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Juan Esteban De Ubilla and The Flota of 1715

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Lowell W. Newton
Lowell W. Newton*
Affiliation:
University of Lousiville, Louisville, Kentucky
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Extract

For Spain the Succession War (1702-1713) capped a century of stagnation and decline with a decade of civil war, invasion, and anarchy. Together with many other issues at stake in the conflict, commercial ambitions—particularly those relating to the Indies—lurked behind the facades of Habsburg and Bourbon dynastic claims. Both before and during the war foreign penetration, especially by the English and the Dutch, challenged Spain’s claims to exclusive trading rights in the New World, a challenge which neither the Spanish Navy nor Spanish imperial strategy was able to thwart.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 33 , Issue 2 , October 1976 , pp. 267 - 281
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1976

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References

1 Kamen, Henry, The War of Succession in Spain, 1100–1115 (Bloomington, 1969), p. 167 Google Scholar. This indispensable work stands in sharp relief against the arid landscape of Spanish historiography of the period 1660 1746, which Kamen calls “the dark ages of modern Spanish historiography.”

2 See Parry, J. H., The Spanish Seaborne Empire (New York, 1970), pp. 216–228 Google Scholar and Lynch, John, Spain Under the Habsburgs (New York, 1969)Google Scholar, II, 160–178, 224–228, 260.

3 Kamen, pp. 178–179.

4 Richmond, Herbert, The Navy as an Instrument of Policy (Cambridge, 1953), pp. 285–86, 313–362 Google Scholar.

5 Kamen, Henry, “The destruction of the Spanish Silver Fleet at Vigo in 1702,” Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, Nov., 1966, pp. 165–173 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, which alters the accepted view that the English captured most of the treasure. In fact, much of it was safely ashore.

6 The fleet’s departure from Cádiz was observed and described by Father Rabat. See Mercadal, J. García, Viajes de Extranjeros por España y Portugal (Madrid, 1962)Google Scholar III, 155–156.

7 Bourne, Ruth, Queen Anne’s Navy in the West Indies (New Haven, 1939), pp. 170–171 Google Scholar.

8 Andrés de Arriola to the Viceroy of Mexico the Duke of Linares, Veracruz, October 5, 1711, in Archivo General de Simancas, Sección Marina, legajo 392. Hereafter cited as AGS-SM; all letters cited pertain to this legajo.

9 Ibid., fol. 4.

10 Duke of Linares to Philip V, Mexico City, February 29, 1712, AGS-SM.

11 For an outline of the events of Linares’ tenure in office see Palacio, Vicente Riva, México a través de los siglos (Mexico, 1970)Google Scholar, II, 763-768.

12 A power which fleet commanders often resented. For examples of conflict between Viceroys and commanders see Bravo, F. de Castro y, Los Naos Españolas en la Carrera de las Indias (Madrid, 1927), pp. 75–78 Google Scholar.

13 Andrés de Arriola to the Duke of Linares, Veracruz, October 5, 1711, fol. 3, AGS-SM.

14 For an outline of the origin and development of the Barlovento Squadron see Lynch, II, 177,197,200.

15 Parry, J. H., Trade and Dominion: The European Overseas Empires in the Eighteenth Century (New York, 1971)Google Scholar, p. 104.

16 Juan Esteban de Ubilla to the Duke of Linares, Veracruz, December 13, 1712, AGS-SM.

17 Juan Esteban de Ubilla to Joseph de Granara, Veracruz, December 29, 1712, AGS-SM.

18 Juan Esteban de Ubilla to the Duke of Linares, Veracruz, December 29, 1712, AGS-SM.

19 Ibid., fol. 2.

20 Juan Esteban de Ubilla to Joseph de Granara, Veracruz, January 14, 1713, AGS-SM. Ribera arrived safely in Cádiz on 30 March. See Kamen, War of Succession, p. 191.

21 In five weeks Ubilla wrote a total of six letters.

22 Juan Esteban de Ubilla to the Duke of Linares, Veracruz, February 26, 1713, AGS-SM.

23 Juan Esteban de Ubilla to the Duke of Linares, Veracruz, February 27, 1713, AGS-SM.

24 Juan Esteban de Ubilla to Joseph de Granara, Veracruz, March 9, 1713, AGS-SM.

25 Juan Esteban de Ubilla to the Marquis of Santa Sabina, Veracruz, April 18, 1712, AGS-SM.

26 Duke of Linares to Philip V, Mexico City, July 1, 1714, fols. 1,2, AGS-SM.

27 Juan Esteban de Ubilla to the Duke of Linares, Veracruz, May 23, 1713, AGS SM.

28 Duke of Linares to Philip V, Mexico City, July 1, 1714, fols. 2, 3, AGS-SM.

29 Juan Esteban de Ubilla to Joseph de Granara, Veracruz, June 28, 1713, AGS-SM.

30 Juan Esteban de Ubilla to Joseph de Granara, Veracruz, July 6 and July 21; Juan Esteban de Ubilla to the Duke of Linares, Veracruz, July 23, 1713, AGS-SM.

31 Duke of Linares to Philip V, Mexico City, July 1, 1714, fol. 3, AGS-SM.

32 For example, Juan Esteban de Ubilla to Joseph de Granara, Veracruz, September 30, 1713, fol. 2, AGS-SM.

33 Juan Esteban de Ubilla to Joseph de Granara, Veracruz, October 10, 1713, AGS-SM.

34 Ibid., fol.

35 Duke of Linares to Philip V, Mexico City, July 1, 1714, fol. 4, AGS-SM.

36 Juan Esteban de Ubilla to the Duke of Linares, Veracruz, January 24, 1714, AGS-SM.

37 Juan Esteban de Ubilla to the Duke of Linares, Veracruz, April 7, 1714, AGS-SM.

38 Juan Esteban de Ubilla to the Duke of Linares, Veracruz, May 26, 1714, AGS-SM.

39 Juan Esteban de Ubilla to the Duke of Linares, Veracruz, June 20, 1714, AGS-SM.

40 Ubilla was perfectly correct in this statement. For a map illustrating the most hazardous ports in the route of the Carrera see P. and Chaunu, H., Seville et l’Atlantique (Paris, 1957)Google Scholar, VII, 120–121.

41 I am indebted to my colleague, Prof. José Luis Rey-Barreau, who cheerfully and generously spent much time wrestling with the difficulties of Ubilla’s bewildering prose.

42 Juan Esteban de Ubilla to the Duke of Linares, Veracruz, October 15, 1714, AGS-SM.

43 Juan Esteban de Ubilla to the Duke of Linares, Veracruz, October 26, 1714, AGS-SM.

44 For example, Juan Esteban de Ubilla to the Duke of Linares, Veracruz, November 11, 1714, AGS SM.

45 Juan Esteban de Ubilla to the Duke of Linares, Veracruz, December 30, 1714, AGS-SM.

46 Juan Esteban de Ubilla to the Duke of Linares, Veracruz, January 14, 1715, AGS-SM.

47 Ibid.

48 Juan Esteban de Ubilla to the Duke of Linares, Veracruz, March 12, 1715, AGS-SM.

49 Juan Esteban de Ubilla to the Duke of Linares, Veracruz, March 2, 1715, AGS-SM.

50 Juan Esteban de Ubilla to the Duke of Linares, Veracruz, March 17, 1715, AGS-SM.

51 Juan Esteban de Ubilla to the Duke of Linares, Veracruz, April 12, 1715, AGS-SM.

52 Juan Esteban de Ubilla to the Duke of Linares, Veracruz, April 24, 1715, AGS-SM.

53 Juan Esteban de Ubilla to the Duke of Linares, Havana, June 28, 1715, AGS-SM.

54 Ibid.

55 Ibid., fol. 2.

56 Ibid., fol, 3.

57 Juan Esteban de Ubilla to the Duke of Linares, Havana, July 22, 1715, AGS-SM.

58 Ibid., fol. 2.

59 There are numerous accounts of the wreck. Some of the more conspicuous accounts are in Parry, Trade and Dominion, p. 104; Potter, John S. Jr., The Treasure Diver’s Guide (New York, 1960)Google Scholar, 229 234; Duro, C. Fernández, Armada Española desde la Unión de las reinas de Castilla y de Aragón (Madrid, 1899), VI, pp. 23 Google Scholar ff.

60 Potter, p. 229.

61 Juan de Fornera to the Duke of Linares, Havana, October 13, 1715, AGS-SM.

62 Alonso de Armeta to the Duke of Linares, Havana, October 20, 1715, AGS-SM, who repeats this sentiment, and letter written by an unknown survivor to the Bishop of Havana dated November 14, 1715, AGS-SM.

63 Francisco de Salmón to the Duke of Linares, Havana, December 25, 1715, AGS-SM.

64 Irving A. Leonard, Baroque Times in Old Mexico (Ann Arbor, 1966), see esp. p. 30.

65 See Millas, José Carlos, Hurricanes of the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions, 1492–1800 (Miami, 1968)Google Scholar.

66 Ibid., p. xiv.