1582 Cagayan battles facts for kids
Quick facts for kids 1582 Cagayan battles |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Wokou | |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Juan Pablo de Carrión Pedro Lucas † |
Tay Fusa | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 60 soldiers unknown number of sailors unknown number of native allies and ships 1 galleon 5 small vessels 1 light vessel |
1 junk 18 sampans 1000 tops Wako pirates |
||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 10–20 casualties unknown number of native allies killed or injured |
estimated hundreds of casualties | ||||||
The 1582 Cagayan battles were a series of fights in the Philippines. They happened between Spanish soldiers and a group of pirates called wokou. These pirates were led by a person named Tay Fusa. The Spanish forces were led by Captain Juan Pablo de Carrión.
The battles took place near the Cagayan River in 1582. In the end, the Spanish won. This event was an important clash between European soldiers and Asian pirates. It was similar to other battles like the Battle of Manila and the Battle of Fukuda Bay.
Contents
Why the Battles Started
Around 1573, people from Japan started trading gold for silver in the Philippines. This trade happened a lot on the island of Luzon. Key areas for this trade were Cagayan, Metro Manila, and Pangasinan.
However, in 1580, a group of pirates took control of the native people in Cagayan. These raiders were known as Wokou. The Wokou were a mix of Japanese, Chinese, and local Filipino pirates. They included rōnin (masterless samurai), soldiers, fishermen, and traders.
To stop this piracy, the Spanish Governor-General of the Philippines, Gonzalo Ronquillo de Peñalosa, took action. He asked Captain Juan Pablo de Carrión to deal with the problem. Carrión was a skilled captain in the Spanish navy.
Governor Ronquillo wrote to King Philip II in 1582. He said that the Japanese were very warlike. He noted they had artillery, muskets, and pikes. They also wore body armor. Ronquillo believed the Portuguese had taught them how to use these weapons.
Captain Carrión acted quickly. He attacked a Wokou ship in the South China Sea with cannons. This made the ship unable to fight. In response, Tay Fusa, the pirate leader, sailed a large fleet towards the Philippines.
Who Fought in the Battles
The Wokou pirate fleet was made up of one large ship called a junk. They also had 18 smaller boats called sampans. These sampans are flat-bottomed wooden fishing boats. The pirates were a mix of Japanese, Chinese, and Filipino raiders. Their leader's name, Tay Fusa, suggests the Japanese were in charge. Spanish records called him Tay Fusa. This might be a Spanish way of saying Taifu-sama, which means "chieftain" in Japanese.
The pirates carried swords and other bladed weapons. They also had muskets, which were guns given to them by the Portuguese. Some reports say the Japanese pirates were not very good at using their muskets. This might have been because they had poor gunpowder.
To fight the pirates, Captain Carrión gathered 40 Spanish soldiers. He also had seven boats. These included five small support vessels, a light ship named San Yusepe, and a large galleon called La Capitana. Each ship had its own crew.
Even though the Spanish had fewer fighters, they had an advantage. They were more experienced with firearms than the pirates. Their armor and weapons were also of better quality.
The Main Battles
As the Spanish ships sailed past Cape Bojeador, they found a large Wokou sampan. This pirate boat had just arrived and its sailors were harming the local people. Even though he was outnumbered, Carrión attacked the sampan. His soldiers boarded the pirate ship.
On the sampan, Spanish soldiers called rodeleros met armored Japanese Wokou fighters. The Wokou used swords. At first, the Spanish were successful. But then, the pirates pushed them back to their own ship. The deck of the Spanish ship became a battlefield.
The Spanish then turned the fight around. They quickly built a barrier on their ship. Spanish pikemen stood at the front with long spears. Behind them, soldiers with arquebusiers and muskets fired their guns. This worked well because the rest of the Spanish fleet arrived just in time to help. The Wokou pirates gave up and jumped into the water. Some of them drowned because their armor was too heavy. The Spanish had their first casualties, including their galley captain, Pedro Lucas.
The Spanish fleet continued down the Cagayán River. They found 18 more sampans and a Wokou fort built on land. The Spanish ships used their cannons to force their way through. Then, the soldiers landed on shore. They dug trenches and set up cannons from the galleon. They kept firing at the pirates.
The Wokou decided to try and surrender. Carrión told them they had to leave Luzon. The pirates asked for gold to make up for their losses if they left. Carrión refused this request right away. After this, the Wokou decided to attack by land. About six hundred pirates charged the Spanish.
The Spanish soldiers and sailors in the trenches fought off the first attack. Then, they fought off another. The Wokou tried to grab the Spanish pikes. So, the Spanish oiled the shafts of their pikes. This made them slippery and hard to hold.
By the third attack, the Spanish were running low on gunpowder. This attack became a close-quarters fight. The pirates almost broke through the trenches. Finally, the Wokou attacks became weaker. The Spanish then came out of their trenches and attacked. They defeated the remaining Wokou. The Spanish took the Wokou weapons, like katanas and armor, as trophies.
What Happened Next
After the fighting stopped, the area became peaceful. More Spanish soldiers arrived. Captain Carrión then founded a new city called Nueva Segovia. Today, this city is known as Lal-lo.
After these battles, there was very little pirate activity. The fierce fighting left a strong impression on the local Spanish leader. He asked for more troops to be sent to the area. Trade near Cagayan then focused on Lingayen Bay in Pangasinan. This trade mainly involved deerskins.
See also
- Siege of Moji (1561) – A Portuguese ship joined a Japanese battle. This was the first time a European ship fired cannons on Japanese land.
- Battle of Fukuda Bay (1565) – A Japanese fleet attacked a Portuguese ship but failed to capture it. This was the first naval fight between Japan and a Western country.
- Battle of Manila (1574) – A Chinese and Japanese pirate fleet attacked Manila, trying to take the city.
- Nossa Senhora da Graça incident (1610) – A Japanese fleet attacked a Portuguese ship, which ended up sinking.
- Second Attack on Kamaishi (9 August 1945) – The last direct naval bombardment of the Japanese home islands during World War II.
