Read Ebook: The Voyages of Pedro Fernandez de Quiros 1595 to 1606. Volume 1 by Queir S Pedro Fernandes De Markham Clements R Clements Robert Sir Translator

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Index 537

MAPS.

DEDICATION.

My Dear Scott,

I dedicate this translation of the Voyages of Pedro Fernandez de Quiros to you, because the efforts and aspirations of the first navigator who ever conceived the idea of discovering the Antarctic continent cannot fail to have an interest for you who have actually made such great discoveries in the Far South; as a tribute also of admiration for your great qualities as a leader, and of affectionate regard for yourself.

Believe me to be ever, my dear Scott,

Your attached friend and well-wisher,

Clements R. Markham.

INTRODUCTION.

The Council of the Hakluyt Society has decided that the volumes containing the narratives of the discovery of the Solomon Islands by Menda?a shall be followed by a monograph on the two voyages of Quiros. In the first voyage he was Chief Pilot to Menda?a; the second and most famous voyage was under his own command.

The best and most detailed narrative of both voyages is contained in a work which remained in manuscript until twenty-eight years ago, when it was edited and published at Madrid by Don Justo Zaragoza. It is entitled History of the Discovery of the Austrial Regions, made by the General Pedro Fernandez de Quiros. Two copies were known to be in existence: one in the private library of the King of Spain, the other in that of the Ministry of Marine. Both have erroneous titles, written by careless librarians. The narratives were evidently dictated by Quiros, or written from his notes; but Se?or Zaragoza gives reasons for the belief that the work, in its present form, was written by Luis de Belmonte Bermudez, a young man who was Secretary to Quiros during the voyage of 1606, and that it contains several passages for which the Secretary was alone responsible. Belmonte Bermudez remained faithful to Quiros in his adversity, and, after his master's death, he became a poet of some celebrity. Se?or Zaragoza quotes several passages which show the hand of a poet. There is also a quotation from the Araucana of Ercilla on unknown lands not yet revealed by God, to which is added another version by the young sailor-poet on those unknown lands now revealed by God.

The author is mentioned twice in the narrative: once as being nearly drowned in landing on the island of Anaa , and again in the list of officials for the municipality of the city of New Jerusalem projected by Quiros. The question of authorship is really settled by the poet himself, in a line of his poem entitled La Hispalica, quoted by Zaragoza. Speaking of Quiros as his "Lusitanian master, the star of gallant Portuguese," he adds that, in recording the history of the voyage there was:--

"Want of a writer, which I supplied."

The Historia, as published by Zaragoza, is continuous in eighty-one chapters. It has been found more convenient to divide the translation into two parts: the first containing the second voyage of Menda?a, and the second part being the story of the voyage of Quiros in 1606.

The present volume commences with the first part of the History of the Discovery of the Austrial Regions. It describes the second voyage of Menda?a in much detail, including the discovery of the Marquesas Islands and of the island of Santa Cruz, the death of Menda?a, and the terrible passage from Santa Cruz to Manilla. It is certainly a most extraordinary story.

In the work entitled Hechos del Marques de Ca?ete, a life of one of the Viceroys of Peru, by Cristoval Suarez de Figueroa, Book VI contains an abbreviated version of the narrative in the Historia, generally copied word for word. Numerous details are omitted, particularly such as are derogatory to the Spanish character. There are also a few passages which are not in the Historia, but none having any bearing on the events of the voyage. Suarez de Figueroa tells us that he had the narrative of Quiros before him as he wrote. For these reasons I have considered it unnecessary to translate the version of Suarez de Figueroa, as it is merely a mutilated version of the narrative in the Historia. The account in the work of Suarez de Figueroa was the only version of the second voyage of Menda?a that was known to our historians of Pacific voyages, Dalrymple and Burney.

There is a short report of the second voyage of Menda?a, to Antonio de Morga, the Governor of the Philippines, by Quiros himself. It was translated and printed by Lord Stanley of Alderley, in his edition of the work of Antonio de Morga . I have caused it to be reprinted in this volume, in order to make the monograph of Quiros complete.

For the voyage of Quiros in 1606, when he discovered the Duff and Banks groups of islands, and the New Hebrides, there are no less than four separate accounts.

The first, and by far the most important, forms the second part of the Historia del descubrimiento de las regiones Austriales, by Belmonte Bermudez. It contains the full narrative, the speeches and reflections of Quiros, as recorded by his Secretary, and the remarks of the poet himself. The royal orders, the curious and interesting instructions of Quiros to his Captains, the act of possession and other strange proceedings at Espiritu Santo, the half-allegorical will of Quiros, and other documents, are included.

The second narrative is by Gaspar Gonzalez de Leza, the Chief Pilot of the Capitana with Quiros. For the most part it is merely a log, with courses, distances run, winds, and latitudes for each day, with occasional calculations of the distance from Callao. But it also contains accounts of the visits to the newly-discovered islands, and some remarks of interest, which may be compared with the same events described by Quiros, and in the work of Torquemada. The manuscript is in the Royal Library at Madrid ; and Lord Stanley of Alderley quoted largely from it, in annotating the letter of Torres. But it was first printed by Zaragoza.

The third narrative is contained in the Monarquia Indiana, a work on Mexico first published in 1614, by the Franciscan Friar, Juan de Torquemada, who was Provincial of the Order in Mexico in that year . Torquemada was at Mexico when Quiros and his companions landed at Acapulco, and came up to the capital in the end of 1606. He must have known and conversed both with Quiros and with some of his crew. He thus obtained his information at first hand, and was able to write an authentic account of the voyage. Torquemada's style is more polished and flowing than those of the sailors, or even of the young poet, who relate the events of the same voyage.

The fourth narrative is contained in a letter from the second in command, Luis Vaez de Torres, to the King. This letter briefly describes the whole voyage; but it is specially interesting when it relates the events after parting company with Quiros. For Torres, on his voyage from Espiritu Santo to Ternate, was the discoverer of the strait which bears his name. Dalrymple obtained a copy of the letter of Torres, and translated it. This translation was, with the permission of Dalrymple, first published by Burney. Mr. Major reprinted it in his volume of Early Voyages to Australia . Lord Stanley of Alderley found another copy in the National Library at Madrid , and translated it as Appendix VI of his edition of the work on the Philippines, by Antonio de Morga . This is a copy of a document mentioned by Navarrete as existing at Simancas. Ever loyal to his chief, though disapproving of his conduct of the expedition, Torres wrote another letter to Quiros. The letter of Torres has such an important bearing on the voyage of Quiros, that I have considered it indispensable to include it in the present volumes.

The Memorials of Quiros, and other documents in the Appendix, will be described further on. They complete the materials for a monograph of the famous navigator's work and life.

I now propose to state all that I have been able to ascertain respecting his life; and to discuss his character, his attainments, his views and aspirations, and the position his voyages occupy in the history of maritime discovery.

Pedro Fernandez de Quiros was born at Evora , in Portugal, in 1565, the year before Menda?a sailed on his first voyage. The ill-fated Don Sebastian was then King of Portugal. His uncle, the Cardinal Henry, became King in 1578; but in 1580 Philip II, the Cardinal's nephew, succeeded as King of Portugal, as well as of Spain. Quiros, though a Portuguese, then became a subject of the King of Spain, his age being fifteen. We are told, though an enemy is our informant, that young Quiros was brought up in the "Rua nova," then a disreputable part of Lisbon, and that he was a clerk or supercargo in merchant ships. This may or may not be true. He certainly became a good sailor, and an accomplished pilot.

In 1589, when he had reached his twenty-fourth year, he had probably been several years at sea. He then married Do?a Ana Chacon, of Madrid, daughter of the licentiate Juan Quevedo de Miranda, by Ana Chacon de Miranda. She was a year his senior. A son, named Francisco, was born to them in 1590, and they must then have gone to Peru; for their daughter Jeronima was born some months after Quiros sailed from Peru with Menda?a in 1595.

Quiros was thirty years of age when he accepted the post of Chief Pilot in the ship of Alvaro de Menda?a, who had received a concession to colonise the Solomon Islands, which he had discovered thirty years before. Quiros joined this expedition with some misgivings, caused by the quarrelsome character of the Camp Master, the want of order and discipline, and the position assumed by the Commander's wife and her brothers. Menda?a was more than twenty years older than Quiros. The Pilot's position was one of some difficulty: for while on one side he had to exercise tact in his intercourse with the family clique, on the other he found it difficult to avoid friction with a most impracticable and quarrelsome old soldier who was Camp Master, and who had a feud with the brothers-in-law of Menda?a, which continued to increase in bitterness. The expedition culminated at the island of Santa Cruz, a new discovery, with the slaughter of the old Camp Master, the deaths of Menda?a and his brother-in-law Don Lorenzo, the succession of the widow, Do?a Isabel, to the command of the expedition, and the disastrous voyage to Manilla.

Through all this intrigue and violence the Chief Pilot steered his course with prudence and caution. He was a reliable seaman, and was constantly consulted. He appears, from his own account, to have been a peacemaker, to have avoided quarrels, and to have had some influence. He was, however, a great talker. The widow did not like him, but she was obliged to rely upon him entirely. Her brothers were useless. Quiros stood between the widow's selfish parsimony and a crew on the verge of mutiny from misery and starvation. He brought a sinking ship, with rotten spars and rigging, safely over an unknown sea from Santa Cruz to Manilla.

It was during this voyage, and while gaining experience in the navigation of the Pacific Ocean and the treatment of natives, that Quiros conceived his grand project. He was a cartographer, and, in studying existing maps, he saw a great Southern continent extending across the ocean, from the Strait of Magellan to New Guinea. He thought that here was a discovery as famous as had been made by Columbus or Da Gama. He thought that here was not only a great continent extending to the South Pole to be added to the dominions of his sovereign, but millions of souls to be saved and brought within the fold of the Church. He devoted his life to the realisation of this glorious dream with unswerving devotion, never turning aside to the right hand or to the left; undaunted by difficulties or wearisome delays to his dying day; literally killed by Councils and Committees; but succumbing only with his last breath. He became a man with one idea. Alas! he was but a dreamer.

It was a dream. The heroic days of Spain and Portugal were passed and gone. Quiros was the last of the long and glorious roll of great Spanish navigators. He spoke, if not to stone-deaf ears, to fast-deafening ears. The Viceroy Don Luis de Velasco, at Lima, to whom Quiros first explained his project, would take no responsibility, and referred him to the Court of Spain and its Councils of State and of the Indies. It was a happy inspiration which led Quiros to go first to Rome, and interest the Pope in the conversion of millions of Antarctic souls; for nothing was more likely to induce the Spanish Government to move in the matter than a strong recommendation, which would be looked upon almost as a command, from the Supreme Pontiff. Quiros was himself a very religious man, deeply imbued with the superstitions of his time and nation.

Quiros sailed for Peru in the summer of 1603. He seems to have left his family in Spain. He was shipwrecked near the Island of Cura?oa, in the West Indies, and had to pass some time at Caraccas. Here he found the orphan children of a brother, of whom he had not heard for many years, living with their maternal grandfather: two boys and a girl. He thought it right to take the two nephews with him, leaving the niece with her grandfather. One of the nephews is not heard of again. The other, Lucas de Quiros, was his uncle's companion in the voyage of 1606. He was Royal Ensign for the ceremonies at Espiritu Santo. He is afterwards heard of as a rising cartographer at Lima.

Quiros arrived at Lima quite destitute, owing to the refusal of the royal officials on the route to give him any pecuniary assistance, although they had positive orders to do so. He found shelter in the house of a potter; and it was some days before he could get an audience of the Count of Monterey, who was then Viceroy of Peru. Eventually, the Viceroy recognised the necessity for carrying out the royal orders. Vessels were tardily bought and fitted out at Callao, for the expedition of Quiros, in the last months of 1605. There were two ships and a zabra or launch. The ship chosen for Quiros was called the Capitana, and named San Pedro y San Pablo. She was 150 tons. The other ship was called the Almiranta, and named the San Pedro, 120 tons. Her Captain was known as the Admiral, the title of a second in command in those days. Both ships were built on the west coast, probably at Guayaquil. They carried one hundred and thirty men and six friars. The launch was named Los Tres Reyes.

Luis Vaez de Torres, the Admiral or second in command under Quiros, was a good sailor and pilot, an energetic and capable leader, and loyal to his chief. He commanded all the landing parties, and relieved Quiros of much anxiety and trouble. His Chief Pilot in the Almiranta, Juan Bernardo de Fuentidue?a, and Pedro Bernal de Cerme?o, in command of the launch, were loyal and capable men. The junior Pilot in the Capitana, Gaspar Gonzalez de Leza, afterwards Chief Pilot, was also a reliable officer. Quiros had a cousin with him, one Alonso Alvarez de Castro, as well as a nephew, Lucas de Quiros. But his most faithful and devoted friend was young Luis de Belmonte Bermudez. Born at Seville in about 1585, this youth had gone out to seek his fortune, first in Mexico and then at Lima. Fired by the stories told him of the Araucanian war in distant Chile, he composed a panegyric on the youthful deeds of the Marquis of Ca?ete, the first product of his muse. When Quiros was fitting out his expedition, Belmonte Bermudez accepted the post of Secretary, taking with him the "Araucana," that noble epic of the soldier-poet, Alonso de Ercilla.

But Quiros also had in his ship men of a very different stamp. Among them was a Chief Pilot named Juan Ochoa de Bilboa, who had been forced upon him as a prot?g? of the Viceroy; another officer named Diego de Prado y Tovar; and the accountant, Juan de Iturbe. They stirred up mutiny and disaffection on board.

Quiros complained bitterly of the delay in fitting out the expedition, which obliged him to sail so late in the year. He considered that he should have sailed not later than St. Francis, or the 4th of October. He did not obtain his despatch until the 21st of December.

Quiros was now free to attempt the realisation of his dream, the discovery of the Antarctic continent and the annexation of the South Pole. All was left to his discretion. There is no reason for the belief that the Viceroy of Peru gave any instructions beyond the letter of farewell which was read to the men. The plan of Quiros was to steer W.S.W. from Callao until he reached latitude 30? S., where he fully expected that he would have reached the continental southern land shown on the maps of his time. He continued on this course from December 21st to January 26th, when he found himself in 26? S.

Then Quiros came to the fatal decision to alter course to W.S.W. He says in his narrative that there was a heavy swell, and that he was obliged by the force of the wind and the sea to alter his course. He adds, in one of his memorials, that winter was approaching, that there was a mutinous spirit among his crew, and that he was ill in bed. Torres remonstrated. He wrote: "I gave a declaration under my hand that it was not a thing obvious that we ought to diminish our latitude till we got beyond 30? S." If Quiros had continued on his course, he would have discovered New Zealand, and his dream would have been partly realised.

Having turned away from the goal, his plan was to make for the island of Santa Cruz, discovered when he served as Chief Pilot under Menda?a, and thence to make another attempt southward. But this was a lame conclusion. His chance was gone. Antarctic discovery was left to another nation and another century.

The latitudes recorded by Quiros, Torres, and Leza, and the courses and distances run, enable us to identify the islands discovered by Quiros in crossing the Pacific. The first inhabited island, reached on February 1st, 1606, has been supposed by Burney and others to be Tahiti. It is in the latitude of Tahiti; but it is described as a low island with a large lagoon in the centre, and no fresh water. This could not by any possibility be Tahiti. Sir William Wharton has identified it as Anaa, or Chain Island, one of the Low Archipelago to the eastward of Tahiti. Quiros named it "Conversion de San Pablo," not "Sagittaria," as Burney supposed. With Anaa as a point of departure, the other islands discovered by Quiros are easily identified.

In following the parallel of 10? 20' S. to reach Santa Cruz, Quiros fortunately came upon Taumaco, the principal island of what is now called the Duff group. Here he found a native Chief, from whom he received such detailed information respecting the existence of islands, and, as was understood, even continental lands to the southward, that the most sanguine hopes appeared to be approaching realisation. The project of going to Santa Cruz was abandoned, and Quiros steered S., fully anticipating the consummation of his dreams of discovery. Nor was he destined to be altogether disappointed. Island after island, all lofty and thickly inhabited, rose above the horizon; and at last he sighted such extensive coast lines that he believed the Southern Continent to be spread out before him. The islands of the New Hebrides group, such as Aurora, Leper, and Pentecost, overlapping each other to the S.E., seemed to him to be continuous coast lines, while to the S.W. was the land which he named Austrialia del Espiritu Santo. All appeared to his vivid imagination to be one continuous continental land.

The great navigator had two serious drawbacks in his rejoicing. He was disabled by a serious illness; and the natives, owing to the misconduct of the Spaniards, were persistently hostile. After being at anchor in this port of Vera Cruz for thirty-five days , the little fleet sailed, with the object of completing the discovery of the Southern Continent. Then came the catastrophe.

It came on to blow hard from the S.E., with a nasty sea; and it was resolved to return to the anchorage. Late at night Torres brought the Almiranta to anchor, and the launch was also safely brought to. Quiros was too ill to come on deck, the Pilots seem to have lost their heads, were confused between the lights of the other ships and these on shore, and eventually stood out, running before the wind. At dawn they were several leagues to leeward, outside the bay. From the 12th to the 18th they were trying to beat up to the bay, but with topmasts struck it was nearly all leeway. Ships built in Peru would not work to windward: Quiros was in despair. At last, he determined to make for Santa Cruz, which was a rendezvous in the Instructions. But when the latitude of Santa Cruz was reached, there was a consultation. It was resolved to cross the Line, and make for Acapulco: a four months' voyage. Quiros bewailed his position. He had enemies on board. He does not mention any actual mutiny, though his enemy, Prado y Tovar, who must have got his information from the men who remained at Mexico, and perhaps afterwards found their way to the Philippines, makes the assertion.

Quiros consoled himself with the reflection that his return would at least enable him to make known his discoveries, and to urge upon the King and his Councils the importance of completing them. He also felt confidence in Torres, his second in command, who was left behind on board the Almiranta, and in his Pilot, Fuentidue?a; and with good reason. They were resolute and capable seamen. Quiros hoped that they would continue his discoveries; and he rejoiced when, some years afterwards, he received the news of the successful voyage of Torres.

After waiting for some days for the Capitana, Torres continued the voyage by rounding the northern end of Espiritu Santo, and steering a course to the S.W., until he reached a latitude of 21? S. He then altered course to the N., and discovered the bay and islands at the east end of New Guinea. In 1613 Diego de Prado y Tovar sent home four maps from Goa, which throw considerable light on the course of Torres's ship. The first map is a very interesting one of the bay of St. Philip and St. James, in Espiritu Santo. The next is a map of a land named "Buenaventura," with many islands. Torres arrived at this land on July 18th, having sailed from the bay of St. Philip and St. James on the 26th of June. "Buenaventura" is Basilisk Island, so named by Captain Moresby, after his ship, in 1873. The bay of San Millan, accurately delineated by Torres, is Jenkins Bay of Moresby. The port of Santo Toribio of Torres is the China Strait of Moresby.

The third map shows the great bay of San Lorenzo, and the port of Monterey, identified with "l'Orangerie" and "Ile Dufaure" of Bougainville , on the S. coast of New Guinea. The names of Saints given to the bays, capes, and islands, throw light on the dates, for it was usual to give to a cape, bay, or island the name of the Saint on whose day it was discovered. The feast of San Lorenzo is on the 10th of August, the date when Torres arrived in the bay, where he appears to have remained for several days. The fourth map is of the bay of San Pedro de Arlanza, whose feast is on the 18th of October. This bay is identified with the Triton Bay of the Dutch. The four maps have been reproduced for this volume, and the legends on the original large-scale maps are given separately. From Triton Bay, Torres proceeded to Ternate, where he left the launch, and thence continued his course to Manilla. His letters to Quiros and to the King from that place are dated June and July, 1607. From the fact that Diego de Prado y Tovar sent the four maps home in December, 1613, it is supposed that Torres had died in the interval. The letter of Torres was first printed in Burney's Voyages, from a copy obtained and translated by Dalrymple, who suggested the name of Torres Strait for the principal discovery of that navigator. The Spanish Government jealously concealed the knowledge acquired by their great explorers, and left their noble deeds in oblivion. It was left to Englishmen to immortalise the names of Quiros and Torres, whose achievements were so long forgotten by their own countrymen.

The actual results of the voyages of Quiros and Torres were the discovery of thirteen coral islands in the Pacific, of the Duff and Banks groups, of the New Hebrides, of the eastern end and southern coast of New Guinea, and of Torres Strait, with its innumerable islands: not a barren record.

Quiros came to Madrid to urge the Spanish Government to give him command of another expedition for the completion of his discoveries. He had before him a dreary seven years of memorialising Councils, of obstruction and delays. It wore him out; but he was led to believe that he had succeeded. A timely death saved him from the anguish of finding that he had been deceived. He was worried into his grave by Councils and Committees. But before he died he believed that he had at length overcome the obstruction, and his last hours were cheered by the hope of final success.

We gather the character of Quiros from his narratives. He was a man of a humane and generous disposition, averse to violence and bloodshed. He was a zealous Catholic, striving to maintain religious feelings and to enforce morality among his people. Brave and resolute himself, full of zeal and enthusiasm, he failed in the management of men. He was often weak and vacillating, and had not the force of will necessary to control the turbulent and to cheer the half-hearted. The Chief Pilot, Juan Ochoa de Bilboa, during the voyage, caused a mutinous feeling on board the Capitana, persuading the crew to go straight to Manilla. Quiros merely sent this Chief Pilot on board the Almiranta under arrest. Torres strongly importuned his chief to punish such insubordination, but he would not. It was the same with another mutinous officer, Diego de Prado y Tobar. He was merely sent on board the Almiranta. To this weakness Torres attributes the slackness and want of zeal, if not something worse, when the Capitana parted company. Juan de Iturbe, the Accountant, in his letter now in the Biblioteca Nacional , merely says that the Chief Pilot went over to the ship of Torres because he was disgusted with Quiros. We have the evidence of Torres himself that this was not the reason. Iturbe was another disaffected officer, and disloyal to his chief. There was not a single instance of capital punishment during the expedition, and not a single death, with the exception of the Father Commissary, who died of old age. Quiros was a thorough seaman, and the best Pilot of his time. He was not a self-seeker, but was devoted to a great idea, and persistently strove to realise it with unswerving resolution, until death ended his career.

Quiros was very unlike his countryman Magellan. He rather reminds us of the great Genoese. Like Columbus, he was a visionary, full of dreams and religious aspirations. Like Columbus, he was devoted to one idea, which he followed with unchanging fidelity to the day of his death. Like Columbus, he was gentle in dealing with those who opposed him, and often weak. One dream of Quiros was that in his Southern Continent there should be justice to the converted natives, and that the evil deeds perpetrated in Mexico and Peru should not be repeated.

It only remains to record the story of the Quiros Memorials, when we shall see the navigator, prematurely old, striving for the means of renewing his efforts: struggling against Councils and Committees while life lasted.

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