Note 59 — Chapter XIII

The two galleons which had sailed for Nueva España in the preceding year arrived safely at Filipinas [1684], although they did not make port at Cavite, but at Solsogon, within the Embocadero. The flagship “Santa Rosa,” which had gone out in charge of Antonio Nieto (who had remained as warden of the castle at Capulco), brought back as its commander Don Juan de Zalaeta, a native of Vizcaya, and a knight of the Order of Santiago. He had spent many years in these islands, and had been a soldier in Ternate; and, having returned to [Nueva?] España, had held several honorable offices—as, being alcalde-mayor of Hicayán and Puebla de los Angeles, and warden of Acapulco. In this galleon came the governor who was to succeed Don Juan de Vargas; this was the admiral of galleons, Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui y Arriola, a knight of the Order of Santiago, and a member of the “twenty-four” of Sevilla and of the supreme Council of War. He had been commander of the Windward fleet,59 and had held other responsible positions on sea and land; and he was a Vizcayan, a native of Elgoibar. Don Juan de Zalaeta carried the commission for taking the residencia of Don Juan de Vargas, and other warrants; but the most important person among those whose residencias he must take was the master-of-camp Don Francisco Guerrero de Ardila, uncle of Don Juan de Vargas’s wife. It was this man who had enjoyed the profits of the office of government, and this year he was returning to España as commander of the galleon “Santo Niño.” That vessel met within the Embocadero the galleon “Santa Rosa,” and, learning that in the latter had come a successor to Don Juan de Vargas, he hoisted the anchors without waiting for further information, whether opportune or not [con tiempo ó sin él], and sailed into the sea outside; and he was not ill-advised in this step, since in the residencia he would have been the chief personage. When Don Juan de Zalaeta learned that the best of the hunt had escaped from him, he was much grieved that he could not catch him; although it would have grieved Don Francisco Guerrero more if they had seized him. That gentleman knew how to enjoy the advantages of Filipinas quite alone, and to go away laughing at the citizens and every one else; but Don Juan de Vargas remained behind, in custody, to make amends for his own faults and those of others.