but others also. The commanders were as follows:
of the galleon “San Juan Bautista,” Admiral
Pedro de Heredia; of the galleon “San Miguel,”
Admiral Rodrigo de Vilastigui; of “San Felipe,”
Captain Sebastian de Madrid; of “Nuestra Senora
de Guadalupe,” Captain Juan Bautista de Molina;
of “San Lorenco,” Captain Azevedo; and
command of the galleon “San Marcos”—which
was called the almiranta, as it had been with Don
Juan de Silva in the expedition which he made to Malaca—was
given to Don Juan de la Vega, son of Doctor Vega, auditor
of the royal Audiencia. There were many disputes
over his appointment as admiral, for many of the commanders
to whom it was due claimed it, especially Don Diego
Quinones, who had been brought from Oton for that
purpose, although he had not recovered from his musket-wound;
also Hernando Munoz de Aramburo (who had come as admiral
of the caravels), and Francisco de la Serna—who
had gone as commander of the ships, and at the restoration
of the country was a very great soldier, who, with
twenty gentlemen, served in that expedition at his
own cost. Also for certain reasons, which I can
not well recount, those captains were at odds, a mistake
that caused much regret later, when there was no remedy.
It is certain that no one would have escaped who would
carry news of the enemy. Yet, so that it might
not appear that they were shunning the opportunity,
they offered their persons. Aramburu went as
associate of the commander, being skilful in war.
Don Diego was given a galley and the title of quatralvo.
[43] Don Alonso Enriquez took another galley, with
the title of commander [general]; Don Pedro
de Almazan, another. The galleon “Salvador”
was flagship, the best and largest galleon ever seen
in the sea. It carried fifty large pieces of
artillery, many of them of twenty-five and thirty
libras’ caliber, but most of them of eighteen.
The fleet left port on the eighth of April, in pursuit
of the enemy. That afternoon, which was Saturday,
it anchored at the mouth of the bay in order to ascertain
the location of the enemy. They had heard already
that the enemy had plundered many Chinese and had
filled their ships with great riches. It was
ascertained from a spy, who was the one who sent advices
of what the enemy was doing, that two ships were six
leguas from there, and the rest at Playa Honda.
That report was false, and was the reason why the
most fortunate victory that could be desired was not
obtained without bloodshed, and without any one escaping,
as will be seen in this relation. On receiving
this news the commander began to trim his sails, in
order to reach the two ships by dawn. But finding
nothing, he passed on to Playa Honda, where he arrived
late, more than two hours after the sun had risen.
Had the spy not deceived them, they would have reached
the four of the enemy’s ships at dawn, and the
commander with most of his men could have slept on
shore, entertaining guests with the booty that had
fallen into his hands. But when they sighted