Page 164 - Vol_2_Archaeology of Manila Galleon Seaport Trade

134 S. C. B. Jago-on and B. C. Orillaneda

Another textual source, Agustin Maria de Castro’s Osorio Venerable
Missioneros Agustinosen el Extremo Oriente—1565 to 1780 published in 1954,
provide the following relevant clause: “On the way, approximately 100 leagues
from Manila and along a channel of the island Province of Catanduanes, the
Espiritu Santo was wrecked due to the carelessness of the pilot.” Furthermore “the
friars tried to swim toward the south of Catanduanes.”
One of the most notable passengers of the Espiritu Santo is Father Diego de
Herrera, a famous Augustinian priest. One of the myths is that the cross of Batalay
church in Bato municipality came from the Espiritu Santo. In Gaspar de San
Agustin, OSA’s Conquistas de las Islas Filipinas (The Conquest of the Philippine
Islands) 1565–1615, which was translated by Luis Antonio Mañeru, those religious
who survived the tragedy, led by Fr. Diego were attacked by the natives.
The barbarous islanders attacked and killed them with their spears and cutlasses.
They watered the earth with the blood of the religious, recording on the sands the
cruelty of the tyrants, and the constancy by which the religious tolerated such a
cruel death at their hands (De San Agustin n.d., 757).
The interrupted voyage of the San Geronimo was mentioned in only one his-
torical source, Colin and Murillo’s Labor Evangelica published in 1749. In
Chap. 17, pp. 705–707 of the second volume, the San Geronimo was “lost on their
way to New Spain.” And that it perished “just outside of the Embocadero in
Catanduanes Island near Virac Point” (personal communication by Rolando
Bayhon to Alba 1992). Virac Point is now called the Santa Rosa Shoals after its
discovery in 1834 (Alba 1992).
That Espiritu Santo and San Geronimo galleons are mentioned together in this
paper is related to its sinking location as these vessels sunk in Catanduanes Island,
one of the six provinces of the Bicol Region. It is thus unsurprising that underwater
archaeological investigations were geared towards the search for both galleons.
Catanduanes is located in the southeast tip of Luzon at 122°–124° East longitude
and 12°–14° North latitude and lies along the typhoon belt of the Philippine
archipelago. The island lies just a few kilometres north of the San Bernardino
Straits and that any galleon taking the 13th latitude would it its shallow reefs in foul
weather (Alba 1992, 1).
The National Museum in collaboration with private entities started the search for
the galleons in 1991, collaborating with the private research group Island Marine
Archaeology Foundation, Inc. (IMARF). Magnetometers, depth sounders were used
for the electronic survey while metal detectors and SCUBA were employed to
verify potential sites. The survey covered Calolbon, Cabugao and Locot Bays and
part of Johns Reef and Teresa Shoal in northeast and southern part of Virac (Alba
1992).
In February 2002, the National Museum worked with another research entity, the
Historical and Nautical Archaeology Foundation (HNAF) and surveyed the waters
off Locot Bay, Barangay Bote, Bato municipality using proton magnetometers
(Jago-on 2002). Three anomalies were detected that prompted a probing excavation
using water dredges and airlift but did not yield any materials related to Santo
Espiritu.