Of what happened to the Captain Pedro Fernandez de Quiros at the court of Spain; negotiating for leave from His Majesty to discover and settle the southern parts; how, and in what form, the business was negotiated; and his voyage to Peru.
Having spoken to His Majesty, and placed my first memorial in his hands, in which I declared my plan and its importance, he heard me with his accustomed clemency and benignity, and replied that he would order the matter to be seen to. Presently I went to speak with Don Juan Idiaquez, with the Father Confessor, with Don Pedro Franqueza, and with other Members of the Council of State, and important persons about the court, who might be able to help in despatching my business. To these I gave the letters I brought from the Viceroy of Peru and the Ambassador at Rome; and I showed to them the letters of His Holiness, and the other papers and charts relating to my discovery.
Some received me well, holding the affair to be serious and worthy of support. Others thought little of it or of me, thinking that I promised more than I could perform, and that for the performance of so great a deed, a person of more parts and valour was needed. Some answered me that sufficient lands had been discovered for His Majesty, and that what signified was to people and settle them, rather than go in search of those I said were new, which were so distant that they would be difficult and costly to maintain, after they had been conquered and settled. There were not wanting those who threw doubts on the utility of such conquests. So that I was forced to be more importunate to His Majesty, submitting new memorials every day, representing the arguments in favour of the enterprise, and endeavouring to satisfy those who opposed me. During this time I had much trouble at court, and I made a long discourse on the life passed by those who had business to prosecute there. I had different replies, some sharp, and others gentle, like those from Don Pedro Franqueza and others of the Council of State.
At last, on the last day of Easter, in the year 1603, I was sent for by Don Pedro Franqueza, who told me that my business was despatched; and he took me to the Chief Secretary, named Matienzo, and said that, as he valued his regard, he was not to delay me on any point. So on Saturday, the 5th of April, they delivered to me some orders of His Majesty which contained my despatch, and which had been passed by the Council of State. Their tenor is as follows:—
Copy of the Order of His Majesty touching the Principal Despatch.
To Don Luis de Velasco or the Count of Monterey, my relation, my Viceroy and Captain General in my kingdoms and provinces of Peru, or such other person as may be governing in my name, at the time of the delivery of this order.
There has come here from Rome the Captain Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, a Portuguese; and the Duke of Sesa and of Baena, of my Council of State and my Ambassador at that Court, wrote to me that in the holy year he had news from Friar Diego de Soria, Prior at Manilla of the Order of San Domingo, that there would be found at that court the said Captain Quiros, who was a great pilot with much experience of the South Sea and of the great gulf between the coasts of New Spain and Peru and Japan and the Philippine Islands, having been Chief Pilot of the second discovery made by the Adelantado Alvaro de Mendaña. The said Father represented that it would be much for the service of God and for mine to introduce him, that he might again return to discover these unknown parts and islands. So the Duke sent for him to his house to ask him concerning curious things relating to his art; and entertained him there for near seventeen months, during which time he opened his mind, and showed many papers he possessed, and drew up others which he communicated to Father Clavio and other mathematicians and distinguished geographers. All were persuaded, by the proofs and reasonings he submitted to them, that there could not fail to be either a continental land or a number of islands from the Strait of Magellan to New Guinea and Java and the other islands of that great archipelago. And they concluded that, enjoying the best part of the torrid and temperate zones, where it has been seen, as well in the ancient provinces of the world as in the new discoveries, that much and very good and rich land exists which has a temperate and therefore a habitable climate. They are, therefore, of opinion that it is very desirable to lose no time in discovering that southern region, unknown until now, which will be a great service to God.
Besides the interest and advantages that this discovery promises, it will be easier to explore the southern region than it was to find the Western Indies. When the said Captain returned from that long navigation, including detentions in various parts, lasting for two years, he offered to Don Luis de Velasco, my Viceroy of Peru and your predecessor, to return in the same ship in which he had come, to that discovery, if it should prove necessary, as far as New Guinea and the Moluccas, and to return to Peru by way of the Philippines, with a full account of all he had discovered. But though it seemed well to the Viceroy he did not act, but gave the Captain letters to me and to His Holiness, who has heard and spoken with him. His Holiness was pleased with his proposals, insomuch that he has conceded many spiritual gifts for those parts (if I order the voyage to be undertaken), for the reasonings of the said Captain satisfied him. The Duke has given me a good account of his parts, good judgment, experience in his profession; and has assured me that he is a worker, quiet, disinterested, of decent life, zealous for the service of God and for my service. As regards the theory (according to what the mathematicians at Rome affirm) they say that there are few pilots who know as much as he does; that he is expert in making globes, and charts for navigating; that he well understands the use of instruments necessary for navigation, and that he showed them two of his own invention, one by which to know, in navigating, the difference made by the needle between the N.E. and N.W. points, and the other for taking an altitude with more ease and accuracy. Both were commended by the Fathers Clavio and Villalpando of the Company of Jesus, and by the Doctors Toribio Perez and Masa, who have lectured publicly in mathematics at Salamanca, as well as by distinguished geographers. Captain Quiros had made an offer to the Duke that, I being served by it, he would go from Spain by the Strait of Magellan and return by the Eastern Indies, having gone round the world, using, by sea and land, the instruments he had made, and that he would make quite clear the true differences made by the needle in variation: a matter which up to the present time is very obscure, and respecting which there are many different opinions. The discovery of the truth will be of great advantage to navigation, in giving a knowledge of the true latitude and longitude of places, ports, and capes discovered, or which may be discovered in various voyages.
In conformity with what has been reported, the said Captain Quiros has related to me all that he has told to others respecting the navigations and discoveries; proving his statements by writings and maps of the islands he discovered, when he served as Chief Pilot under the said Adelantado, Alvaro de Mendaña, describing the diversity of people shown by their different colours, yet appearing to be docile, and the fertility of the islands which promised wealth. He prayed that, taking into consideration his zeal, and that his ends and objects being the service of God and my service, and the conversion of these people to our holy faith, and the good that might accrue from the discoveries (without reference to his interests), and besides all this the way in which the navigation of these wide seas would be facilitated through the great practice and experience he has of them, I would be served by ordering that a ship, not very large, should be provided with crew, provisions, munitions, and other things necessary for the said navigation and enterprise; and that matters should be arranged in a manner that would enable him to accomplish what he wishes to undertake. Having considered his proposal, with the attention that so serious a matter requires, for the increase of the faith and the benefit of the souls of those remote people, and placing the service of God before all things, as is reasonable, after consulting my Council of State, I have resolved:—
That the said Captain Quiros shall presently depart to make this discovery, in the first fleet for Peru; and I ordain and command that on his arrival you are to give him two very good ships with which he will be satisfied, to fit them out and provide them with the number of people necessary, well victualled, and supplied with munitions and arms requisite for so long a voyage. The ships are also to be supplied with things for bartering with natives, if they should reach places where this can be done, in conformity with the general orders which you and your predecessors have for similar discoveries, and with all that seems most conducive to my service. The cost of the preparations, of the people who will be embarked, of the provisions, munitions, clothing, and other things necessary for the voyage, is to be defrayed from my royal revenues, and from those which are most readily available. You are to give orders that some bare-foot friars, of the Order of St. Francis, exemplary and of good life, are taken; and you are to see that the people who are embarked in the said ships are good and useful, ordering them to obey and respect the said Captain during the voyage out and home, as their leader and superior, whom I name for that position from this time, obeying him in all things.