it with my life. As on other occasions in other places, I have exposed that life. God grant you a long life.
Pablo Ita y Salazar.
St. Augustine, Fla., Nov. 23rd, 1675.
Sire:
Having done me the honor to appoint me Mayor of the new city of Vera Cruz and port of San Juan de Ulloa, you still further honored me by appointing me Governor of Florida.
I immediately began an investigation of the state of the Old Castle and the new stone one being made by your order. In the first place I found it had the shape which will be clear to you in the report and letter of the same date as this. Secondly, they continued with many difficulties the building of the new one, as the Viceroy of New Spain has not assisted with the ten thousand dollars a year to which this Garrison is entitled by provision of your Majesty, and as you have no money or other effects in your Royal Chests to supply the wants, I have made it known to the Archbishop and Viceroy of New Spain by report and petition, showing them how urgent it was to send us a certain sum for the continuance of the building. I also notified the Judge of the Royal Audience of Mexico, as is evident through all that I place before you also what I have forwarded to the general finance office, who refused to send any sum whatever until I had from this Garrison given a report of the state of the building of the Castle, and the distribution made of the salary assigned since I took possession of this Government. I found the Port in a most dilapidated condition with no defense. I took the oath of fidelity as you ordered, and not to be wanting in my duty as a faithful vassal, as by being this, I have merited the great honors you have bestowed upon me in the field. Having taken the oath I received different Royal Cedules, among them one in which you command the Viceroy to send ten thousand dollars more for the building, and that the citizens and soldiers aid as far as they are able, as is done in other places, as the benefits redound to their good and security. I must tell you that they do, coming in person to assist in the building, with the accustomed punctuality which is all they can do, because this Garrison is composed of a few married soldiers who are extremely poor, their income not exceeding the salaries earned each year. This being a land of no commerce nor communication by entrances or departures of vessels, there being no produce or other necessaries with which to accumulate an income. And although you pay their salaries they never receive it in full, as they must first assist in the buying of accoutrements for the three vessels that bring the supplies. From their salaries they have also paid for the repairs of the Old Castle and the furtherance of the new building, warehouses, Royal Houses and all other necessary things which present themselves in a post, as you have not assigned to this Garrison any means for similar expenses, nor is there anything in the Royal Chests. There are no rents of any kind to supply them and it is in charge only of Royal Officers. The poor allowance divided among the infantry and the state of the Castle will be evident to you from the reports sent you, and I assure you that having served you for a period of forty-two years in the armies of Germany, Flanders and Badajos, in none of them have I been so well pleased as in this one, for the many difficulties and dangers. The lack of means for completing the fortification, the invasions and the lack of forces in which I find myself, as you will see by the lists I forward you of the subjects who are disabled and old and enjoy the privileges of false muster through your kindness. The soldiers and sailors, who at present run on these vessels and are absent most of the time, and those who are on guard as sentinels. So, when the boats are obliged to go out for supplies I am left with about eighty men who can serve. Besides this, we have no ammunition nor supplies, so much so that when I arrived the want was so great that families were obliged to go in the woods and hunt for roots to keep themselves from starvation. So exposed and in need were they that had a vessel landed and offered them food they would have miserably surrendered. And we are always thus exposed to this fatality, because we have no warehouses of food supplies as in every other port such as San Juan de Ulloa, Acapulco and Morro of Havana, in these parts. My experience in Flanders, Castillo de Amberes, Gante y Cambria, they have supply stores of vegetables, biscuit, cheese and hung beef, enough to last at least one year. I have sent them supplies for a long time, for in cases of accident, and here on account of the distance and slowness of communication there should be more care. Havana, the nearest point, is two hundred leagues, and New Spain is five hundred, so you see the vessels have to sail a long way exposed to the fatalities of storm, weather and pirates, which can at any time overtake them. I have thought proper to place all these statements before you, as being so important to your Royal Service you may consider them. And I beg you will aid in this building of the Fort, by sending the required means for its continuance. It would be a very great affliction for these Provinces to leave it in its present state. While I have seen many castles of importance and great renown, none surpass this one, nor have been built at so small a cost in the Indies, as will be demonstrated to you in the accompanying certificates given by the Royal Officer. It seems that the peons earn only one real a day and three pounds of corn, making the twenty-five pounds come to eight reals, which is the correct price. Their living in other places would be at least four reals. Two of the Captains who assist in the building and hewing of stone, earn only six reals a day, where in other places they would make at least three and four dollars per day. All the material and other things needed are in other places placed convenient for the workmen, so that had it been built elsewhere than in this Garrison it would have cost more than eighty thousand dollars. I find it very damaging for this Garrison to be without any fortification. We are obliged to tear down the old Castle just next to it, and the new one is not yet closed in, so that we fear the enemy who with a much larger force could easily capture us. They are only distant fifty leagues, two days’ sailing, and once that they were owners of this Port, they would be of the entire Province destroying all the conversions of the Indians who to the service of God are supported and protected by the King and a great trouble to your vassals who sail back and forth in the commerce with this America. Being owners, they would have all the ports, and with their pirates stationed everywhere that vessels should pass. I feel the Port a little more secure than when I came, for one of the bastions is about completed, and by closing the other side looking landward with a palisade of Spanish daggers and tuna, I can retire if it should become necessary. In the meantime your Majesty will kindly apply the means sufficient to finish the work as speedily as possible, as the petition states the danger and risk this Garrison is in. May God spare you many years of the work of Christianity.
Pablo Ita y Salazar.