Manila galleon

First of Manila's 1573 China-cargo ships reaches Acapulco

The flagship limped into Acapulco nine days late, leaking badly and running short of drinking water.

Two ships out of Manila, sailing east

Two ships, the Santiago and the San Juan, left Manila on 1 July 1573. One reached Acapulco on 15 November; the leaking flagship followed on 24 November.

Their cargo was Asian merchandise bound for New Spain — Chinese silk and porcelainware, reportedly 712 pieces of silk and 22,300 pieces of porcelainware — not New World silver arriving at Manila.

A hard crossing

The flagship reached Acapulco with great difficulty, leaking and short of water.

Captain Pedro de Luna and some of his sailors died of illness before landfall; his reported distance from land at death was about 200 leagues.

The viceroy's verdict, 5 December

Writing to Philip II on 5 December 1573, Viceroy Martín Enríquez concluded that commerce with China would have to be conducted with silver, because China valued silver above the goods New Spain could offer.

The trans-Pacific return route itself was not new: Andrés de Urdaneta had established it in 1565. Historians describe 1573 as the year the commercial galleon trade took off, rather than the first crossing between Asia and America.

Sources

Researched 24 Aug 2026 6 sources not yet audited Date disputed

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet and rewritten from that sheet. This article has not yet had an independent model audit. How the pipeline works →

Date disputed. Sources disagree; the research places it at 1573-11-15.

What the sources leave uncertain

No consulted primary or scholarly source supports the listed claim that a first silver-laden galleon landed at Manila in 1573.
The best-documented 1573 event runs in the opposite direction: ships left Manila with Asian goods and reached Acapulco.
The trans-Pacific return route had been established in 1565. Historians describe 1573 as the year commercial galleon trade 'took off,' not the first crossing between Asia and America.