The Battles of La Naval de Manila or Battle of Manila Bay (Spanish: Batallas de las marinas de Manila) were a series of five naval battles fought in the waters of the Spanish East Indies in the year 1646, in which the forces of the Spanish Empire repelled various attempts by forces of the Dutch Republic to invade Manila, during the Eighty Years' War. The Spanish forces, which included many native volunteers, consisted of two, and later, three Manila galleons, a galley and four brigantines. They neutralized a Dutch fleet of nineteen warships, divided into three separate squadrons. Heavy damage was inflicted upon the Dutch squadrons by the Spanish forces, forcing the Dutch to abandon their invasion of the Philippines.
The victories against the Dutch invaders were attributed by the Spanish troops to the intercession of the Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of La Naval de Manila. On 9 April 1652, the victories in the five sea battles were declared a miracle by the Archdiocese of Manila after a thorough canonical investigation, giving rise to the centuries-old festivities of Our Lady of La Naval de Manila.
Background
Early Spanish-Dutch conflicts in the Philippines
Pursuing their quest for alternative trade routes to Asia, the Dutch reached the Philippines and sought to dominate the commercial sea trade in Southeast Asia. Being at war with Spain, they engaged in privateering activities. They harassed the coasts of Manila Bay and its environs, and preyed on sampans and junks from China and Japan in an attempt to cut off Spanish trade with East Asia.
The first Dutch squadron to reach the Philippines was led by Olivier van Noort. On December 14, 1600, van Noort's squadron grappled with the Spanish fleet under Antonio de Morga near Fortune Island, where de Morga's flagship, the San Diego, sank. Van Noort managed to return to Holland, thus becoming the first Dutch to circumnavigate the world.
Another Dutch fleet of four ships under the command of François de Wittert tried to attack Manila in 1609, but was repelled by the Spanish governor-general Juan de Silva who launched a counterattack and defeated the Dutch at the Battle of Playa Honda, where was killed.
In October 1616, another Dutch fleet of 10 galleons under the command of Joris van Spilbergen (Georges Spillberg) blockaded the entrance of Manila Bay. A Spanish armada of seven galleons led by Juan Ronquillo battled against Spilbergen's fleet at the Playa Honda in April 1617 (known as the second Battle of Playa Honda). Spilbergen's flagship, the Sol de Holanda (Sun of Holland) sank, and the Dutch were once again repulsed with heavy damage.
From 1640 to 1641, a Dutch fleet of three ships stationed near Embocadero de San Bernardino tried to capture merchant galleons coming from Acapulco, Mexico. These galleons, however, escaped safely by taking a different route after receiving warnings from a system of fire-signals (placed in Embocadero) which was devised by the Jesuit priest Francisco Colin.
Planned invasion of the Philippines
In view of their previous failures to disrupt the Spanish Empire's trade in Asia, the Dutch decided to seize the Philippines, feeling certain that they were strong enough to carry out the attacks. From the time they conquered the Spanish settlement in the north of Formosa in 1642, the Dutch became increasingly eager to attack Manila because they knew the city lacked strong defenses and that it was unable to receive enough aid because the Spanish were occupied by the wars in Europe.
Fr. Juan de los Ángeles, a Dominican priest who had been taken from Formosa to Macassar by the Dutch as a prisoner of war, later described in his account that the Dutch were so eager to launch an attack on the Philippines that "they talk among themselves of nothing else than how they will gain Manila", and that "they have urgently requested more men from Holland for the purpose of attacking Manila. ".
In his account, he also described the formidable force of the Dutch stationed at the ports of Jakarta in Indonesia and Formosa:
"The power which the Dutch enemy possess in those regions...is greater than we could imagine of them. According to what I myself have seen...the Dutch have at this time more than one hundred and fifty ships and pataches, at a moderate estimate—all equipped and provided by seamen, soldiers, artillery and other necessary supplies. "
Condition of the islands
The entire Philippines was already in dire situation at the time when the Dutch were planning their invasion.
- A series of volcanic eruptions took place between 1633 and 1640, as a food shortage also crippled the city.
- Wars against the Muslims of Mindanao led by Sultan Kudarat in 1635 and the Sangley Rebellion in 1639 to 1640 had taken its toll of lives and resources.
- Numerous wrecks and losses of sea vessels which sailed to and from New Spain (1638–39) did not only disrupted the Manila–Acapulco trade but also reduced the naval strength of Manila.
- After the Dutch seized Formosa in 1642, they began sending squadrons of vessels, both large and small—the former going to the Embocadero de San Bernardino and Cape Espíritu Santo to await the ships that carried relief for the Philippines, and the latter stationed on the coast of Ilocos and Pangasinan to pillage the trading vessels coming from China.
The new Spanish governor-general Diego Fajardo Chacón reached the Philippines at the end of June in 1644, together with the Andalusian Captain Sebastian López. Fajardo found the islands deficient in naval strength. Making his entrance into Manila by mid-August, Fajardo took possession of the government and dispatched two galleons--Nuestra Señora dela Encarnación and Nuestra Señora del Rosario (hereinafter called Encarnación and Rosario, respectively)—to acquire new resources for the islands from New Spain.
Catastrophic events in 1645
Death of the Archbishop
In July 1645, the Encarnación and Rosario, under the command of the Viscayan Captain Lorenzo de Orella y Ugalde (also Lorenzo Ugalde de Orellana) arrived from Mexico at the port of Lamon Bay, with goods for the Philippines to replenish its depleted resources. Aboard in one of the two galleons was the archbishop-elect of Manila, His Grace Don Fernando Montero de Espinosa. On his way to Manila, de Espinosa was stricken by hemorrhagic fever and died. The citizens of Manila, who were in great need of a religious leader to strengthen their faith in those desperate times, sorrowfully mourned at the untimely death of de Espinosa.
The San w earthquake
On November 30, 1645, the feast of Saint Andrew the Apostle, a devastating earthquake struck Manila and its environs, destroying about 150 magnificent buildings and killing countless citizens. Five days later, on December 5, another earthquake as violent as the first rocked the city. Although no fatalities were recorded, the remaining unstable structures damaged by the first tremor were totally destroyed.
The destructive powers of the earthquake reached other provinces of the islands. Native villages were utterly overthrown, as their huts built of bamboos and nipa thatching were levelled. Great fissures and even chasms appeared in open fields, while rivers (including those in Manila) overflowed to flood the cities and villages following the aftershocks.
Full-scale attack in 1646
In their great council in New Batavia (Jakarta), the Dutch decided to launch a decisive attack in the Philippines. The Dutch equipped 18 vessels under Maarten Gerritsz Vries, and divided them into three squadrons:
Dutch forces
First Squadron
- Strength: 5 vessels (4 regular ships and one small boat in the form of O called chó)
- Destination: Ilocos and Pangasinan
- Purpose: To stir up the natives against the Spaniards and to seize coastal boats and barges from China.
Second Squadron
- Strength: 7 vessels (5 regular ships and 2 fire ships), 16 launches, 800 soldiers; Artillery: The flagship carried 46 pieces of excellent artillery; the smallest vessels carried thirty.
- Destination: Zamboanga then to Embocadero de San Bernardino Strait
- Purpose: To snatch the vessels coming from Mexico, which annually brought to Manila considerable amount of money for the maintenance of the Spanish garrison in the archipelago.
Third Squadron
- Strength: 6 vessels; Artillery: Its flagship carried 45 guns, while others had over 20.
- Destination: Manila (as reinforcement of the first two squadrons)
- Purpose: To cut off any relief coming from Manila to Ternate and Makassar.
After monsoon, these three squadrons will then converge as one armada outside the bay of Manila to attack the city.
Spanish forces
News of the arrival of the first squadron in Ilocos and Pangasinan region reached Manila on February 1, 1646. The Dutch tried to win over the Ilocanos and Pangasinenses, promising complete independence and abolition of taxes. However, when the natives resisted, the Dutch corsairs plundered their homes. The arrival of some companies of Spanish soldiers to those places, however, forced the Dutch to re-embark to their ships.
Learning the presence of the enemy, Governor Fajardo called for a council of war. At that time, Manila had no naval strength to repel the enemy—save for the two old and nearly-rotting Manila-Acapulco galleons, the 800-ton Encarnación and 700-ton Rosario—which arrived at Cavite from Mexico from the previous year. Despite being greatly outnumbered by the enemy, General Fajardo decided that the two galleons should be made ready for battle. The two galleons were hastily equipped and manned as follows:
Fajardo appointed the General Lorenzo Ugalde de Orellana as commander-in chief of the Spanish fleet (and thus making him captain of the flagship Encarnación), with Sebastián López as admiral (and captain of the Rosario). The appointed sergeant-major was Agustín de Cepeda.
The four companies of infantrymen were under the leadership of Captains Juan Enríquez de Miranda and Gaspar Cardoso on the flagship, and Captains Juan Martínez Capel and Gabriel Niño de Guzmán on the almiranta.
The chief pilots were Captain Domingo Machado with his associate Francisco Romero on the flagship, while on the almiranta were Captain Juan Martínez and his associate Andrés Cordero.
Battles of 1646
First battle
Arriving at the entrance of Mariveles, the Dutch squadron were nowhere to be found (contrary to the earlier reports of sentinels stationed at Mariveles).
The Spanish fleet then proceeded to Bolinao in Lingayen, Pangasinan. There, on March 15 at around 9:00 am, the Spanish fleet discovered one enemy vessel on oars, but it quickly took flight. At about 1:00 pm, four Dutch ships appeared, together with the smaller oared-vessel they had seen earlier. The two fleets came within firing range of each other between two and three o'clock in the afternoon.
The first salvo came from the Dutch flagship but missed its mark. The Encarnación answered with two shots, hitting the Dutch flagship with a 15 kg cannonball, tearing open the forward edge of the ship's prow. The Dutch then concentrated firing on the smaller ship Rosario, which retaliated by firing a simultaneous volley of cannons. The Encarnación fired freely at any of the four Dutch vessels, inflicting severe damages and thus forcing the Dutch to disengage in battle.
The battles lasted for five hours. At around 7:00 pm, four of the Dutch ships retreated in the dark with their lanterns out. The Dutch flagship almost sunk but also escaped under the cover of darkness. The Spanish fleet looked for the Dutch corsairs up to Cape Bojeador on the northern tip of Luzon, but the Dutch fleet completely disappeared.
The Spanish fleet sustained only minor damages. None of the men were killed and only few were wounded. The two Spanish galleons had been so heavily armed with cannon, cannonballs and ammunition that they had outgunned the Dutch ships.
The two ships stayed at the port of Bolinao to undergo some repairs. From there, General Orellana, after sending word to Governor Fajardo of their initial victory, received orders from the governor to escort and secure the safety of the merchant galleon from Mexico—the San Luis—which was calculated to reach the Philippines via Embocadero de San Bernardino on July 21. The merchant galleon, laden with goods from Mexico, could be a principal target of the Dutch corsairs.
Naval siege at Ticao Island
In mid-April, the second Dutch squadron had entered the Philippine waters. The Dutch first headed for Jolo, intending to attack the Spanish garrison in that place, but upon seeing that it was already abandoned (as ordered by Governor Fajardo to consolidate the Spanish force against the Dutch), the Dutch fleet then proceeded to another Spanish stronghold in Zamboanga, snatching two of the five ships that would carry the relief to Ternate in the Moluccas. The other three managed to escape.