We love telling the stories of worlds colliding and this one is very peculiar.
In the late 16th century, the Spanish conquistadors encroaching into Asia under the orders of
their king Philip II and the groups of Chinese-Japanese Wako pirates clashed over the Philippines
and its riches at the battle of Cagayan.
In this video, we will cover this less-known battle and try to deduce the truth of it.
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On the 27th of April 1521, Ferdinand Magellan, who was leading a Spanish expedition to circumnavigate
the world, died in a clash with the natives of the Mactan island in the Philippines.
Although he himself perished, his journey fundamentally changed the world, proving beyond
any doubt that the earth was round and most crucially for our story, triggering Spain’s
interest in the West Pacific region.
The Spanish adventurers who sailed to the Philippines wrote vivid descriptions of the
riches of the islands.
A letter dated in 1547 by Geronimo de Santisteban recounts in detail how the island of Mindanao
was truly a land of affluent wealth, producing gold and great amounts of ginger, sandalwood,
rice, sago, palm, myrobalan, and animals like pork and of course various kinds of exotic
fruits.
Accounts like that of Geronimo excited the Spanish who were in search of more riches
and 17 years later Miguel López de Legazpi under orders from King Philip II sailed from
New Spain and conquered the island of Cebu soft.
Aside from the mythical treasures of the islands, there was another reason that pushed the Spanish
towards the conquest of the islands.
In the sixteenth century Philippines stood as an important trade node in East Asia and
both European and Chinese sources tell of a well-established maritime network that connected
Japan, China, Thailand, Borneo, and Vietnam.
With Spain establishing a foothold on the islands, Mexico was added to this trading
network, further increasing its value and the volume of products that were shipped.
Consequently the abundant resources of the Philippine archipelago and the passing trading
vessels attracted, other than the Spanish adventurers, another group of people that
were after quick riches, the Wako or Wokou pirates.
Contrary to a common misconception, the pirates weren’t solely Japanese but came from miscellaneous
groups of mixed ethnic origins, including Koreans, Chinese, Southeast Asians, and of
course locals from every region the pirates were active in.
Contemporary Ming officials give us further insight into the ethnic background of the
Wako.
According to censor Du Zhong Lu, 70% of the pirates hailed from the Fujian and Ningpo
provinces in China, 20% were from Ryukyu and the remaining 10% consisted of various “barbarians”.
The fact that the majority of them came from China didn’t stop them from continuously
raiding Chinese coastal towns and villages, but successful suppression campaigns launched
by the Ming in the mid 16th century, forced more and more of the Wako to seek refuge in
the islands of the Philippines and move their piracy and trade-related operations there.
Within two decades trade in the area was flourishing.
Chinese and Japanese merchants visited Mindoro and Luzon every year exchanging silk, wood,
bells, porcelain, perfume, tin, and cotton-made clothes for gold and beeswax.
In Northern Luzon, the Wako established a pirate city-state Aparri.
The pirates, naturally, did not limit their presence to Aparri and it soon became obvious
that the island of Luzon was not big enough for both Spain and the Wako, and in 1582 the
European superpower would clash with a group of the merchant-pirates.
Details on this peculiar battle are given to us through two letters.
One from priest Juan Baptista Roman to the viceroy of Mexico, and the second from Gonzalo
Rodriguo de Peñalosa who was the governor of the Philippines to the King of Spain, Philip
II.
Both letters are second-hand accounts of the battle and we can find some inaccuracies and
exaggerations in them, so their content should be taken with a grain of salt.
For example, they refer to the pirates as “the Japanese” and although some and even
maybe the leaders hailed from the land of the rising sun, as we have already mentioned
the majority of them were likely Chinese and in this case, local Filipinos.
They also differ at some parts of the story so overall we can’t be certain as to how
the conflict between the Spanish fleet and the pirates actually unfolded.
In Juan Baptista’s letter, we read that Juan Pablo de Carion, the admiral of the punitive
expedition, set sail from the port of Vigan in Ilocos with a total of seven ships, one
galley which he was boarding, a smaller ship the “Sant Jusepe'' and five frigates, sailing
to Cagayan were the Wako pirates had settled.
As he was sailing he encountered a Chinese pirate vessel which soon after surrendered
and the Spanish placed 17 soldiers on board to guard it and then continued their course.
As the Spanish fleet was rounding the Cape of Bojeador and nearing Cagayan they encountered
a “Japanese” vessel and Juan Pablo engaged it with the galley; it is unclear what the
rest of the Spanish fleet was doing at the time.
Using the galley’s artillery the Spanish managed to destroy the main mast of the enemy
ship but then the pirates put out grappling irons and boarded “Sant Jusepe'' with 200
men armed with pikes and breastplates whereas 60 Wako arquebusiers remained aboard their
ship and continued to shoot the Spanish soldiers and sailors.
The pirates managed to push back the Spanish and conquered the galley until around the
main mast.
There the Spanish resistance stiffened forcing the Wako to retreat to their ship and hastily
dropping their grappling irons and setting their foresail in an attempt to escape.
However, now it was the crew of “Sant Jusepe '' that grappled the opposing vessel.
With artillery and forces boarding the Wako ship, the Spanish overcame their adversaries
who fought valiantly until only eighteen of them remained, who, exhausted from the fierce
fight, gave themselves up.
Amazingly enough, the Spanish didn’t seem to suffer many casualties, as Juan Baptista
wrote quite cynically that only “some” men on the galley perished, however amongst
the dead was the captain of the ship, Pero Lucas, who died fighting valiantly as a good
soldier.
Following this battle, the Spanish fleet ascended the Cagayan river and discovered there a fort
built by the pirates and eleven of their ships.
When “Sant Jusepe” was entering the river she encountered a smaller Spanish frigate.
The soldiers of the frigate called out to Juan Pablo urging him to return to Manila
with the entire fleet as there were around a thousand “Japanese” on the river, with
a great deal of artillery, and were thus outnumbered and outgunned.
Hearing this, Captain Lyus de Callejo redirected his course seaward; Juan Pablo despite his
attempts could not enter further and in the morning he anchored in a bay, where later
on, a storm struck the ship breaking 3 of the 4 cables that he had and one used for
weighing anchor.
Juan Baptista proceeds to recount perhaps the most controversial part of the story as
it was told to him by 6 soldiers.
These soldiers had been tasked with finding water, but failing to find any they returned
to where they had left their ship to find that missing as well.
Then they met some Indians who were in the galley with Juan Pablos.
From them, they were informed that Juan Pablo had ascended the river two leagues and had
fortified himself in a bay.
Then, Juan Baptista describes the heroic clash between the Spanish and the Wako though it
seems it was wildly exaggerated.
“ They said that the Japanese were attacking them with eighteen champans, which are like
skiffs.
They were defending themselves well although there were but sixty soldiers with the seamen,
and there were a thousand of the enemy, of a race at once valorous and skilful.”
Juan Baptista closes his letter to the Viceroy asking for a thousand men as reinforcements
and mentions that there are not enough men on the island to keep it under control.
Another slightly different version of the battle comes to us from an unsigned source.
According to this version, Juan Pablo after sailing through the Wako fleet without receiving
any harm made a fort out of the galley in which he mounted his artillery as well as
possible.
The Japanese general wrote him a letter, in which he said that he knew well that they
were robbers like himself, but that he was there first, and had come at his king’s
command; consequently, if Carion wished him to go away and leave him the river he was
to give him a large sum of gold.
The Spanish responded that they would take away the Japanese gold and that they would
drive them out of the country.
As the attempt to negotiate proved to be futile, the pirates launched an assault at dawn with
more than 600 men armed with muskets and other weapons.
The Spanish were only 80 but well defended by their improvised fort and managed to kill
a great number of the attackers while losing only one soldier and that is said to be by
accident.
Seeing that they couldn’t overwhelm the well-defended Spanish position the Japanese
decided not only to retreat but to abandon the island altogether and set sail for their
homes.
Finally, the author claims to have spoken with Father Francisco Cabal of the Society
of Jesus who had been in Japan and had talked with the pirates.
Father Cabal recalls that when he talked with them, the Wako were afraid of the Spaniards
and that they were astonished by the rapidity and skill with which the Spaniards fired their
arquebusiers.
The Governor of the islands, Peñalosa in his letter to King Philip II, dated July 1st,
recounts a different version of the story.
For once, according to Peñalosa, the Chinese pirate ship, the governor considers it to
be a Sangley and the Japanese one, fought as allies against the Spanish fleet.
It was the combined strength of these two vessels that numbered 200 pirates, but the
Spanish prevailed after killing the chief and his son in the battle, whereas only 3
of the Spanish crew perished.
Then, Juan Pablo, the lieutenant general in charge of the fleet as we already know continued
his journey and entered the Cagayan river, where he was to make a settlement.
At this point, however, the Governor’s story starts to greatly differ from the one told
by Juan Baptista in his writings.
For starters, Peñalosa mentions that upon entering the river, Juan Pablo sighted 6 Wako
ships that belonged to the fleet he had just defeated, not eleven.
As there were many men and fortifications the admiral chose to not attempt to sack the
forts as a previous storm had scattered the fleet, the flagship had been driven to the
sea and so de Carion was low on manpower and firepower.
He did, however, sail up the river for six more leagues and there he made a settlement
and erected a fort from which he could conduct offensive and defensive operations against
the pirates.
Peñalosa makes no mention of the heroic last stand of the 60 Spanish warriors against the
thousand Japanese Juan Baptista speaks of, even though Peñalosa’s letter is dated
6 days after Juan Baptista’s.
The Governor of the islands then proceeds to inform Philip that he has already dispatched
as much help as he could to de Carion, including men, boats, ammunition, and provisions.
He states that his available forces are already spread thin and complains that help from New
Spain hasn’t been sent although he has implored them to do so and warns that the Chinese and
Japanese are dangerous opponents and a serious threat and asks for the King’s aid or the
colony will not survive.
Both sources do not inform us of the fate of de Carion’s expedition to oust the Wako
from the province of Cagayan.
Juan Baptista’s letter leads us to believe that the Spanish at least survived the initial
onslaught if not emerging totally victorious against the pirates.
On the other hand, Peñalosa doesn’t even mention a direct confrontation with the Wako
while the fleet had reached the Cagayan, ending his tale with the Spanish disembarking and
building fortifications and his decision to further reinforce the fleet.
In the following year, 1583, a Spanish Royal decree, reorganized the entire northeastern
portion of Luzon into one large political unit called the La Provincia de Cagayan.
From that and the steady colonization of the area, we can assume that the Spanish were
eventually successful in their endeavor either by using force or striking a deal with the
pirates.
In either case, the region would remain under firm Spanish control until the United States
took over the Philippines in 1898.
As for the Wako, the strong Ming and Tokugawa regimes would eradicate them during the 17th
century.
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