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- Title:
- Hostaged for Food (Part A)
- Date Created:
- 2021-03-17
- Description:
- The British pirate Charles Swan took the priest who had come aboard at likely Hagatma as a hostage. Swan and crew had crossed the Pacific in less than two months in 1686 compared to Magellan’s 3 months and 20 days in 1521. But Swan too had run out of food by the time he reached Guam then managed from Filipinas. The natives who came with the priest at night were sent in the morning to the Guam governor with two letters. One from the friar. The other was “a very obliging one from Captain Swan” sent with gifts of 4 yards of scarlet cloth and “a piece of broad silver and gold lace”. The Spanish Governor was living at the southend of the island (likely Umatac) and was able to warn the incoming galleon, San Telmo, to stay out of Swan’s site. The Governor replied in a letter later that morning that he appreciated the gifts and would send what provisions “he could possibly spare”. As a token of gratitude he sent 6 hogs, 12 musk melons, many watermelons, and ordered natives at a village near where Swan was anchored to “bake every day as much of the breadfruit as [Swan desired],” and help the visitors get coconuts. Till the end of May, the pirates enjoyed hot, baked breadfruit.
- Subjects:
- Charles Swan Hagåtña (Guam) Humåtak (Guam) San Telmo Gifts
- Exhibition:
- Dampier 1686
- Source:
- Photograph of breadfruit shot circa 1870 in Sri Lanka. By Charles T. Schowen. Public Domain. Wikimedia.commons.
- Type:
- Image;Still Image
- Format:
- image/jpeg
Source
- Preferred Citation:
- "Hostaged for Food (Part A)", Philippine Food History, Felice P. Sta. Maria
- Reference Link:
- felicepstamaria.net/items/coll194.html
Rights
- Rights:
- Public domain
- Standardized Rights:
- https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/