I had a letter from Father Melchor de Vera,[6] in which he says that the people who escaped alive from the six large Javanese ships which were at Lamitan were accommodated in one caracoa, and passing before Basilan, full of fear of the Spaniards in the fort of Sanboangan, talked with the chief men [of Basilan], and told them that they were those who had been driven from the hill, and that many more than they had thought had been killed; and that there was no one in Mindanao who did not mourn a person of very near kin—the father for his son, the son for his father, etc.
I shall add here what occurred last year in the month of September, and which I did not learn until the same month of this year 1637. The captain and commandant of Caragan was then Juan Nicolas Godino. He went with a fleet to commit depredations on the tributaries of Cachil Corralat. He met six caracoas at sea, which he attacked and conquered—although most of the enemy escaped to land, as they were near the shore. However he killed some of them and captured others. He also did much damage in a village that he attacked. He returned to his fort laden with plunder and with one hundred and twenty captives. Among the dead was one Dumplac, who had formerly killed Alférez Blas Gonzalez, and had done great damage to the Christians of our missions and those of Caragan. Among the captives was a very famous chief, who was regarded as a brave man, and who killed Captain Pedro Baptista in the insurrection of Caragan.
October 24, the patache from the island of Hermosa entered the port, and it brought back most of the people in those forts. They say that the Franciscan friars are all going to China, as are all the Dominicans, except one who remained there. It is reported that they are suffering famine, and that no ships from China go there.
The day before, the twenty-third, Sargento-mayor Don Pedro de Corquera, the governor’s nephew, died at Manila. The governor had reared him from childhood in Flandes. He was well liked and respected in these islands, for his affable manners had obtained for him much popularity. Three or four days before, a galley-captain, named N. Ramos, and some other discontented Spaniards had deserted in a boat with a topmast, for their provision robbing two Sangley champans.
The master-of-camp, Pedro de Heredia, died at Manila November 5. He left all his property to charity. But the Audiencia sequestered it all immediately, until the end of his residencia. Captain Don Diego de Miranda also died from an accident, which carried him off in thirty hours.
News was received on November 15 that the enemy were passing the Mindoro coast. That same day, Don Sebastian despatched some vessels to attack them. Alférez Arexica went from this place to attack them with fifty firearms in the xalea and two brigantines. He also despatched his company from Manila in champans, to pursue and punish them. Shortly after, Father Hernando de Estrada[7] arrived here from Marinduque. He states that he met some champans which had been pursued by the enemy, whom they thought to have been Camucones. The two brigantines returned on the night of November 24. On account of the wind and rain they had lost the xalea, which was the flagship, the night that they had left. They went to Balayan, where they learned that the Camucones had attacked Lobo, but that they had done no damage, for the Indians resisted them; whereupon the pirates had taken their course toward their own country by way of the sea side of Mindoro. The xalea returned November 29, without having met the enemy. Then came news that one night the flagship and one other of the champans that had sailed from Manila had collided. The shock was more severe on the flagship, which sprang a leak and went down. Only one Spaniard and one Sangley were drowned.
The champan that carried Father Marçelo Mastril did not go to China, but to the Lequios, which are subject to the king of Saxuma. Some Japanese accompanied the father. Accordingly they made use of the following stratagem. Those of the champan talked with the Lequians, whom they told that those Japanese had been wrecked on an island, and that they had rescued them; and that, if the Lequians would give them some provisions, they would leave the Japanese there; but, if not, that the latter would return [to Manila]. The Lequians gave them some food, and immediately despatched the father and the Japanese, as they wished, in a funea, while the champan returned here. They learned there that the Dominican fathers who had tried to go to Japon last year by way of the Lequios had been seized, and sent to the king of Saxuma by the tono of that land.
Yesterday, December 9, Don Sebastian set out from Manila for Xolo. He sailed in the galley flagship. With him went the xalea, brigantines, champans, and the two galleons for Terrenate, under the command of Geronimo Enriquez; and as admiral Don Pedro de Almonte, the same as last year. The second galley was launched yesterday, and the commander of the galleys, Nicolas Gonzalez, will leave here in it in a week, in order to follow Don Sebastian. Admiral Andres Lopez de [word partly illegible; Nozadigui?] will govern this port in his absence.
A patache arrived at Manila on December 27 from Macan, laden with five thousand arrobas of iron for Captain Juan Lopez de Ariduin. It was bought from some English, who were near Macan with three galleons and this patache. It brought news of the remarkable martyrdom of Father Francisco Marçelo Mastril, who reached Japon September 19. Having left Manila on July 10, he landed at the kingdom of Saxuma with only one companion. He immediately went inland to go to the emperor’s court. But he was seized October 4, and, having suffered most cruel tortures, he was beheaded October 17 with his aforesaid companion. Since I translated the relation from Portuguese into Castilian, and enclose it herewith, I shall only add that the bells in our church and others were rung as soon as the news arrived. In the afternoon a notable Te Deum laudamus was sung. The dean again put on his clerical robes. The archbishop came, as did the royal Audiencia, and a great crowd of people, and the orders, as well as the master-of-camp, Don Lorenço de Olaso, and the flower of the soldiery. From our house they went to [the church of] St. Dominic to sing another Te Deum for three martyrs of that order. At night there was also a chiming of bells and an illumination. The entire city celebrated the glory and virtues of the holy father Marçelo, with tender tears; for he was generally loved and regarded as a saint.
Among the Dominican fathers died a mestizo of Binondo, son of a Chinese and a Tagál woman. He was prosecuted by justice, in order to hang him for his crimes; and he embarked with the fathers, in order to escape with his life. Arriving at the Lequios, and his other companions remaining in the boat, he refused to return, but wished to continue with the fathers. They tell and do not finish telling of the valor, fervor, and courage of that holy mestizo, who suffered cruel tortures with a rare constancy, ever preaching the Divine law of God.