After earthquakes and shipwrecks.

(From Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Byline: Bambi L. Harper

TWO MARITIME MISFORTUNES IN 1600 INvolved the galleons San Geronimo and San Margarita. The two left Cavite together in July of that year. They were on the high seas when they encountered a tempest so furious that they got separated.

The Sta. Margarita reached one of the Ladrones Islands (specifically, Saipan) where those who were healthy were enslaved by the natives. The sick were beaten to death.

Interestingly, one of the victims was a young Spaniard whose ship had stopped in Guam some years before to get provisions on its way to Manila. (The Guamanians used to exchange fresh water for iron bars.) Anyway, this boy shot one of the natives with his harquebus, reportedly just for fun. This caused quite a stir. When the story reached Manila, the friars even spoke against him from their pulpits. But God who doesnt sleep obviously brought him back to that group of islands and saw to it that he met his just deserts. This account should show you that the God of the Old Testament was in vogue then.

The San Geronimo, on the other hand, reached Japan where the winds were so strong they could not cast anchor. The typhoon destroyed its first deck and left most of the vessel in poor shape. Finding themselves without lumber, without rudder, without riggings, without a pilot, those on the ship who survived the storm had no other choice but to return to the Philippines. After eight months at sea, the galleon arrived in Catanduanes with only seven on board, one of them a woman.

Aside from shipwrecks, Manila had also its share of earthquakes, shipwrecks and Moro raids. Fires were also a frequent occurrence. There was hardly a year when a barrio or two or three were not hit by fire. The worst of these conflagrations was the one that occurred on May 1, 1603. It started in a small hut at three in the afternoon. The blaze spread to the neighboring houses and, within a small space of time, aided by the wind, burned and flattened a third of the city, destroying as well stone structures that lay on its path.