to flee. To do this more quickly,
they abandoned the small boat, after taking off all its crew. Thus they
rowed so quickly that our men could not overtake them. Ours took the
little boat, which proved of no little use; for as they came near the
island of Mindoro, they saw that the weather was growing very bad, that
the clouds were moving more quickly, and that the wild waves of the
swollen sea were running high. They took good counsel--namely, that of
father Fray Juan de Lecea--to place themselves in a little house, and
put ashore all their belongings, and beach the boat, which they could
have done. But the Indians refused to work, a vice quite peculiar to
them, and everything was lost. The elements began to rouse themselves,
and the winds to blow with so great fury that no greater tempest has
been witnessed in the islands. Our caracoa went to pieces and all its
cargo was lost, except what was later cast ashore. During that same
storm six galleons were wrecked in the islands; they were the best
that the king has launched. Among them was that so famous galleon
"La Salvadora." When the fleet returned from Malaca, Don Jeronimo
de Silva, who was in charge of the department of war, ordered those
vessels to be taken out for repairs; and they were taken out, to their
loss. Some sank, others were driven aground. Many men perished, both
Spaniards and Indians, as well as Japanese, Sangleys, and workmen. It
is a loss that Manila will ever bemoan. Therefore they say there:
"In truth thou art welcome, Misfortune, when thou comest alone." [46]
Manila had had a loss as great as that of the governor, Don Juan
de Silva; and now that was followed by the loss of the galleons,
with so many souls. I know, not how a babe at the breast was saved
on the deck of a galleon, or rather in its hatchway. She was found
by Admiral Heredia (who was going to the Pintados), on a beach,
and he reared her as his own daughter. It was the mercy of God, and
when it pleases Him to employ that mercy toward any of His creatures,
there is no power to contradict it, nor any danger from which it does
not issue safe and sound.

The little boat which the father vicar-provincial, Fray Juan
de Lecea, captured from the Camucon enemy was useful to him. He
embarked in it alone, and coasted along that island as far as Baco,
a distance of more than twenty leguas. Thence he crossed to Manila,
after having bargained with a champan of Baco to go for father Fray
Francisco Bon