The Viceroy of Peru had received news from Spain about Dutch intentions in
June 1599. On November 8 the Viceroy had been informed by the Governor of the
Province of the River Plate of Van Noort’s dilatory progress along the Atlantic Coast in
August and at Rio de Janiero the previous February18. On December 2 he was informed
of the Chilean intrusion of the Dutch Mahu-DeCordes fleet, and on December 8, the
Blijde Boodschaap, of the Mahu expedition, was taken from Valparaiso, where she had
surrendered, to Callao, with her captain Dirck Gherritz.
On 1 January
1600, with eight ships at his disposal, he sent, under the command of Pedro Ozores de
Ulloa, two galleons and the Buen Jesus to stand off Santa Maria until 20 March. Then the
galleons were to break away to accompany the silver ship from Arica (carrying the
annual production of the mines of San Luis Potosi) to Callao, while the Buen Jesus
continued the patrol. The five remaining ships he sent for sentry duty off Pisco, about two
degrees south of Callao, until they should be required, in turn, to escort the silver
shipment, just transferred from Arica, from Callao to Panama19
Van Noort knew nothing of this of course, but lusted after the prize, and
subsequently did nothing to conceal himself from Spanish attention. The chase carried
Van Noort far to the north. The captain of the Buen Jesus, now a prisoner aboard the
Mauritius, advised him that the prevailing winds are southerly, so Van Noort decided he
could not manage the rendezvous at Santa Maria
On 25 April, the Viceroy of Peru, in Lima, Luis de Velasco, Marqués de Salinas,
learned of Van Noort’s presence. Van Noort had been sailing in full view along the coast
since taking the Buen Jesus. On 28 April Van Noort reached Valparaíso. There he
released the prisoners from the Buen Jesus, excepting only Emanuel, another slave and
the pilot, Juan de San Aval, who would be useful for coastal navigation. While at
Valparaíso, Van Noort seized the Los Picos, another victualling ship
His captured prize ships Buen Jesus and Los Picos
now accompanied him. On 1 May he put in at Huasco where he obtained fresh meat and
fruit23 and burned the Los Picos. Having some apprehension of the Viceroy’s strategy,
Van Noort gave Spanish Naval Base at Callao24 (and fortunately at Pisco) a wide berth as
he continued his northward sail.
In Lima, the viceroy was not slow to respond to this threat. The five-ship
squadron under the command of the viceroy’s nephew Juan de Velasco, now patrolling
off Pisco, well armed and carrying 400 men, was already assembled to accompany the
annual silver shipment to Panama for transshipment overland to the Atlantic.
The
viceroy gave his nephew Velasco the additional task of searching for the corsarios as
soon as the silver was safely transferred to a Spain-bound ship in the Atlantic. One of the
prisoners released from the Buen Jesus told the Viceroy that the pirate wanted to capture
the Manila Galleon at Cabo San Lucas, as Thomas Cavendish had done in 1587.
Velasco’s first assignment was not completed until months after Van Noort had turned
west to commence his passage over the Pacific Ocean
After leaving Panama on 13
August, the squadron reached Acapulco, the Galleon’s traditional landfall, on 26 August.
Velasco reported that they had “counted the rocks along the shore” from Panama north,
and found no trace of the enemy, whom he believed had already turned west. The search
for Van Noort had the happy result of placing five Spanish ships nicely out of De Lint’s
way.
The corregidor of Santa40 received information on 17 July from the Callao-bound
frigate that a Dutch pirate had pursued him and was headed in the direction of Santa on
11 July. As soon as the corregidor heard this news he sent a boat out to try to observe the
pirate’s activities at the anchorage, but De Lint had already moved on, if he stopped there
at all. This was lucky for De Lint, for the following day vice-admiral Hernando Lamero
came with a task force of two of his ships and a pinnace.41 In August young Velasco
spent ten days scouring the Baja California coast, from La Paz to beyond Cabo San Lucas
– the whole of the southern tip of the Baja. Finding nothing, he began to doubt that the
Dutchmen were ever there. Hernando de Lugones, one of his captains, said, “There is
news of the enemy everywhere, but they are like phantoms, which appear in many places,
whereas we find them in none.” Unfortunately, the task force was overtaken by a great
storm in mid-August on their return from Lower California, and the flagship was lost
with all hands along the coast of Mexico at Salagua, near Acapulco. The battered
remnants limped into Acapulco for repairs. On 4 November they resumed the search,
both for their missing admiral and for Van Noort, finally sailing back to Callao in
February
