After the sun rose, eleven of the enemy’s vessels were seen half-way up the bay. General Andres Lopez de Azaldiqui was castellan and chief magistrate of that military post, as also of the royal galleys. During the past year, when the general public was feeling least anxiety about enemies his solicitude and care had led him to construct several defenses which were very important. There was a palisade of heavy timbers, and a parapet, with earthworks and gabions, with their platforms, on the side next the bay, which was the most exposed and defenseless position. Other palisades and fortifications were constructed in the village of the Indians, and in other places. Additional sentinels and guards were stationed along the beach and in the open country. His great prudence was made evident when, on the said day of the feast, the news arrived, and the ships of the enemy’s fleet began to come in sight. The call to arms was immediately sounded in the port; the posts and vessels were manned by Spanish infantry, and the shore, from San Roque to what is called Estançuela, by Japanese and Indians, as assistants to the Spaniards; and a patrol was formed of horsemen who were hastily summoned from the neighboring ranches.
Battle of Cabite, and other events up to the time when the armada was divided
Between nine and ten o’clock in the morning the heretics, leaving two ships to guard the entrances of Mariveles, proceeded with the nine others to the port of Cabite. Between ten and eleven o’clock they arrived within a gunshot of the land, the drums beating on the flagship, and the entire squadron making a fine display. Seeing the enemy within range, it was thought best to favor him with some shots, which were fired from the towers and platforms near by. The shots must have taken effect, for the flagship turned away, and directed its course seaward; and it fired a single cannon-shot—apparently to summon a patache which, going somewhat ahead, approached the shore, sounding the port and reconnoitering the vessels. The enemy went on to Pampanga, where they amused themselves until the following day, the last of the festival; then they returned to Cabite with ten ships. At nine o’clock in the evening, they anchored off the point called Punta del Sangley, at a legua from shore. When the moon had almost set an attempt was made by the enemy to reconnoiter the coast in that quarter with three lanchas; but the sentinels and patrols, who were forewarned, did not permit this. That night the fortifications were strengthened, two platforms were added, and other desirable precautionary and defensive measures were taken.
On Wednesday morning, June 12, the ten vessels and a champan were anchored in the same place; and at eight o’clock, two others appeared, coming under full sail from Mariveles. As soon as these were close to the enemy, the flagship weighed anchor, and the entire squadron sailed after it in line, making a beautiful sight, until they came within gunshot of the port, and abreast of the tower on the new gate, where a white flag with the royal arms was displayed; the flagship lowered its flag and maintopsail to half mast, and hoisted it again to the sound of drums and fifes. The fight at once began with the discharge of artillery from this tower, which was in charge of Sargento-mayor Don Pedro de Figueroa. The enemy responded with a furious volley, and boldly venturing into the harbor, anchored their six largest vessels at a suitable distance for bombarding our vessels, forts, and settlement; the other six vessels, with their sails trimmed to the wind, sailed to and fro, briskly skirmishing. Both sides fought sharply and incessantly, for eight hours, from eleven o’clock until almost seven in the evening. According to the count of our captain of artillery, one thousand eight hundred cannon-shots were fired by our side, and by the enemy over three thousand. Our fire was effective, for two Dutch prisoners, who were on the enemy’s flagship during the battle, deposed that the ship was struck by over one hundred and twenty balls, some of them piercing the hull through and through; others struck at the water-line, making so large a hole that it was necessary to get assistance from the other vessels to repair the damage. It is considered certain that if the flagship had not been anchored—and even run aground, as many say—she would have gone to the bottom. As many as thirty men were killed on that ship. If this vessel, which is the strongest in the whole squadron, and best equipped with guns—carrying twenty-four cannon, in two tiers, on each side—was so badly damaged, from this it may be inferred the loss to the other ships, as compared with this one. The champan which accompanied the enemy’s ships was a fireship, intended to set fire to our squadron. It approached very near ours, so that we heard their talk; and we noticed some unbecoming actions, with which they enraged us. But soon their insolence was repaid, one of the cannon-balls hitting their ship and kindling the fire-devices that it contained, which consumed it without doing any harm to our vessels. The balls discharged by the enemy were so numerous, that they fell like hailstones; they weighed thirty or thirty-five libras, and from that down—some were of forty libras, but the greater number of ten or twelve, besides bar-shot, cylinders, and lanternas [fireballs?]; and it seems a miracle that they caused us so little damage.
Our galleon “San Diego,” which carried the colors as flagship, and faced the enemy, received over two hundred cannon-balls, but not one penetrated her hull, and only two men were killed—one a Spaniard, on the poop; and the other an Indian, in the ship’s waist. The commodore’s galley was hit more than thirty times, but only one Spanish soldier and seven galley-slaves were killed; the second galley lost two men, and the other vessel at a similar rate. Almost every roof on house and church, in the Spanish town, was damaged, and many shots took effect on the cathedral. One, an eighteen-libra ball, went through the main entrance, and hit a pillar of the large chapel, passing over the head of a child, who fortunately remained uninjured. In the convent of St. Francis over thirty balls were picked up; in that of St. Dominic, six; in the residence of the Society of Jesus, nine; in the government storehouses, seventy-four. Notwithstanding, there was not in any house, convent, or church a single person killed or wounded; and the entire number of killed and injured in all the vessels and military posts during this engagement, did not exceed five Spaniards and four Indians killed, and eight Spaniards and one Indian wounded, who all together did not equal the number of killed on the enemy’s flagship alone.[1] This good fortune was due, in the first place, to the mercy and protection of heaven, besought by the prayers and supplications offered in all of the churches—in Cabite, the city of Manila, and other places all along this bay from which the battle could be seen and heard—while the blessed sacrament was exposed. In the second place, to the promptness and speed with which, by the orders of his Lordship and the energy of the sargento-mayor and garrison commander, Manuel Estacio Vanegas, reënforcements [and supplies] were sent from Manila. Much also was due to the excellent arrangements, the courage, and personal supervision of everything by the governor of the military post, General Andres Lopez de Azaldigui; also to the bravery, spirit, gallantry, and military experience of the chiefs and captains in charge of the different posts: General Don Pedro de Almonte, as commander of the armada—the vessels on sea, and the Arsenal on shore; Admiral Don Andres Axcueta, in command of the galleon “San Diego,” which displayed the colors as flagship; Sargento-mayor Don Pedro de Figueroa, Captain Don Lope de Colindres, and other captains and officers in charge of the ramparts, towers, and bastions. Especially [praise is due] to the commander of the principal fortress, San Felipe, over which floated the royal standard of red damask; this was the target for innumerable shots, and, although some perforated it, none were able to tear it down—a sign that the victory was to remain with us. The result was, that the enemy, who about noon had entered the harbor so daringly, were constrained to retire at midnight. The next day was begun, on our side, with six cannon-shots, but the enemy did not accept our challenge, and sailed out of the range of our forts—many lanchas carrying succor to the flagship, from which may be inferred the great injury that it had sustained. It is considered certain that the enemy would have retired within a few hours after the commencement of the battle, had the tide been favorable to the three largest vessels. During the battle, a reënforcement of one hundred and fifty infantry, a few pieces of artillery, and a large supply of powder were despatched from Manila; and with these went several prominent persons who asked that they might be present at the scene of battle.
It was considered a special favor from heaven that at the height of the conflict, when all the enemy’s ships were off Cabite, one of our pataches, in command of Admiral Luis Alonso de Roa, which was coming from the kingdom of Camboja—whither Don Luis had gone as an envoy, in regard to establishing there a plant for building ships, and conveying to it provisions and other supplies—entered the bay through the smaller channel of Mariveles, and reached a place of safety.
On the day after the battle, which was Thursday, June 13, the enemy was still in the bay of Maribeles and Batan; and in the afternoon they approached the island, and landed their men. They burned the sentry-post, which is situated on the highest point, and established themselves in the corregidor’s house and in the huts of the Indians. Then, with the aid of the vendaval, they [brought up and] repaired two of their vessels which had come with most damage out of the fight.
On Friday morning three of the vessels set sail, and, landing at a place called Rio de Cañas, sent a crowd of people ashore. These proceeded to the huts of some Sangleys who were making salt, intending to seize some fresh food, and especially some of the cattle which wander about those shores. But the chief commander at Cabite, being informed of what the enemy were doing, quickly despatched a hundred Spanish infantry, in command of Don Marcos de Zapalá, alcalde-in-ordinary of this city, and seventy horsemen with Captain Christoval Velazquez y Lorenzana—who, although they were not so fortunate as to encounter the enemy, compelled them to embark in haste. This they did in seven lanchas and two long-boats abandoning on the shore one of the cattle which they had killed (which were only two).
On Saturday, the boatmen on the Cabite ferry brought in a Dutch lancha of large size, and with a mast, which was dragging its anchor about the bay. On Tuesday, the eighteenth, two ships appeared at Punta del Sangley at daylight, I know not with what design; but at eight o’clock in the morning they proceeded to Bantan. On Wednesday, the nineteenth, at four o’clock in the afternoon, the entire squadron assembled at the small channel of Maribeles, and after firing a cannon at seven o’clock in the evening, when the moon rose, all the twelve vessels, four of them with lighted lanterns, weighed anchor, and sailed away through the large channel. Then they separated, six taking their course toward the shipyard of Mindoro, and the other six, returning on the very morning of Corpus Christi, entered the bay, and dropped anchor in the same place from which they had sailed.