galleon, and the burning vessel coming down upon the latter, set fire
to it; and this one began to burn so furiously that the soldiers who
had entered it escaped with difficulty, while some were burned. And,
since our galley was not so near now, all, both Spaniards and Dutch,
were drowned or burned. Then the first burning ship passed on. The
galleon "San Juan Bautista" having almost captured the enemy's
almiranta, the burning vessel bore down upon them both. Throwing off
their grappling-irons with considerable difficulty, the fire forced
them to ungrapple; and at once they separated, so that the fire might
not injure them. Thereupon victory was declared, and the three hostile
ships took to flight badly crippled. Their almiranta was so damaged
that our people thought that it would surely sink. Those three vessels
were pursued by the "San Marcos," and "San Phelipe," which were more
to the windward, and by all the rest of the fleet. However, inasmuch
as the royal flagship, the "San Juan Bautista," and the "San Miguel"
and "Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe" were hardly used and leaking badly,
they turned shoreward after midnight. In the morning the "San Marcos"
and the "San Phelipe" found themselves alone, and somewhat separated,
and found no traces of the enemy. Although they should have kept
together, they did not do it, but each vessel acted by itself. The
galleon "San Marcos" went to a place where two ships of the enemy
were pillaging two other Chinese ships. When the enemy discovered it,
one of his vessels went to reconnoiter it, while the other stayed
behind with the vessels that they were pillaging. They commenced
to fight and the battle lasted more than three hours, at the end
of which the Dutch vessel withdrew and joined the other ship. Next
day--that of San Marcos--the [Dutch] ship that had not fought came;
it is understood that it was reënforced with men. Firing a quantity of
chain-shot, it did considerable damage to our rigging; and as our main
yard had fallen, our ship did not mind its helm well. Consequently,