General Don Juan de Venavides, of the habit of San Tiago, is the son of the marquis of Jaralquinto.  He has been in the service for the past twenty-two years, seven of them with additional pay under the marquis of Santa Cruz in the galleys of the kingdom of Portugal, and thirteen years with the pay of thirty reals [sc. ducados?] per month in the trade-route to the Yndias.  He made five voyages, in that of 610 going as captain of one of the infantry companies of the trading-fleet of Tierra Firme.  That same year, the flagship of the galleons having been lost at the departure from Buen Aire, he, having escaped naked, stayed to rescue the men of the ship; and having done this, took them in a patache to Cartagena.  In the year 613 he went as admiral of the trading-fleet of Nueva Espana.  On the return trip some ships of the fleet were lost in a storm.  He was carrying in his ship more than one million [pesos] of silver belonging to your Majesty and to private persons.  The masts and the rudder were snapped in twain; the ship began to leak at the bow; and yet he repaired it and anchored in the port of San Lucar without having thrown anything overboard.  In 615 he again filled the same office of admiral, and, the flagship from Honduras having been wrecked, he saved many of its crew.  In 617 he was recommended as commander of the trading-fleet of Nueva Espana, and was granted the office of its admiral.  Finally, he was twice proposed as commander of the Filipinas fleet.  On January 13, 620, he was appointed commander of the trading-fleet of Nueva Espana, from which post he came with good reputation and fame.  Licentiate Pedro de Vergara Gaviria, in a letter that he wrote to your Majesty from Vera Cruz, where he was inspecting the royal officials, declares that he has seen in his person an excellent zeal and a manner of procedure quite different from what is said there of other commanders, and accordingly he is obliged to give account of it; and that the honors and rewards that your Majesty would be pleased to bestow on him will be well employed.  In the year 623, he was for the second time granted the office of commander of the said trading-fleet of Nueba Espana (whence he had come the year before); he took the fleet and brought it in safety.  While at the port of Vera Cruz, the Mexican Audiencia committed to him, on the occasion of the rebellion of that city, the fort of San Juan de Ulua, and appointed him as its commandant, and as military captain of all that coast.  He served in that capacity until he returned to Espana, desiring to obtain the quiet and peace of that kingdom.  In the residencias that have been taken of the appointments as commander that he has held, he has been declared a good official, and worthy of greater honors and emoluments.  This present year he was proposed for the office of commander of the trading-fleet of Nueba Espana.