Defeat of The Dutch At Manila
On December 22, 1607 a Dutch fleet of the Company of the East Indies set sail from Texel to attack the Portuguese fleet and forts in the East. The fleet consisted of 13 vessels, 225 artillery pieces and more than 2,800 men. It was under the command of Admiral Pierre Willemsz., with François de Wittert as vice-admiral. The fleet fought with the Portuguese in Mozambique, Sumatra and Johore before building a fort at Near, in the Banda Islands (present-day Indonesia). Here on May 22, 1609 the admiral and some of his officers were killed in an attack by the natives, and Wittert assumed command.
Thereafter Wittert sailed to Manila to attack the Spanish there. (Spain and Portugal were ruled by the same king, Philip III of Spain (Philip II of Portugal), and thus were allies.) Wittert besieged Manila for five months, beginning in 1609. However on April 24 or April 25, 1610, while supervising the unloading of junks, Wittert was surprised by at least 12 Spanish ships. His flagship, the Amsterdam, was captured after a lengthy fight, and the admiral was killed. Two ships apparently escaped, but the Spanish killed at least 85 Dutch and took 120 or more prisoners.
Also during the first part of Governor de Silva's term, the fourth archbishop of Manila, Diego Vazquez de Mercado, arrived there (June 4, 1610).
Read more about this topic: Juan De Silva
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