Note 6 — Relation of 1609–1610

Paul van Caerden (Pablo Blanchardo), who had made several voyages to the East Indies, was captured by Sargento-mayor Pedro de Heredia after a fierce fight near Terrenate, the seat of the new Dutch posts in the Malucos. Juan de Esquivel, Spanish governor of the Malucos, allowed him to pay a ransom of fifty thousand pesos; but was severely rebuked by the Manila Audiencia then in power, for doing so without first advising them. Esquivel took the censure so much to heart that he fell into a melancholy, and died soon after. His successor, Sargento-mayor Azcueta Menchaca, anxious to please the Audiencia, pursued van Caerden and captured him a second time, although the Dutch tried to burn their ship to escape such an ignominy. He was sent to Manila, and his ransom promised on certain conditions. Twenty-two Spanish prisoners at Ternate were given; but, the other conditions not being met, the Dutch officer was kept prisoner at the expense of the royal treasury until his death, in Manila. See La Concepción’s Hist. de Philipinas, iv, pp. 112–114.