Fourth. The aforesaid captain Joan de Alcega, admiral of the fleet, did not obey the orders and instructions which on the day before the battle I gave to him in writing, signed with my name, according to which both ships, flagship and admiral's ship, were to board and fight with the enemy's flagship, because it was a strong vessel. Nevertheless, though he had seen me board, he passed by without having an order from me to do so, and still less having any order to follow and to fight with the opposing admiral's ship, and thus abandon me. If he had done as he was under obligation to do, the flagship would have been made to surrender completely without the loss of one of our men; and we could have captured for his Majesty a beautiful ship and twenty-six pieces of artillery, and many other things of price and value for all, and my flagship would not have been lost, and the people of worth who died in it would not have perished. After that, it would have been a sure and easy thing to capture the admiral's ship, which was a small boat, of no strength. Your Lordship should send promptly to the admiral to write the instructions which I gave him originally in Mariveles on the thirteenth of December by the hand of the captain Joan Tello y Aguirre, who came for them—signed with my name, without any erasures or changes whatever—because through them the above matter will be verified, without any fraud or deceit.
Fifth. After my flagship had foundered, the enemy in his, as broken as it was, took to flight with only the foresail up, and passed within sight of the admiral's ship of my convoy, and although the admiral was aware of my loss, and that that was the enemy's ship, and made sail after her, he did not try to follow her; and so he let her go, although he could easily have overtaken her, as she bore only the foresail, and could have captured her, as she was so broken and without men. Most of us who were on the island of Fortun saw this from there; and the captive Flamenco admiral will say the same thing, as well as those who came in our admiral's ship and remained in it.
Item: Although our admiral's ship ought to have come in search of its flagship, which it saw sinking in the sea from its companion ship—or at least in aid of its men who had escaped to the island of Fortun, which was near, in order to rescue us from that island, uninhabited and without water, where we were in evident risk of our lives—yet he did not do it. On the contrary, he went away with all speed, and returned to the mainland to the station of Mareyuma; consequently we could not find him, and he could not receive orders from me, his commander, concerning what he was to do in such matters as following the aforesaid enemy (in which a great opportunity was lost), as well as in other things in the service of his Majesty which ought to have been done.
Seventh and last. Although the aforesaid admiral ought not to have allowed out of his convoy the vessel which he had captured and taken from the enemy, so that it might not be lost again on account of his having put very few men on it, he left it; and, under pretense that he was sending it to be repaired, he ordered it to the island of Luban with other intentions—where on the same day, near night-time, there appeared the flagship of the enemy, which, if it had seen this ship, could have seized and taken it easily, because it was without defense. Then, without having been repaired, it left Luban and returned to the aforesaid admiral's ship at Mareyuma.
Of all this your Lordship is sufficiently informed through the reports which have been sent to your Lordship about the aforesaid event, and through the investigations made by the alcalde-mayor of the province of Balayan, in whose territory and under whose jurisdiction the event took place. Your Lordship will also be informed by the searchings and investigations which your Lordship ought to make concerning the aforesaid case and every particular of it, personally and very soon, before the guilty ones pervert them so that the truth may not be understood. They have been preparing for this, holding investigations before themselves in the admiral's ship, about their own affairs and business; but opportunity ought not to be given for these, nor any attention paid to them, for they are void and fraudulent, and malicious.
I ask and pray your Lordship to do and perform in this matter, since it is of such quality and importance, whatever may be proper in the service of God and of his Majesty, so that those may be punished who are guilty in a matter of such harm and loss, and that our lord the king and the gentlemen of his Council of the Indias may be informed faithfully of all that has happened and of what has been done—since, as far as I am concerned in this matter, as there no longer remains to me any authority or jurisdiction of commander in the fleet, I have done my duty. For this I have, etc., and ask it for testimony.
Doctor Antonio de Morga
In Manila, on the fifth of the month of January in the year one thousand six hundred and one, before the governor and captain-general of these islands, Don Francisco Tello, appeared the doctor Antonio de Morga, and presented this petition; and when his Lordship had seen it, he ordered it to be joined with the investigation which the alcalde-mayor of Balayan made, in order that the other proper verifications may be made according to what is provided, and that whatever is just may be done.
Tello
Before me: