San Buena Ventura

The San Buena Ventura was a ship of 120 tonnaux built with the Japan under the direction of the navigator and adventurous English William Adams on behalf of the Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa.

History

The ship is built in 1607 and follows the construction of smaller of 80 barrels, also built to him by William Adams, which is used for the cartography of water close to Japan. Ieyasu orders the second, larger, to sail towards the foreign countries.

The September 30th 1609, the Spanish Galion San Francisco is failed with a crew of 373 men on the coast of Chiba, close to current the Onjuku. The 317 survivors are cordially received by Japanese. One of the passengers was the governor of the Filipino , Rodrigo de Vivero there Velasco, which meet the shogun Hidetada Tokugawa then the father of this one, Ieyasu Tokugawa, the brother franciscain Luis Sotelo, which has resided then for a few years at Japan, being used as interpreter.

During these meeting, Ieyasu expresses its wishes to develop the trade with the News-Spain and the Spain. Rodrigo de Vivero answers that it can organize the trade on a scale exceeding that of the Dutch, the principal rivals of the Spaniards in Asia at that time. It also offers to send to Japan 50 experts in money mining of Mexico. In exchange, he claims the protection of the Spanish priests in Japan, the support of the ships shipwrecked men on the Japanese coasts, and the expulstion of the Dutch merchants of Japan, this last request being rejected by Ieyasu.

With an aim of making it possible to the Spaniards to return to Mexico, Ieyasu lends the ship of William Adams to them, that the Spaniards name San Buena Ventura . The shogun lends also the equivalent to them of 4 000 ducats for the voyage.

Rodrigo de Vivero returns to Mexico aboard ship in 1610. 22 Japanese are also on board, led by Shōsuke Tanaka, which becomes thus first Japanese to pose the foot on the American continent. Shine of Velasco, the Vice-roi of News-Spain receives the 22 Japanese and expresses his great satisfaction concerning the treatment received by the Spanish sailors in Japan. It confiscates however the San Buena Ventura , fearing that the Japanese become experts in transoceanic navigation.

The viceroy of News-Spain decides to send an embassy to Japan in the person of the famous explorer Sebastián Vizcaíno. Vizcaíno has also mission of returning the 4 000 ducats and to seek the “money and gold Islands”. supposed to be in the East of Japan. It leaves for Japan the March 22nd 1611, and after another shipwreck, returns in 1613 on board Japanese galleon San Juan Bautista with the first Japanese official embassy bound for Americas and the Europe, led by Tsunenaga Hasekura.

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