Letter from Fajardo to the King


Sire:

Although at present, up to the nineteenth of June, the ship "Sant
Andres," the capitana, has not arrived from Nueva España, even at
this late date, which is the one that I despatched last year to
that province, and I have no letters from your Majesty to answer,
I am making a beginning of this one in order to gain time in the
despatching of those ships, so that it may be somewhat earlier than
usual in past years--although at present, having the war on our hands
which we have, and as the ships are later from China than is usual,
and there are very few that come for fear of the war, there will
be more difficulty and labor in the despatch. [_In the margin_:
"Council; examined."]

According to the despatch which the said ship carried, measures were
to be taken to secure its preparation and departure from Acapulco
for this country without waiting into the month of April, or without
delaying more than two or three days in that month; and it was not to
depart later because of the danger of encountering contrary winds in
its voyage here, or being forced into the ports of Japon--and likewise
because this was the best, considering the course which it must steer
to make the port it was ordered to; for it was understood that the
enemy were coming back again, as they did last year, to Cape Spiritu
Santo, with a larger force of ships. This route was decided upon
with the advice of the pilots and other persons of most experience