ther from the Society; and both there and
here he exercised our ministries with good results. Although we know
no details concerning his death, it is believed, from his having been
one of the last to die, and from his great devotion to confession and
the care of souls, that in that hour of peril he must have been of
service to all with much charity, as he always acted thus during his
life. By another disaster and misfortune in these islands, we lost
another father and a brother, if we may call those lost who, to win
souls and aid their brethren, die with them in a righteous war. Some
heretic corsairs from the islands of Olanda and Gelanda went to those
of Filipinas, bent on plunder, in the month of October of the year one
thousand six hundred; they had robbed a Portuguese vessel in the North
Sea, and in the South Sea, having passed the Strait of Magallanes,
some fragatas from Piru. These corsairs entered among these islands,
committing depredations and threatening even greater excesses. For
this purpose their almiranta and their flagship (in which sailed,
as commander, a corsair named Oliverio del Nort) were stationed at
a place six leguas from Manila, where the ships from Espana, China,
and Japon were obliged to enter, and where all the ships and vessels
which leave that city must be inspected. Against the two Dutch ships
went forth two others from Manila, carrying more than three hundred
men, the flower of the militia of those islands, with much artillery
and military supplies. In the flagship went Father Diego de Santiago
and Brother Bartolome Calvo, at the request of General Antonio de
Morga, auditor of the royal Audiencia, and other officers, who were
wont to confess to the father, because he had a very affable manner,
and could adapt himself to all persons. At the outset he heard the
confessions of most of the men, and encouraged them, as well as he
could, to make the attack and to fight valiantly. Finally, on the
fourteenth day of December, they sighted the enemy; and crowding on
sail, in their eagerness to overtake him, both flagships grappled
together, so closely that one could cross unimpeded from one vessel
to the other. They finally succeeded in seizing the enemy's colors
and hoisting them on our flagship, our men confident of success,
and already shouting "Victory!" But the ship, whether unsteady (for,
carrying so many people on one side, it took in water through the
port-holes of the lower tier of cannon),