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.

Our flagship kept up the fight longer, but at last men were lacking; for, as the land was near, they tried to reach it in boats or by swimming.  The commander Francisco de Miranda Enriquez was left with very few men; and they even, seeing that it was impossible to defend themselves, were forced to land, after having set fire to the galleon.  It was a very fine and strong boat.  It earned thirty-six cannon, and had so much ammunition that when the fire reached the powder magazine, the vessel blew up with so great a din, that it made the entire city and the island of Malaca shake, and the vessel was seen no more.  This was different from the almiranta, which, when its powder had been spent, was two days in burning.  The dead and wounded on our side number about one hundred.  The enemy lost one of its vessels, but was at last victorious.  Then they went to the strait to await the ships expected from China.  In the city was little harmony, those of the fleet and those of the city accusing one another of the fault [of the defeat].  I reverenced the judgments of God, and considered that, although there was some excess on both sides, the chief cause of so great a loss was our sins. Quia peccavimus tibi Domini, etc. [88]

The largest fleet ever seen in these islands or perchance in the Indias was prepared that year of 1615 in the port of Cabite. [89] It seems a miraculous circumstance that so large a number of ships could be gathered together in a land so recently conquered and peopled with Spaniards, and the most remote and distant in all the Spanish monarchy.  It was the peculiar offspring of the magnanimous courage, valor, and energy (never sufficiently praised) of Governor Don Juan de Silva.  It consisted of ten galleons, four galleys, one patache, and other smaller craft:  the flagship of the galleons, called “La Salvadora,” of two thousand tons burden; the almiranta, by name “San Marcos,” of one thousand seven hundred; “San Juan Bautista,” and the “Espiritu Santo,” of one thousand three hundred; “San Miguel” and “San Felipe,” of eight hundred; “Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe,” and “Santiago,” one hundred less; “San Andres,” five hundred; and “San Lorenco” (the smallest one), four hundred.  The galleys were all under the advocacy and name of the Virgin Mary, our Lady.  Those craft were armed and equipped