Your Majesty has sustained here a number of galleys at a great
expense. They have been of very little or of no service. Some of
them have fallen to pieces with the lapse of time; and others have
been wrecked, not so much on account of disasters, as for the lack
of experienced officers for that navigation, as it is very different
from that of galleons. In this port there is now but one old galley;
and as I have taken a trip in it, I can assure your Majesty that it
serves for nothing else than vanity. To keep it up costs considerable,
and therefore, and because this treasury is so deeply in debt, I have
determined to prevent so excessive a cost to your Majesty. I shall
only keep up the galley of Terrenate, which is necessary and cannot be
spared; for your Majesty's revenues do not allow superfluities. And,
so long as your Majesty does not resolve upon another course, I shall
not venture upon more at present than to repair this galley, which is
old and unmanageable, in order that there may be something in which
to occupy the crew (who lie idle the whole year), until a new order
comes from your Majesty.
Pages:
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360