[Autograph memorial to the King with reference to the difficulty of navigating the seas between the Philippine Islands and New Spain, mentioning the first shipbuilding yard on the Bay of California.]

£25,000 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

This unique memorial is a valuable contribution to our knowledge of Spain in the seventeenth-century Pacific. Captain Alonso Sanchez Verrego writes regarding the Valle de Banderas and in particular, Puerto Vallarta with references to the Manila galleon, shipbuilding on the west coast, and an offer to explore the Gulf of California . A century after Cortés’ early forays along the coast, this represents a major re-awakening of Spanish ambition. Written in the style of both Pedro Fernández de Quiros (1565-1614) and Diego Luis de San Vitores (1627-72), Verrego’s report includes important first-hand commentary of his exploration of the Californian coast and his interactions with Indigenous Americans. At a time when England and Spain were frequently at war, and no less a figure than William Dampier was in Campeche, this would have been an invaluable resource for Spain. Indeed, the first Jesuit mission at Baja was established just twenty years later. This memorial does not appear to have been published . Mexico’s Pacific coast was largely unexplored by Europeans until 1523. The first encomienda in that area dates to 1526 and Hernán Cortés established the port at Acapulco for Spain in 1531. The following year, he sent two ill-fated expeditions north with a view to expanding Spain’s presence along Mexico’s Pacific coast where added protection might be afforded for the planned Spanish galleon, the first of which sailed in 1565. Similarly, Sebastián Vizcaíno (1548-1624) sailed up the sa

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