Mazaua - Several Visits By Europeans To The Isle

Several Visits By Europeans To The Isle

During the entire Age of Sail, within the Renaissance period, several visits to the isle have been recorded. Magellan's fleet, with an estimated 186 men, lay at anchors at Mazaua for seven days. The second known visit was in 1543 by a contingent of the Ruy Lopez de Villalobos expedition of about 90 mariners who sailed in a galeota named San Cristobal. It was piloted by a veteran seaman, Ginés de Mafra, who was also in the Armada de Molucca. He is the only crew member of Magellan's fleet to return to Mazaua.

The San Cristobal was yanked out from the fleet by a terrible storm somewhere between Eniwetok and Ulithi reaching Mazaua in late February. It is a testament to de Mafra's seamanship that he was able to bring the limping San Cristobal back to his old haunt of 1521. The men spent the next four to six months at the hospitable little isle where twenty-two years earlier Magellan and his crew were received with great "urbanity." In his account, de Mafra relates he again met the "king" of Mazaua, named "Siaiu" by Pigafetta, who showed to de Mafra the items Magellan had given him as gifts, namely a "robe of red and yellow cloth, made in the Turkish fashion, and a very fine red cap," as enumerated by Pigafetta.

There were two other visits by members of the Villalobos expedition to Mazaua. The galleon San Juan, under Bernardo de la Torre, paid a brief visit some time in April 1544 in search of the main contingent of the expedition. Another visit was by the brigantine under Captain Garcia Escalante de Alvarado around September–October 1544 in search also of the some members of the expedition who were left in Sarangani.

There are references in Portuguese chronicles of visits by Portuguese ships to Mazaua in search of gold and slaves. Most of these are brief stories with unspecified dates except that we know they happened during the 16th century.