Dear Pirates,
This post is about the Manilla Galleons
We all know that the European ships of Spain, England and Holland sailed the Atlantic Ocean towards the "new land" and returned to Europe with all kind of "treasure" like tobacco, sivler and gold to name a few.
However it were the Spaniards that also sailed their silver Eastwards over the Great or Pacific Ocean towards Cebu in the Philippines.
The galleons were large trade ships and decently armed but at the time the Pacific did not have any other naval superpowers sailing around so was safe as hell. The voyage itself was the riskiest part of the trip.
The silver went to Cebu and was used to trade with Chinese cities and the goods were sent back to Acapulco. Many tried to intervene these Galleons but only a few succeeded. It is pirate sunday to day so let's look at one such attempt.
Nuestra Señora de Covadonga
On May 1743 English captin George Anson was hiding behind Cape Espiritu Santu (what's in a name) in the Philippines where the Galleons normally passed. The 700 ton cargo galleon Nuestra Senore de Covadonga was warned in Guam that a foreign ship was seen but they (the management) decided to take the normal route anyway. Worse even was that 44 canons were taken out of the ship before the start to make room for more cargo and allwo for speed. In june the Centurion of Capt. Anson pursued the galleon for a few hours, bombarded the ship that then surrendered.
fig: 8 real coin ior in Dutch: a Spanish Mat
Journals speak about 67 deaths and 84 wounded on Spanish side and 3 deaths on the Centurion. In Macau the Spanish ship was emptied and 1.3 million coins were looted as well as 35682 ounces of silver!
Troubles in Acapulco with the Mexican Revolution and the capture of the Spanish King in Europe mean the end of the Galleans in 1815 with one last voyage of this mighty cargo ship. Respect!
ahoy!
Goldrooster