The fathers provincial received us on the beach—the present father Francisco,[11] and the past Alberto Laercio[12]—accompanied by the most grave fathers with music and other kindnesses. We stayed two months in Cochin, where we received singular kindness and entertainment from all. They took me to Caranganor, five leguas from there, along very pleasant rivers, in a boat like a house, belonging to the archbishop of Sierra, Father Don Francisco Ros[13] of our Society, a native of the city of Girona in the principality of Cataluña, whose hand I desired to kiss. We found him at Peru. He seemed a saint to me. When I remarked to him, à propos of the retirement and poverty in which I found him, at the first salutation, ”Qui Episcopatum desiderat, bonum opus desiderat,” he replied, “Our Chaldean answers, Bonam servitulem querit.”[14] He is learned in that language, in which his priests pray and celebrate the mass with peculiar ceremonies. We found him living so apostolic a life that he did not have room to entertain the eight of our Society who were there—among whom was the rector of Cochin, Father Gaspar Fernandez[15]—nor did he have any food to give us. Consequently we returned to the boat, which was more comfortable than the house. We went to Caranganor, a Portuguese fortress, and a residence of ours, just opposite Samorin. I saw some doors and windows that had been broken with volleys, and they told me that a father who was praying in the window had been killed. The father rector of the residence there had a carved image of the child Jesus asleep in a little gilded bed, which had been sent him by a pagan Malabar pirate, who stole it from a Portuguese, believing it to be gold. But when he had carried it to his house, he found that it was only gilded wood, and gave it to his children for a toy. The sleeping Child, however, did not allow his owner to sleep, for according to his account, He kept him awake every night, and placing Himself in front of him, said to him, “Take me to the land of the Christians.” He communicated the matter to his wife, and by her counsel sent Him to the father rector of Caranganor. We went to Vaypicota, a residence of our Society, which formerly had a greater number of our members. That field of Christendom has become lessened through the little favor [shown to the Christians by] the pagan king to whom it is subject. It is a wonder to me that within a stone’s throw of our church is a Moro mosque, a pagan temple, and a Jewish synagogue, without one harming another, although they annoy us greatly by their shouting, when they invoke the devil.
From Cochin we went to Goa on April three of this year, one thousand six hundred and fifteen, in a galley of the fleet. We coasted along the shore and visited the fortresses of Malabar. We spent Holy Week in Mangalor. We lodged in the convent of St. Francis, and helped confess the soldiers. We spent forty days in the voyage, until we reached Goa, where Father Francisco Vergara, rector of the college, and all the others received us with great charity. Four of them took me to visit the viceroy, who showed us great courtesy. After I had been talking with him for almost an hour, the chief chancellor entered, who is at the same time auditor for the reports in causes, and is a knight of the habit. Having given him a seat of honor, such as we were occupying, the viceroy said to him: “I am surprised, sir, that all the fathers of the Society are all so much alike; for the father rector of Manila, whom we have here, is just like the fathers here, even in speech.” He determined immediately what could be done in accordance with the present state of India, in respect to the aid that I was come to request—namely, to give four well-equipped galleons, with as many as four hundred soldiers and ninety pieces of artillery among them all. As commander of this fleet, he assigned Francisco de Miranda Enriquez, a gentleman who has had good fortune in war; and, as admiral, Alfonso Vaez Coutiño.
We left Goa on the twelfth of May. We were one hundred and two days on the voyage for the lack of good weather, and on account of the poor route chosen by the pilot, who took us to the land of Achan; and as its inhabitants are hostile to the Portuguese, the latter did not dare land there. The men were dying with thirst, and had it not been for some showers, and the final resolution to get water on a desert island, we would have suffered even death. We had many samatras, or hurricanes, on the coast of that great land, which broke topmasts, tore sails, and broke moorings, causing us to lose anchors and other necessary articles.
On July thirty, on the eve of our Father St. Ignatius, in the district of Pulu Parcelar, our capitana galleon fought two Dutch vessels, without the other galleons being able to render aid, as they were to leeward. Our galleon made two vain attempts to grapple—one because of too much wind, and the other for lack of wind—for the one was a samatra or hurricane, and the other so great a calm, that neither we nor the Dutch could manage our ships. But inasmuch as we remained within cannon-shot of one another, we fought until night deepened, and they fled battered to pieces; for our balls had gone clear through them, while theirs made scarcely any impression on us. Accordingly we only lost two men in the fight.
On the eve of the Assumption[16] we ran upon a shoal three brazas under water, where the galleon remained all night, tossing up and down frightfully. In the morning a boat came from one of our other ships in response to the numerous pieces that we discharged, and helped us get off the shoal; but we were in so bad condition that from then on the boat made thirty palmos of water every twenty-four hours.
We finally reached Malaca August twenty-two. Although it was thought that the monsoon or favorable wind was already ended, we attempted to make the voyage to Manila. We passed the strait of Sincapura, and on the fifth of September, because of the little progress that we made, called a council, in which we all resolved to winter at Malaca. However, on the next day, the commander attempted to continue the voyage to Manila, until the soldiers and sailors mutinied and forced him to put in at Malaca, on the nineteenth of the same month.
The fleet was very ill received by the inhabitants there, because of the harm that soldiers generally do. But our going there was soon seen to have been a providence of God; for within one month the king of Achen came to attack that city with a fleet of one hundred and fifty sail and forty thousand men, and had not he found our galleys there would surely have captured it. And further, according to rumors (and as was shown in the result), he had agreed with the Dutch to join them, since they came only twenty days apart, as I shall immediately relate. In my opinion the same thing that had happened to the prophet Abacuc [i.e., Habakkuk] happened to me. For he having prepared the food for his reapers, the angel bore him by the hair to Babylon, to relieve the necessity of Daniel, who had been locked in the den of lions. I took that aid from Goa for Manila, and the Lord took us to Malaca, and conveyed us as if by the hair, since we put in with great repugnance; and at last all that reinforcement was consumed in helping Malaca.
A squadron of galleys came ahead to reconnoiter. Finding our galleons anchored, and taking note of the soldiers in them and in the city, it went ahead to the strait to await (as was heard) the Dutch. Our men feared lest they should attack the trading ships which generally come at that time from China. Accordingly it was resolved that four galleons, six galliots, and other oared craft should sail out to drive the enemy from the coast. They engaged on the fifteenth of November, and fought all that day, and the one following. The enemy’s force was large. They burned one galliot and forced the men to desert the others and enter the galleons, which now were in need of men. The enemy attacked our flagship and surrounded it with twelve large galleys. It caught fire many times, but our men always extinguished the fire and defended themselves valiantly. They attacked the galleon of Don Juan de Silveyra, which was a fine vessel, and a fort of twenty-two cannons. It caught fire and burned so furiously that the flames could not be extinguished; and it was accordingly burned to ashes. The said Don Juan de Silveyra and Antonio Rodriguez Gamboa—his brother-in-law, and son of Juan Cayado de Gamboa, commandant of that fortress of Malaca—leaped overboard. They and thirty or forty other Portuguese were captured by the people of Achen and taken to their king, who treated them courteously and gave them liberty. Those gentlemen declared to me, in writing, in Malaca that the fleet of the people of Achen consisted of three hundred and fifty craft, among which were sixty large galleys, each with three pieces of artillery at the bow, while that of the midship gangway had the caliber of sixty libras; that the royal galley carried one thousand six hundred men, with one hundred and twenty falcons and half-falcons; and that they lost ten large galleys in the fight, besides twenty other lesser craft. They also stated that after returning to his country the king punished certain of his captains because they had not burned all the galleys; and that having given liberty to the captives he sent them to Malaca, with che message that he desired peace with his brother, the king of Castilla and Portugal.
Our good fortune resulted in his not having effected a meeting with the Dutch, who arrived the next month, on the seventh of December, with seven ships and one patache. Our three galleons had been stationed in a cove between the small island of Malaca and a sandbank—a place that seemed impregnable, as it was defended on the sea side by the sandbank and shoals, and on the land side by the artillery of its ramparts. But the enemy, having thoroughly reconnoitered the sandbank and shoals, discovered a channel where they could enter, and thereupon entered on the morning of the next day, flying their red rear-admiral’s banners. The flagship remained outside, although within cannon-shot. Then began a cruel bombardardment that lasted three days. Our galleons could not play all their artillery, for they were anchored, and the currents were dragging them toward the Dutch, who were free, and maneuvered at will. Our artillery was heavier than theirs, consequently the few pieces that we fired did them great damage. The building of a protection for the cannon was discussed, and the planting of some pieces on the island, in order to defend the galleons. That would doubtless have been of great importance for they would have fired from a covered battery and at very close range, as was seen by the effect produced by only one piece that was mounted there. It was fired by a man who had been condemned to death, and who was awaiting justice for having pillaged two Chinese vessels. He was promised pardon if he would take charge of that piece, as he did, to the damage of the enemy. But as he was alone and the enemy were bringing to bear all the artillery of their ships, they finally prevailed. On the first day, Juan Pinto, captain of a galley, being killed, and his uncle, a valiant soldier, having broken his leg, his men were disheartened, and deserted the galleon; but they did not take the precaution to burn it, so that the enemy could not profit, as they did, by its artillery, food, and other things that it was carrying; afterward the enemy set it on fire.
At dawn of the next day, December ten, the heretics began to attack the almiranta. At the first volleys the admiral and five other men were killed. The men were so disheartened by that event that they began to jump overboard, and it was impossible for certain commanders and brave soldiers, who were trying to defend the galleon, to prevent them. But, as the enemy perceived them deserting the vessel, they sent their lanchac and entered it; they first lowered the flag of Christ from the masthead and placed it on their ship below that of Count Mauricio. The vessel was already burning from the fire set by our men, and accordingly the enemy deserted it quickly.