Cape of the Eleven Thousand Virgins, and probably saw Cape Horn before rejoining the fleet (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837). The nao Victoria run aground during a storm near the Cape of the Eleven Thousand Virgins and damaged the rudder, keel and sternpost. The carpenters used planks and lead sheathing to fix the keel and sternpost and put the rudder back in place (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837). This situation demonstrates that these ships carried on board enough spare materials to face this type of incidents, at least for limited period of time. Finally, another storm separated the Victoria, Lesmes, Parral and Santiago when they were leaving the Strait of Magellan (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837), and due to rough seas, the hull of the nao Victoria started to leak. In fact, the crew worked continuously at pumps until the ship reached the Moluccas Islands. Various members of the crew died of exhaustions due to the work and the food shortage (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837). Ships ordnance and naval combats The members of Loaysa’s and Saavedra’s expeditions fought during several years against the Portuguese at the Moluccas with the help of the natives. For that reason, there are also references to ship’s ordnance and naval combats in the documents. While sailing across the Pacific, the ordnance was probably stored in the hold of the nao Victoria and it was only put on deck when they were approaching the Moluccas, in case they encountered the Portuguese (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837). The ordnance had no use in the Pacific because the possibility of finding enemy vessels was highly unlikely. In addition, if the artillery was carried in the hold, its weight improved the ship’s stability. The documents also mention the combat between the nao Victoria and various Portuguese vessels, including one fusta, one batel and several prahus. The vessels were equipped with pieces of artillery as they intended to sink the Spanish ship. Part of the ship’s ordnance had been disembarked to defend the Spanish base on land 9 �(Fernández de Navarrete, 1837). The lack of weight made the ship’s deck float too high on the water, making its artillery quite ineffective despite of the crew spending twelve quintales of gunpowder in firing the cannons. The cannon recoil caused more damage to the already weakened ship’s structure than the three shots taken from the Portuguese (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837). After this combat, the nao Victoria was abandoned and two fustas were built using local timbers (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837). The Spanish carpenters ignored the characteristics of the local timbers and only one fusta was finally used because the other rotted before being launched (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837).The documents also refer another naval combat between the Spanish fusta and a Portuguese galley. This reference includes the typical pieces of artillery of this period such as bronze pedreros, sacres, versos as well as iron versos, large falconetes, and culebrinas (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837). The ordnance was very versatile and could be used in different types of ships or on land. Finally, during the sixteenth century, the proportion of foreign condestables and gunners in the Spanish fleets was important although the number of Spanish gunners increased by the end of the century (Pérez-Mallaína, 1998). This situation is also reflected by the documents which mention the presence of Flemish constables between the Spanish crew (Fernández de Navarrete, 1837). Conclusions The analysis of these eleven documents written by the survivors of the Loaysa and Saavedra expeditions reveal numerous references regarding the use of nautical technology and operational aspects of seafaring in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean in the early sixteenth century. This data includes ship typology, rigging, navigation techniques, equipment, provisions and containers, ballast, hull maintenance, seagoing disasters and their remedies, ordnance, and naval warfare. On the other hand, most of the information is provided in an indirect manner because the authors do not intend to teach us outfitting methods or techniques. They were just describing the situations in which they become involved and how they solve the difficulties encountered while traveling to the other side of the world. This type of information is extremely useful for nautical archaeologists because it can be compared with the data provided by contemporary nautical and shipbuilding treatises and archaeological data. The accounts also contain 10 �practical descriptions about the use and maintenance of numerous elements of the ship’s outfitting. However, the data is not provided in a direct manner as a nautical treaty does. The analysis of such primary documents is analogous to the way an archaeologist approach the excavation of an archaeological site – the data is gathered and then interpreted by the nautical archaeologists. References Consejo de Indias, 1943. Recopilación de leyes de los reynos de la Indias, mandadas imprimir y publicar por la Magestad Católica del Rey don Cárlos II. Nuetsro Señor. 4 impresión. Gráficas Ultra S.A., Madrid. Hawkins, S. R., 1970. The Observations of Sir Richard Hawkins. Da Capo Press, New York. Fernández de Navarrete, M., 1837. Colección de los viajes y descubrimientos que hicieron por mar los españoles desde fines del siglo XV. Volumen V. Expediciones al Maluco, viages de Loaisa y de Saavedra. Imprenta Real, Madrid. O’Scanlan, T., 1974. Diccionario marítimo español: que además de las definiciones de las voces con sus equivalentes en francés, inglés e italiano, contiene tres vocabularios de estos idiomas con las correspondencias castellanas: redactado por orden del Rey nuestro señor. Museo Naval, Madrid. Oertling, T. J., 1996. Ships’ Bilge Pumps: a History of Their Development, 1500-1900. Texas A&M University Press, College Station. Pérez-Mallaína, P. E., 1998. Spain’s Men of the Sea: Daily Life on the Indies Fleets in the Sixteenth Century. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. Pigafetta, A., 2002. Primer viaje alrededor del mundo. Dastin, Madrid. Smith, R. C., 1993. Vanguard of Empire: Ships of Exploration in the Age of Columbus. Oxford University Press, New York. Spate, O. H. K., 1979. The Spanish Lake. University of Minessota, Minneapolis. 11 �Biography Jose Luis Casabán is a PhD candidate in the Nautical Archaeology Program at Texas A&M University. His dissertation research focuses on the study of the 16th century Spanish seafaring and shipbuilding technology. He is also specialized in the applications of photogrammetry for underwater mapping and GIS. Since 2012, Jose is one of the co-directors of the Finisterre Project, whose objectives are the underwater survey, mapping, recording, and study of the remains of 1596 Armada shipwrecks discovered near Cape Finisterre, in the northwest of Spain. 12 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Session 6: Iberian Global Interactions: the Manila Galleon and the Roteiro Subject The topic of the resource Interview with Session 6 co-chair Veronica Walker Vadillo and links to the papers presented in the session. Description An account of the resource The arrival of Spain and Portugal in Asia-Pacific in the 1500s marked a turning point in the history of the region. New foreign actors came into play: priests, merchants and mercenaries looking to save souls and profit from trade in exotic Asian goods. Far from their Iberian homeland, their deeds and actions, violent or not, resulted in a myriad of interactions that altered the life of the people who lived around their areas of influence, including that of the newcomers. This flow of people and goods circumnavigated the world by well established maritime routes. In 1565, the Spanish established the Manila galleon trade route, which linked Asia with the Americas, and from there to Europe. From the early 1500s, the Portuguese dominated the route that linked Asia with Africa, Brazil and Europe in what is known as the Roteiro. The most visible archaeological evidence of these trade routes is the ships in which the goods were transported around the globe, and also the interaction with different cultures that were located in trading posts along these routes. But through contact also came knowledge exchange and other subtle changes including the migration of people, flora, and fauna. In this session we want to discuss archaeological, historical, and ethnographic evidence that remains of this global enterprise that connected Europe to Asia through maritime trade, and all the entrepôts that stood along the way. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Veronica Walker Vadillo Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The outfitting and sailing of early sixteenth-century vessels in the Pacific: The Loaysa and Saavedra expeditions (1525-1536) Description An account of the resource This paper examines the information provided by primary written sources in relation to the outfitting and sailing of the ships used in the Loaysa and Saavedra expeditions, which took place between 1525 and 1536. On July 24, 1525, seven vessels, under the command of Garcia Jofre de Loaysa, departed from La Coruña, Spain, to take the Moluccas for the king of Spain, Charles I. Only one nao reached its destination where the Spanish managed to thwart the Portuguese for several years with the help of the natives. In 1527, Hernán Cortés sent Alvaro de Saavedra with three ships from New Spain to find Trinidad, a ship from the Magellan’s expedition, and to find out the outcome of the Loaysa expedition. He never returned. A close examination of eleven documents written by survivors of both expeditions revealed one hundred and twelve references regarding the use of nautical technology and operational aspects of seafaring in the Pacific Ocean in the early sixteenth century. This data includes ship typology, rigging, navigation techniques, equipment, provisions and containers, ballast, hull maintenance, seagoing disasters and their remedies, ordnance, and naval warfare. This type of information is useful for nautical archaeologists since it can be compared with the data provided by contemporary nautical and shipbuilding treatises and be used to interpret the archaeological data. The analysis of such primary documents is analogous to the way an archaeologist approach an excavation site – the data is gathered and then interpreted by the nautical archaeologists. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jose Luis Casabán, in Van Tilburg, H., Tripati, S., Walker Vadillo, V., Fahy, B., and Kimura, J. (eds.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 5/15/2014 Asia-Pac Session 6 2014 https://apconf-much.org/proceedings/files/original/dca92f83a85a0f01eb068d1bed1705b9.pdf 7e81fbe181c07bc4ddaddd46f6883ec3 PDF Text Text Disaster in the High Seas: The Spanish Expeditions in the Pacific in the Sixteenth Century Ma. Luisa De Leon-Bolinao, Ph.D. Associate Professor, History Department University of the Philippines-Diliman Quezon City, Philippines Email: loudeleon@rocketmail.com Abstract The Pacific Ocean is the largest body of water on earth, measuring more than 165 million square kilometers. Although the first European to spot it was Vasco Nuñez de Balboa in 1513, who named it Mar del Sur (South Sea) due to a miscalculation, it was Ferdinand Magellan who named it Pacifico after taking notice of its calm waters. This paper discusses the various disasters that sixteenth-century Spanish expeditions encountered during their trips to and from the Philippines while crossing the vast Pacific Ocean. It focuses on four events: (1) natural disasters like storms and gales; (2) health hazards like diseases and spoiled food provisions; (3) man-made hazards like mutinies and piracies; and, (4) other accidents like leaks and reef grounding. The study covers the period from Magellan’s voyage of 1519 up to the trips of the galleons until the end of the sixteenth century, and concludes with the lessons learned from a century of traversing the Pacific. Key words: disasters, Pacific Ocean, Spanish expeditions, galleon trade, Philippines I. Introduction A story on Walter McDougall’s (1993) book1 narrated the historic first eastward trip from the Philippines to Acapulco. Fray Andres de Urdaneta was on his way back to Acapulco from the Philippines. He set a course north by northeast in the hope of bypassing the trade winds and finding the westerlies back to the Americas. Forty-five years earlier, Magellan first crossed the Pacific westward, but since then no one has been able to make a tornaviaje (return trip) using the same route through the Pacific. After a month, Urdaneta’s crew reached 320 north latitude, 1590 east longitude, the same coordinates reached by Saavedra in 1528 but abandoned after a five-day storm 1 Walter A. McDougall (1993). Let the Sea Make a Noise: A History of the North Pacific from Magellan to MacArthur. Basic Books, p. 25. 1 �crippled his ship, with his crew weakened by the cold and scurvy. Urdaneta then prayed for the intercession of St. Peter, patron saint of his ship San Pedro, that the westerlies would carry them back to Acapulco. The westerlies did pick up, the ship sailed eastward until the California current caught them and carried them southward to Mexico. They reached Acapulco on October 8, 1565 after sailing over twelve thousand miles in 130 days. Urdaneta unwittingly discovered the Kuroshio current2 flowing off Japan, the North Pacific Current flowing towards California, and the tornaviaje route that eluded earlier Spanish explorers. Thus began Spain’s mastery of the Pacific Ocean. According to Greg Bankoff (2006), “The Spanish Empire in the Pacific may have been motivated by ‘God, gold, and glory’ but its realization, in particular its extent and its pulse, was largely determined by the Pacific wind system.”3 Spain may have built an empire, but it came with considerable loss of life and property. The Pacific, contrary to Magellan’s initial impression of this “Spanish lake”, was far from calm. It is the birthplace of numerous tropical storms, the home of the world’s most active volcanoes and tectonic plates, and the regular site of earthquakes and tsunamis. II. Initial Travels to the Philippines: From Ferdinand Magellan to Miguel Lopez De Legazpi, 1519-1565 Antonio Pigafetta, Magellan’s assistant and chronicler, kept a detailed account of the events of the 1519 expedition. The fleet began its voyage to the largely unknown waters in November 1520, with no clue as to direction or length of travel. Three months later, the food had deteriorated, and morale was low. He notes, “The tired crew only ate sea biscuits that were full of worms and smelled of the urine from the rats that had already eaten the good parts. Some men fought over old cowhides which they softened for four or five days in seawater 2 As described by Shirley Fish in her book, The Manila-Acapulco Galleons: The Treasure Ships of the Pacific. Author House (2011), p. 64: “The Kuroshio Current begins off the coast of Taiwan and flows in a circular, clock wise pattern as far north as Japan. The current then merges with the North Pacific Current (NPC) which flows in a westerly pattern taking the ship towards the coast of Northern California and Mendecino. The NPC is the Pacific’s counterpart of the Atlantic’s Gulf Stream. Once off the coast of California, the galleon sailed south to Baja California and then to Mexico’s Cape Corrientes and Acapulco.” 3 Greg Bankoff (2006). “Winds of Colonisation: The Meteorological Contours of Spain’s Imperium in the Pacific, 1521-1898”, Environment and History 12, p. 67. 2 �before cooking them over a charcoal fire. Others caught and sold rats…and the demand for this kind of fresh meat could not be met. Nineteen of them perished from scurvy…”4 Scurvy is a disease that occurs due to the lack of Vitamin C and usually accompanies malnutrition. Symptoms include pale skin, sunken eyes, and loss of teeth. It was a common illness among sailors since the 15th century due to the absence of fresh vegetables and fruits, especially citrus, in their diets. These foods are highly perishable and cannot last for the several months that the sailors spend in long-distance travel in ships. A second voyage led by Garcia Jofre de Loaisa, and assisted by Juan Sebastian Del Cano [Elcano], was mandated by Carlos I to colonize the Spice Islands for the Spanish Crown. Leaving Spain in 1525 with an impressive fleet of seven ships and crew of 450, the Loaisa expedition barely survived the Atlantic crossing. Even before they crossed the Pacific, they were already down to four ships. After the Pacific voyage, only one ship reached the Spice Islands as three more ships were lost in the storms, while Loaysa and Elcano both died 5 of scurvy in July 1526.The October 31, 1527 trip of Alvaro de Saavedra Ceron proved most favorable for the Spanish fleet. Not only were the northeast trade winds strong enough to push them across the vast ocean, thus making the trip faster, they also arrived in the Philippines after the typhoon season was over.6 Of course, it helped that one of the captains of the ships was a member of the earlier Elcano expedition and could have copies of the navigation charts. It was also the first time that a Spanish fleet originated from Mexico, instead of Spain, which means the food would remain fresher for a longer period of time during the Pacific crossing. However, Saavedra could not escape the curse of the Pacific. Only two weeks into the voyage, the crew discovered that the ship was leaking badly. Wright (1951) wrote,7 “…The water was pouring into the bread storeroom in the stern of the ship, in such quantities that the ship was settling rapidly. They hastened to lighten her by throwing overboard thirty quintales [equivalent to fifty days ration 4 Rodrigue Levesque (trans.) The Philippines: Pigafetta’s Story of Their Discovery by Magellan (n.d.). Levesque Publications, p. 14. 5 Ibid, p. 111. 6 Ione Stuessy Wright “Voyages of Alvaro de Saavedra Ceron” in R. S. Boggs (ed.) University of Miami Hispanic-American Studies (1951). University of Miami Press, p. 17. 7 Ibid. p. 19. 3 �for forty men] of bread and meat and other foods, and set to work to get rid of the water….” On December 15, 1527, another misfortune happened to the crew. They encountered a storm, developed rudder trouble, and were forced to wait out the bad weather in the middle of the sea. Two other ships of the convoy – the Santiago and Espiritu Santo -continued on their journey, but after the storm passed, these two vessels were never seen again.8 It was Saavedra who first attempted the tornaviaje in June 1528 by sailing northeastward, but was apparently unprepared for the extreme weather condition and more storms. He returned to the Moluccas and departed for a second attempt in May 1529, only to be attacked by the native islanders along the way. Saavedra himself fell ill and died on the return voyage (estimated around October 1529), but barely out of the western Pacific region. The crew returned to the Moluccas a second time, but was later captured by the Portuguese and taken to Malacca. After the Spaniards surrendered their arms to the Portuguese, they were sent to India and finally got back to Spain in Portuguese ships. By the time Ruy Lopez de Villalobos set sail in October 1542, a lot of things had been learned about the Pacific. Captains were further instructed to keep a very detailed log of each day’s journey, measured in leagues. Despite all the preparation and the knowledge that went into the Villalobos expedition, the usual problems surfaced – leaking boats, lack of drinking water, and the occasional storms and gales, one of which caused one ship, the San Cristobal, to disappear.9 It would later resurface in Mindanao and rendezvous with the rest of Villalobos’s fleet. After several months in Mindanao, one of the ships -- the San Juan – would attempt to return to Mexico via the Pacific Ocean. The Villalobos expedition may have been better prepared for the journey this time around, but with the persistent lack of adequate knowledge of wind direction and sea currents occurring in the Pacific, this attempt was destined to fail. It would take Spain two more decades to figure this out before the incredible feat of returning to Spain via the Pacific would be accomplished. Miguel 8 Ibid., p. 21. Andre Gschaedler, “Mexico and the Pacific, 1540-1565: The Voyages of Villalobos and Legazpi and the Preparations Made for Them”. PhD dissertation, Faculty of Political Science, Columbia University, p. 52. 9 4 �Lopez de Legazpi had one very distinct advantage as he set sail across the Pacific in November 1564 – he was assisted by Andres de Urdaneta, who, by this time, had been the foremost expert in navigation. He had been crossing the Pacific since the Loaysa and Saavedra expeditions, and that his knowledge of cosmography and navigation was well known throughout the empire. He became an Augustinian friar in 1552, and stayed in Mexico where he was exposed to more studies on seafaring, particularly on the meteorological observations made along the coast of California.10 The November 21, 1564 departure of the Legazpi fleet would have spelled disaster had it not been for the instructions of Urdaneta who outlined different sea routes for (1) departures between Oct 1 to November 10; (2) departures between November 10 and January 20; and (3) departures after January which should not proceed until March.11 Simply put, for every Pacific voyage, timing is paramount; one cannot take for granted prevailing winds and the sea currents at different times of the year. Needless to say, the voyage proceeded without any incident, and Legazpi reached Guam on January 26, 1565, and Samar on February 13, 1565.12 Urdaneta left Cebu to return to Mexico on June 1, 1565 aboard the San Pedro. Although this was the voyage that discovered the eastward route back to Acapulco, we do know now that out of the original 200 people on board, only about 30 people were able to reach their destination after four months. This fact, however, does not diminish the significance of this return voyage, and it would serve as the route that the Manila galleons would follow for 250 years. III. The Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade Conquering the Pacific didn’t end the disasters accompanying the subsequent Spanish expeditions. According to Shirley Fish (2011):13 “After the arrival of the San Pablo in Mexico, it was followed by the San Geronimo, which arrived at Cebu in October 1566. This proved to be a difficult journey for all those aboard the vessel as a mutiny arose on the ship. The captain was murdered by the mutineers and it was a miracle that the ship arrived in the Philippines at all.” 10 Ibid., p. 84. Ibid. p. 115-16. 12 Ibid., p. 149, 152. 13 Shirley Fish (2011). The Manila-Acapulco Galleons: The Treasure Ships of the Pacific. Author House, p. 65. 11 5 �Aside from mutinies, captains also faced the possibility of encountering pirates and rival foreign ships when traveling over international waters. The galleons were part of the Spanish Crown Trade Route (SCTR), a larger network of traditional merchant ships that sailed -routes. As discussed by Ruescas and Wrana (2012),14 “Thus, two lengthy maritime routes operated across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans simultaneously for over two centuries. Both of these lines were in turn connected by an overland route between Acapulco and Veracruz via Mexico City…. Through this overland route, the Atlantic and Pacific lines were connected forming a single combined route that stretched from Manila to Seville, linking Asia, America, and Europe….” For both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets, the Spanish Government established a highly-regulated system of laws that governed everything from cargo and provisions to weaponry and crew. The schedule for the voyages had to be strictly followed. Sailing to the Americas had to commence in the months of April or May in order to arrive in Mexico before the hurricane season, while the Pacific fleets can only start their voyage in October, but not later than January, to be assured of calm waters and favorable winds. The Atlantic waters were likewise used by vessels from other countries such as the Dutch and British ships which were always hunting for Spanish galleons. That is why as early as 1526, the King of Spain had decreed that vessels traveling to the Americas would be escorted by war ships. In contrast, the Pacific galleons were not accompanied by these vessels, but instead were fitted with cannons to be able to protect themselves. 15 At times, an incoming Manila galleon was escorted from Baja California to the port of Acapulco by additional armed warships. Alas, such precautions proved far from foolproof. One such example was when the Santa Ana was captured by Thomas Cavendish in 1587 off the coast of Baja California.16 The Santa Ana was originally with the war ship San Francisco when they left Manila, but both encountered a typhoon off Japan which considerably wrecked the 14 Javier Ruescas and Javier Wrana, “The West Indies and the Manila Galleons: The First Global Trade Route” in Probing Philippine-Spanish Connections in History: Selected Papers, Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day 2011 (2012). National Historical Commission of the Philippines and the History Department, UP Diliman, p. 8. 15 Ibid., p. 28, 30 16 Ibid., p. 188. 6 �latter, leaving the Santa Ana to continue its voyage back to Acapulco alone and unarmed. In November 1587, the Cavendish fleet spotted the lone galleon sailing towards Baja California, chased it, and got control of the ship, the cargo, and the crew. After picking the best of the lot from the ship, Cavendish set the Santa Ana on fire and set off, leaving the burning ship which managed to drift to a nearby shore, eventually getting salvaged by the remaining crew and brought back to Acapulco.17 The Dutch were the more aggressive attackers of the galleons, who constantly dispatched ships to the Philippines. They had hoped to catch one of the incoming or outgoing galleons by blockading either Manila Bay or the San Bernardino Strait. One such encounter happened in December 1600 when Oliver van Noort led the attack in Cavite, which unfortunately resulted with the sinking of the San Diego.18 It was this San Diego that was later excavated by underwater archaeologists in 1993, and the artifacts are presently housed in the National Museum of the Philippines and the Museo Naval in Madrid (Spain). Let me end this study with an incident from the seventeenth century. One of the worst disasters for the Spanish flotilla was the tragedy that befell the Nuestra Señora de la Concepcion. The Concepcion had quite a reputation as the largest, most indestructible galleon of its time. It was built using the best tropical hardwoods in the Philippines and measured 160 feet long, 50 feet wide, with a carrying capacity of 2,000 tons. It was accompanied by the San Ambrosio, but had become separated from the Concepcion due to the strong winds they encountered. The San Ambrosio was able to stay the course and arrived in Acapulco safely; the Concepcion, however, did not. 17 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cavendish#Capturing_a_Manila_galleon, Accessed October 5, 2013. 18 “Oliver van Noort’s Attack on Luzon” in Blair and Robertson, ‘Documents of 1600’, (Volume 11). The Philippine islands, 1493-1803 : explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the beginning of the nineteenth century / tr. from the originals, ed. and annotated by Emma Helen Blair and James Alexander Robertson, with historical introduction and additional notes by Edward Gaylord Bourne. 55 Vols. URL: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/p/philamer/afk2830.0001.011/144?page=root;size=100;view=image;q1=blair. Accessed October 5, 2013. 20 Fish, p. 3. 21 Ibid, p. 3-4. 22 Ibid., p. 11-15. An annotated list of Transpacific Galleons, 1565-1815, can also be found in Fish, pp 492-523. 7 �Fish (2011) relates that on September 20, 1638, the Concepcion encountered bad weather and crashed into a reef off the southern coast of the Northern Marianas, where it eventually capsized and broke to pieces. An investigation conducted in 1644 concluded that the ship’s disaster: “…was brought about by a combination of bad weather and the lack of vigilance on the part of the pilots in charge of the ship’s navigation. Apparently, there was a disturbance on the galleon which had become so out of control that the navigation of the ship was completely forgotten. Perhaps there was a fight among the officers and crew or a mutiny was attempted with a planned takeover of the vessel. Whatever happened on the galleon, it appears that no one was paying attention to the ship’s course and the fact that it had been dangerously drifting towards the reef.” Eventually, the culpability was traced back to Manila and to the then Governor-General Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, who was held responsible. Fifty-nine charges were brought against Corcuera, among which were (1) appointing his inexperienced nephew as Commander of the Concepcion which was probably one of the factors that led to a near-mutiny aboard the ship; (2) illegally-transporting personal cargo of jewelry, gold, and other items aboard the galleons back to Mexico, to be sold for profit; and, (3) numerous violations of Spanish trade laws. A recovery team was sent to Saipan by the Spanish government in Manila in 1684, to at least retrieve the ship’s cannons. But it was not until 1987 that an archaeological team led by William Mathers and his team of thirty men and women recovered the riches that the Nuestra Señora de la Concepcion buried off the waters of the Pacific for 375 years. Conclusion The Pacific Ocean had been the last frontier for the Spanish expeditions in the sixteenth century; their final obstacle to reaching the coveted Spice Islands. Erroneously named Pacifico by Magellan in 1520 which he based on its calm demeanor when he first saw the vast ocean, the Pacific is anything but peaceful. For it is the birthplace of numerous tropical storms, the home of the world’s most active volcanoes and tectonic plates, and the regular site of earthquakes and tsunamis. The first hazard they had to overcome was the weather and the ocean current. A ship captain must possess enough skills and navigation know-how to even begin to sail the large ocean to lands unknown. Initially a venture based on trial-and error, they had to 8 �leave Acapulco at a specific time of the year, and carefully keep a daily log of their latitudinal position to even have any hope of surviving the months-long journey or reaching an island to replenish supplies. Another challenge is rationing their food and water supply and combatting physical diseases like scurvy, or emotional distress like loneliness and boredom. A second hazard is the violent climate. The Pacific is the birthplace of tropical storms, a phenomena entirely new to citizens of an almost hurricane-free Europe. As such, coping with shipwrecks, leaks, storms, and gales had become regular struggles for the hapless sailors. A third form of challenge was finding the tornaviaje route back to Acapulco. For some reason, the Pacific waters behaved differently going back east than moving towards the west. Sixteenth-century navigation meant relying on wind and sea currents in the absence of modern instrumentation. It took Spain all of half a century before hitting the Kuroshio Current off Japan which finally gave them that coveted return trip to Acapulco with a shorter travel time. This historic discovery paved the way for Spain to master the Pacific Ocean, establish their empire, and build a lucrative trade route for the galleons for 250 years. Finally, Spain had one last hurdle to overcome – piracy and attacks in the high seas. Carrying untold fortune between Manila and Acapulco, the galleons are virtual magnets to every daring treasure hunter with a sea vessel. The Portuguese had staked their claim over the Spice Islands and its surrounding lands and waters, and had used this ruse to capture Spanish vessels which wandered inside its territory. Meanwhile, the Dutch and British ships lie in wait in pivotal water channels like the San Bernardino Strait, Manila Bay, and Baja California. Although Spanish galleons frequently carry cannons and firearms to protect themselves, the length of the travel time and distance sometimes leave them weak and vulnerable to pirates and bounty hunters who maintain close proximity to the shore and thus remain healthy and ready to pounce on weary sailors. The cost of conquering the Pacific may have been enormous for Spain in the sixteenth century. The payback, however, was their enduring legacy in structuring the earliest techniques for modern navigation and map-making, pioneering the methods to building 9 �a formidable, cross-continent empire, and ushering in the first global trade by linking the largest landmasses of the earth – Asia, the Americas, and Europe. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bankoff, Greg, 2006. Winds of Colonisation: The Meteorological Contours of Spain’s Imperium in thePacific, 1521-1898, Environment and History (12): 65-88. Blair, Emma Helen and Robertson, Alexander (eds.). ‘Documents of 1600’, (Volume 11). The Philippinne islands, 1493-1803: explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the beginning of the nineteenth century / trans. from the originals, ed. and annotated by Emma Helen Blair and James Alexander Robertson, with historical introduction and additional notes by Edward Gaylord Bourne. 55 Vols. Fish, Shirley, 2011. The Manila-Acapulco Galleons: The Treasure Ships of the Pacific. Author House. Gschaedler, Andre,1953. Mexico and the Pacific, 1540-1565: The Voyages of Villalobos and Legazpi and the Preparations Made for Them. PhD dissertation, Faculty of Political Science, Columbia University. Levesque, Rodrigue (trans.), n.d. The Philippines: Pigafetta’s Story of Their Discovery by Magellan. Levesque Publications. McDougall, Walter A.,1993. Let the Sea Make a Noise: A History of the North Pacific from Magellan to MacArthur. Basic Books. Morga, Antonio de, 1962. Historical Events of the Philippine Islands. Writings of Jose Rizal Volume VI (Centennial Edition). Jose Rizal National Centennial Commission. Paige, Paula Spurlin (trans.),1969. The Voyage of Magellan: The Journal of Antonio Pigafetta. Prentice-Hall International. Ruescas, Javier and Wrana, Javier, 2012. The West Indies and the Manila Galleons: The First Global Trade Route. In Probing Philippine-Spanish Connections in 10 �History: Selected Papers, Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day 2011. National Historical Commission of the Philippines and the History Department, UP Diliman, 1-32. Wright, Ione Stuessy, 1951. Voyages of Alvaro de Saavedra Ceron. In R. S. Boggs (ed.) University of Miami Hispanic-American Studies. University of Miami Press. Online Sources: “The Philippine Islands, ” http://philhist.pbworks.com/w/page/16367055/ThePhilippineIslands “Thomas Cavendish”, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cavendish#Capturing_a_Manila_galleon Biography Maria Luisa de Leon Bolinao is an Associate professor at the University of Philippines Diliman. Her area of specialization is Asian History, particularly Southeast Asian History and West Asian History. She teaches the Contemporary Period (Post-War Philippine History), and her field of specialization is Environmental History. 11 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Session 6: Iberian Global Interactions: the Manila Galleon and the Roteiro Subject The topic of the resource Interview with Session 6 co-chair Veronica Walker Vadillo and links to the papers presented in the session. Description An account of the resource The arrival of Spain and Portugal in Asia-Pacific in the 1500s marked a turning point in the history of the region. New foreign actors came into play: priests, merchants and mercenaries looking to save souls and profit from trade in exotic Asian goods. Far from their Iberian homeland, their deeds and actions, violent or not, resulted in a myriad of interactions that altered the life of the people who lived around their areas of influence, including that of the newcomers. This flow of people and goods circumnavigated the world by well established maritime routes. In 1565, the Spanish established the Manila galleon trade route, which linked Asia with the Americas, and from there to Europe. From the early 1500s, the Portuguese dominated the route that linked Asia with Africa, Brazil and Europe in what is known as the Roteiro. The most visible archaeological evidence of these trade routes is the ships in which the goods were transported around the globe, and also the interaction with different cultures that were located in trading posts along these routes. But through contact also came knowledge exchange and other subtle changes including the migration of people, flora, and fauna. In this session we want to discuss archaeological, historical, and ethnographic evidence that remains of this global enterprise that connected Europe to Asia through maritime trade, and all the entrepôts that stood along the way. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Veronica Walker Vadillo Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Disaster in the High Seas: The Spanish Expeditions in the Pacific in the Sixteenth Century Description An account of the resource The Pacific Ocean is the largest body of water on earth, measuring more than 165 million square kilometers. Although the first European to spot it was Vasco Nuñez de Balboa in 1513, who named it Mar del Sur (South Sea) due to a miscalculation, it was Ferdinand Magellan who named it Pacifico after taking notice of its calm waters. This paper discusses the various disasters that sixteenth-century Spanish expeditions encountered during their trips to and from the Philippines while crossing the vast Pacific Ocean. It focuses on four events: (1) natural disasters like storms and gales; (2) health hazards like diseases and spoiled food provisions; (3) man-made hazards like mutinies and piracies; and, (4) other accidents like leaks and reef grounding. The study covers the period from Magellan’s voyage of 1519 up to the trips of the galleons until the end of the sixteenth century, and concludes with the lessons learned from a century of traversing the Pacific. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ma. Luisa De Leon-Bolinao, in Van Tilburg, H., Tripati, S., Walker Vadillo, V., Fahy, B., and Kimura, J. (eds.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 5/14/2014 Asia-Pac Session 6 2014