one for Terra Firma going to Cartagena and Porto Bello, the other
designed for the port of San Juan d'Ulloa (Vera Cruz) in New Spain. The
latter, called the Flota, was commanded by an "almirante," and sailed
for Mexico in the early summer so as to avoid the hurricane season and
the "northers" of the Mexican Gulf. The former was usually called the
galeones (_anglice_ "galleons"), was commanded by a "general," and
sailed from Spain earlier in the year, between January and March. If it
departed in March, it usually wintered at Havana and returned with the
Flota in the following spring. Sometimes the two fleets sailed together
and separated at Guadaloupe, Deseada or another of the Leeward
Islands.[13]

The galleons generally consisted of from five to eight war-vessels
carrying from forty to fifty guns, together with several smaller, faster
boats called "pataches," and a fleet of merchantmen varying in number in
different years. In the time of Philip II. often as many as forty ships
supplied Cartagena and Porto Bello, but in succeeding reigns, although
the population of the Indies was rapidly increasing, American commerce
fell off so sadly that eight or ten were sufficient for all the trade of
South and Central America. The general of the galleons, on his
departure, received from the Council of the Indies three sealed packets.
The first, opened at the Canaries, contained the name of the island in
the West Indies at which the fleet was first to call. The second was
unsealed after the galleons arrived at Cartagena, and contained
instructions for the fleet to return in the same year or to winter in
America. In the third, left unopened until the fleet had emerged from
the Bahama Channel on the homeward voyage, were orders for the route to
the Azores and the islands they should touch in passing, usually Corvo
and Flores or Santa Maria.[14]

The course of the galleons from San Lucar was south-west to Teneriffe on
the African coast, and thence to the Grand Canary to call for
provisions--considered in all a run of eight days. From the Canaries one
of the pataches sailed on alone to Cartagena and Porto Bello, carrying
letters and packets from the Court and announcing the coming of the
fleet. If the two fleets sailed together, they steered south-west from
the Canaries to about the latitude of Deseada, 15' 30", and then
catching the Trade winds continued due west, rarely changing a sail
until Deseada or one of the other West Indian is