The Buccaneers in the West Indies in the XVII Century | Page 6

usually called the galeones (anglice "galleons"), was
commanded by a "general," and sailed from Spain earlier in the year,
between January and March. If it departed in March, it usually wintered
at Havana and returned with the Flota in the following spring.
Sometimes the two fleets sailed together and separated at Guadaloupe,
Deseada or another of the Leeward Islands.[13]
The galleons generally consisted of from five to eight war-vessels
carrying from forty to fifty guns, together with several smaller, faster
boats called "pataches," and a fleet of merchantmen varying in number

in different years. In the time of Philip II. often as many as forty ships
supplied Cartagena and Porto Bello, but in succeeding reigns, although
the population of the Indies was rapidly increasing, American
commerce fell off so sadly that eight or ten were sufficient for all the
trade of South and Central America. The general of the galleons, on his
departure, received from the Council of the Indies three sealed packets.
The first, opened at the Canaries, contained the name of the island in
the West Indies at which the fleet was first to call. The second was
unsealed after the galleons arrived at Cartagena, and contained
instructions for the fleet to return in the same year or to winter in
America. In the third, left unopened until the fleet had emerged from
the Bahama Channel on the homeward voyage, were orders for the
route to the Azores and the islands they should touch in passing,
usually Corvo and Flores or Santa Maria.[14]
The course of the galleons from San Lucar was south-west to Teneriffe
on the African coast, and thence to the Grand Canary to call for
provisions--considered in all a run of eight days. From the Canaries one
of the pataches sailed on alone to Cartagena and Porto Bello, carrying
letters and packets from the Court and announcing the coming of the
fleet. If the two fleets sailed together, they steered south-west from the
Canaries to about the latitude of Deseada, 15' 30", and then catching
the Trade winds continued due west, rarely changing a sail until
Deseada or one of the other West Indian islands was sighted. From
Deseada the galleons steered an easy course to Cape de la Vela, and
thence to Cartagena. When the galleons sailed from Spain alone,
however, they entered the Caribbean Sea by the channel between
Tobago and Trinidad, afterwards named the Galleons' Passage.
Opposite Margarita a second patache left the fleet to visit the island and
collect the royal revenues, although after the exhaustion of the pearl
fisheries the island lost most of its importance. As the fleet advanced
into regions where more security was felt, merchant ships too, which
were intended to unload and trade on the coasts they were passing,
detached themselves during the night and made for Caracas, Santa
Marta or Maracaibo to get silver, cochineal, leather and cocoa. The
Margarita patache, meanwhile, had sailed on to Cumana and Caracas to
receive there the king's treasure, mostly paid in cocoa, the real currency

of the country, and thence proceeded to Cartagena to rejoin the
galleons.[15]
The fleet reached Cartagena ordinarily about two months after its
departure from Cadiz. On its arrival, the general forwarded the news to
Porto Bello, together with the packets destined for the viceroy at Lima.
From Porto Bello a courier hastened across the isthmus to the President
of Panama, who spread the advice amongst the merchants in his
jurisdiction, and, at the same time, sent a dispatch boat to Payta, in Peru.
The general of the galleons, meanwhile, was also sending a courier
overland to Lima, and another to Santa Fe, the capital of the interior
province of New Granada, whence runners carried to Popagan,
Antioquia, Mariguita, and adjacent provinces, the news of his
arrival.[16] The galleons were instructed to remain at Cartagena only a
month, but bribes from the merchants generally made it their interest to
linger for fifty or sixty days. To Cartagena came the gold and emeralds
of New Granada, the pearls of Margarita and Rancherias, and the
indigo, tobacco, cocoa and other products of the Venezuelan coast. The
merchants of Gautemala, likewise, shipped their commodities to
Cartagena by way of Lake Nicaragua and the San Juan river, for they
feared to send goods across the Gulf of Honduras to Havana, because
of the French and English buccaneers hanging about Cape San
Antonio.[17]
Meanwhile the viceroy at Lima, on receipt of his letters, ordered the
Armada of the South Sea to prepare to sail, and sent word south to
Chili and throughout the province of Peru from Las Charcas to Quito,
to forward the King's revenues for shipment to Panama. Within less
than a fortnight all was in readiness. The Armada, carrying a
considerable treasure, sailed from Callao and, touching at