The first San Pablo galleon made landfall at San Miguel, one of the Santa Barbara islands near Los Angeles. Galleons traveled between 30-45 degrees latitude in the belt of the westerly winds, passing Japan, and then were without sight of land for several months until the coast of California. Once clear of the strait, the galleon would follow closely the route established by Urdaneta in the first San Pedro voyage (1565) with little variation. Of the 30 galleons that were lost in the entire history of the Manila Galleon Trade, many were lost during the treacherous navigation out of the Philippines around rocks and islands, and through channels with dangerous currents and storms.
Galleons had to pass through the Strait of San Bernardino, usually in June since it was considered the best time of year, and the passage out of the Philippine archipelago could take two to four weeks to clear before reaching the open sea. The eastern route took the ship from Manila to the waters off Taiwan and Japan, then across to California and down the coast to Acapulco. While the westward passage across the Pacific from Acapulco was generally considered easy, the difficulties traveling eastward on the return began with the simple leaving of Manila. Having sailed for approximately 60 days from Mexico, the galleons had another month of travel before reaching the Philippines. These transactions mostly took place just outside the reef because Guam’s waters were too shallow. The galleons carried supplies and the situado (subsidy) from Mexico for the governor, Jesuit mission, and colonial management, while trading metal objects, cloth and other items for water, fruit and other fresh provisions with the CHamoru people. A royal order in 1668 required that the Acapulco galleons made Guam a port of call with the establishment of the Roman Catholic mission established by Jesuit priest Father Diego Luis de San Vitores. The westward route could take ships as far north as 30 degrees, but at above 13 degrees, they would pass through Guam and the Mariana Islands. The westward route to the Philippines from Acapulco began in February or March between 10-15 degrees latitude, where the belt of the northeasterly trade winds would rapidly take the galleons across the Pacific with infrequent storms. It consisted of two separate routes – westward from Acapulco to Manila and eastward on the return, following two separate belts of trade winds across the Pacific. The Manila Galleon Trade Route was an economically powerful system of linking Spain with the commodities of Asia via Mexico. Under the command of Legazpi’s grandson, Felipe de Salcedo, and navigated by Andrés de Urdaneta, the San Pablo was the first Spanish galleon to successfully return from Manila across the Pacific carrying mainly spices in 1565, thus beginning the 250-year long galleon trade.
When Miguel López de Legazpi’s expedition departed Mexico in 1564 with four ships across the Pacific to claim Guam and the Philippines for King Philip II of Spain, only one ship would return homeward from Manila, the San Pablo. File provided to the Wikimedia Commons by Geographicus Rare Antique Maps. Trade Routes from Acapulco to Manila by George Anson, 1751.
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