When Legaspi completed the conquest of the Philippines in 1565, he sent
his flagship, the San Pedro, back to New Spain under command of his
grandson, Felipe Salcedo, with orders to survey and chart a practicable
route for ships returning from the Islands. The San Pedro sailed from
Cebu, June 1, 1565, and took her course east-northeast to the Ladrones,
thence northward to latitude thirty-eight, thence sailing eastward,
following the Kuroshiwo, the Black Current of Japan, they made a
landfall on the coast of California about the latitude of Cape
Mendocino. A sail of two thousand five hundred miles down the coasts of
California and New Spain brought the voyagers to the port of Acapulco.
This route was charted by the priests on board the San Pedro, and for
nearly three centuries was the one followed by the galleons of Spain
sailing from Manila to Acapulco. The voyage across the Pacific was a
long one and ships in distress were obliged to put about and make for
Japan. A harbor on the coast of California in which ships could find
shelter and repair damages was greatly desired.
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