, from the "Port of Zubu,
... between the island of Zubu and the island of Matan, this latter
island being south of Zubu," the "San Pedro" took a general northerly
and easterly direction. The passage through the islands is somewhat
minutely described. On one island where they landed to obtain a fresh
supply of water, they saw "two lofty volcanoes." This island they named
Penol ["Rock"]. On June 10 the island of Felipina was reached, whence
the trip across the open Pacific was commenced. Often the direction of
the wind and the reckoning of the sun, are chronicled--also the days'
runs, which vary between five and forty-five leagues. June 21, Corpus
Christi Day, a headland was sighted on the starboard side, which had
the appearance of a ship at anchor, and to which the name Espiritu
Santo ["Holy Ghost"] was given. By September 15, Cebu lay fifteen
hundred and forty-five leagues toward the west. On the eighteenth
an island on their starboard side was named Deseada ["Desired"],
and the log reads sixteen hundred and fifty leagues from the point of
departure. On Saturday, the twenty-second, land was sighted; and next
day the point of Santa Catalina, in twenty-seven degrees and twelve
minutes north latitude, received its name. From that point they coasted
in a southeasterly direction along the shores of southern California
to its southern point in "twenty-three degrees less an eighth," naming
the headland here Cape Blanco, from its white appearance. Near this
place died the master of the vessel, "and we threw him into the sea at
this point." On the twenty-seventh the chief pilot "Esteban Rodriguez
[67] died between nine and ten in the morning." The small islands
southeast of Lower California were passed and it was estimated that
they were in the neighborhood of cape Corrientes. On the thirtieth,
cape Chamela was passed; and on the first of October, the "San Pedro"
lay off Puerto de la Navidad; the chart showing a distance of eighteen
hundred and ninety-two leagues from Cebu. "At this time I went to
the captain and said to him, that I would take the ship wherever he
ordered, because we were off Puerto de la Navidad. He ordered me to
take it to the port of Acapulco, and I obeyed the order. Although
at that time there were but from ten to eighteen men able to work,
for the rest were sick, and sixteen others of us had died, we reached
this port of Acapulco on the eighth of this present month of October
after all the crew had endured
|