Page 204 - Vol_2_Archaeology of Manila Galleon Seaport Trade

10 Searching for the San Francisco (1609), a Manila Galleon … 175

summer monsoons. The return trip reliedheavilyon the seasonal pattern of the current,
which is most powerful during summer. However, this is also the most active season
for typhoons in the northeast of the Paci!c Ocean. The Manila-Acapulco return gal-
leons had to head north before the start of the typhoon season or between storms in
order to catch the southern monsoon winds along the route of the current, but the
timing of typhoon formation was often unpredictable. The northward voyage to the
latitude around the Boso Peninsula of Japan was a long trip, and its route was almost
along the typhoon belt stretching up to the Japanese archipelago.
The !rst record of a Manila galleon wrecked in Japanese waters involves the San
Felipe, which left Manila in mid-July in 1596 and was wrecked after two months
near Tosa (modern Kochi) in southern Japan. The event is well documented,
including the breaking up of the hull and con!scation of the cargoes under the
orders of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the ruler of Japan at the time. This coincided with a
turbulent period in Japanese history with the incursion of Christianity into Japan,
and the incident revived Hideyoshi’s antipathy toward the religion.
Ieyasu Tokugawa, who united Japan in 1600, showed a more tolerant policy
toward foreigners shipwrecked on the Japanese coast. In 1600 the storm-damaged
Dutch ship Liefde limped into Usuki Bay in modern Oita Prefecture after an
unpleasant long voyage across the Paci!c. Of the twenty-four survivors, the English
sailor William Adams is the most prominent !gure due to his distinctive career; he
later became an advisor to Ieyasu Tokugawa because of his expertise. What Adams
achieved during his appointment included the construction of European-style
sailing ships by order of Iyeyasu Tokugawa. They were the !rst western-style
wooden ships ever constructed in Japanese maritime history. This historical mile-
stone relieved the desperate situation of the Spanish survivors of the San Francisco,
consequently they could return to Acapulco by crossing the Paci!c in an Adams
ship named the San Buenaventura.

10.2 Loss of the San Francisco

The loss of the San Francisco in 1609 stimulated the idea of establishing a supply
seaport where galleons could call before taking the oceanic current. Negotiations
were initiated by Rodrigo de Viveroy Aberrucia, who was a survivor of the ship and
also left his accounts. On board were more than three hundred crew and passengers,
including Vivero, who had formerly served as the governor of the Philippines.
Vivero’s accounts of the wrecking in Relación y noticiadel Reino del Japón is an
important source of information about the event and described the fair treatment of
the survivors by the Japanese rulers—the accounts consist of two manuscripts (Gil
1991; Uchimany 2016). Three institutes, the British Library (originally in the
British Museum), Real academia de la Historia in Madrid, and Instituto
Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey in Mexico, achieved the copies
of the manuscripts. For an archaeological search, the records of the San Francisco
and the description of its wrecking in his accounts are the primary historical source