of that province) answered them, as a valiant cavalier and soldier, with his artillery and firearms.  He continued fighting and defending himself all that day and part of the night, until under cover of its darkness and a heavy fog that settled down, pursuing their voyage, the Spaniards left the enemy with the intention of running upon the coast of an island of the strait, called Ybabao.  Our Lord guided them to a port, where a ship was never known to have entered.  There they anchored, and fearing that the wind with which they entered might shift to that which generally prevails in that season and with greater fury, they determined to run the said ship into the mud, and to cut away the mainmast, in order to render them less liable to drag, and to leave the port again and encounter the enemy.  Accordingly, all possible haste was displayed in disembarking the men, and the silver and reals of your Majesty and of private persons, and the most valuable goods; but scarcely was that done when the storm, coming down upon the ship, drove it upon some rocks.  There it foundered and sank, although in a place so shallow that but little of the ship’s cargo was lost.  For they continued to take out and use many things, except the articles of luxury.  Although no use could be made of the ship’s hull, as it was entirely ruined, the resultant loss is almost nothing, and inconsiderable when one thinks what it might have been, and what this event has gained in advantage and reputation for these islands, and for your Majesty’s arms herein.  For, although your Majesty, thanks to God, has had excellent successes in the islands, still it has all been by superiority of ships and men; and there is nothing, according to common opinion, so fortunate as this event, considering what the enemy will have lost in all the aforesaid respects among all the nations with whom they have relations—­especially with that of the Japanese, who place their honor and ground for self-praise in war.  It would appear that they will not be well esteemed there, nor even pleasantly received by their creditors—­with whom, as we understand here, they were indebted for about three hundred thousand ducados for their preparations and the relief of their forts, having assigned to the creditors their pay from a good prize that they were to make, which must have been this galleon.

Then, in order that everything might turn out well, our Lord guided the patache—­which was coming as almiranta—­without its meeting an enemy.  However, from the severity of the weather, the same thing happened to them as to the flagship; but they lost no cargo, for that vessel was so small that I bought it for not more than one thousand pesos.