ABSTRACT
AFTER Don Francisco de Toledo, 1 Viceroy of Peru, sent two ships, with more than 200 men, in pursuit of the pirate Francisco Draquez, 2 which arrived at Panama without finding more than a report of his proceedings, and returned to Lima (of which your Majesty will have notice), considering the importance to the security of all the Indies on the South Sea, for the service of God our Lord, the increase and preservation of His Holy Church which your Majesty holds and maintains in these parts, and that which it is hoped will be established, and not to leave anything unexplored for the service of your Majesty and your subjects ; as well as because there was the public fame and fear of the two English ships, consorts of Francisco Draquez, which remained behind on the coasts of Chile and Arica, 1 and which had carried their arms into those ports, so that the people did not know what to do, ceasing their business, because the merchants feared to risk their goods, and the sailors to navigate ; and it being the public fame that Francisco would return by the Strait, as he now knew where it was; for all these reasons, and to prepare for future events, he determined to send to and discover the Strait of Magellan, which it was held to be almost impossible to discover by the way of the South Sea, owing to the innumerable openings and channels which there are before arriving at it, where many discoverers had been lost who had been sent by the Governors of Peru and Chili. Although persons had been there who entered by the North Sea, they never succeeded. Some were lost, and others returned, so tossed about by storms and uncertain of what could be discovered, that there was a general dread of that navigation.
