Note 59 — Chapter XXIX

It was the will of divine Providence that, after so many and continual returns of the galleons to port, as aforesaid, the ship “San José” which had left the port of Cavite in the past year of 1662 under charge of Commander Francisco Garcia del Fresno—a native of Cadiz, and very skilful on the sea; and afterward artillery general for his Majesty—should reach Nueva España in safety. The viceroy of Nueva España was the conde de Baños, Marqués de Labrada,59 who, after he became a widower, left the vanities of the world, took the discalced Carmelite habit, was ordained a priest, and died, bequeathing fine examples of virtue and admonition. His example was later followed by his son, Don Juan de Leiva, who received the habit of a lay religious of our father St. Augustine in the convent of San Felipe in Madrid. The successor of Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, namely, the master-of-camp Don Diego Salcedo, a native of Bruselas—a son of a Spanish gentleman (a native of Cuenca) and a Flemish lady—was then in the city of Méjico. He had been a very brave soldier in the Low Countries for many years, and for his services had been made master-of-camp of an army of Walloons.60 For that reason, and because he was a favorite of Don Juan de Austria, whose captain of the guard he is said to have been, he was granted the government of these islands. On account of the fact that so many galleons had put back [to these islands] he had been detained in Méjico for several years.