Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/770

750 vpon the maine land;" and Cavandish left them "great store of victuals, of garuansos, peason, and some wine." And when the filibuster took leave of the captain, he "gaue him a royall reward," which consisted "both of swords, targets, pieces, shot, and powder," and a piece of ordnance.

But better fortune was in store for them than even Cavendish had intended. The galleon had been fired when at anchor a short distance from the land. When her cables burned off she drifted to the shore, and ballast being thrown out, the hulk was found in a condition capable of being repaired, as we are informed by Torquemada, so as to carry the whole party to Acapulco.

When they entered the port and their sorrowful tale reached the ear of the viceroy, Palacio was again despatched to capture the pirate, but without success. For so serious a loss somebody must be to blame, and there were many who accused the viceroy of not having taken sufficient precautions to prevent the calamity.

It was, indeed, necessary that steps should be taken to render safer the Asiatic commerce, for under the existing state of things the reward was too tempting to escape notice. If such wealth could be so easily secured by a handful of sea-robbers, then it were better for all the world to turn thieves. It was along the California coast, where robbers lay in wait, that there was the greatest danger; and as the galleons were obliged to go northward to catch the trade-winds in crossing the ocean, a more northern port, somewhere on the California coast, was first of all desirable, which might serve as a station for armed vessels to watch for and escort the galleons to Acapulco.

To this end, in 1595, the San Agustin was despatched from the Philippines by Governor Gomez Perez das Mariñas, at the order of Viceroy Velasco, the son, under the pilot Sebastian Rodriguez