(MEXICO.) Cermeño, Sebastian Rodríguez. Contract for goods with Acapulco merchant. 3 manuscript leaves, each about 12 x 8 1/2 inches, signed by Francisco de Cabrera and Sebastián Rodríguez Cermeño; water damage on fore-edges with substantial loss of text, moderate wear on other edges; leaves numbered 33 through 35 in manuscript. México, 6 February 1586
Sebastián Rodríguez Cermeño (circa 1560-1602) was a mariner in the service of the united Spanish-Portuguese crown, also known by his Portuguese name Sebastião Rodrigues Soromenho. He first came to historical notice as pilot on this voyage of the Santa Ana from Acapulco to Manila in 1586. Here he contracts with Acapulco merchant Francisco de Cabrera, who gave him 1000 pesos to purchase Manila goods, agreeing to pay a 25% commission on profits. The Santa Ana reached Manila successfully, and set out for the return voyage to Acapulco with a rich cargo. However, they were attacked off Cabo San Lucas by the English privateer Sir Thomas Cavendish, who made off with all goods and stranded most of the crew on the desolate coast, keeping Cermeño and a few others to help him navigate across the Pacific. In 1595 Cermeño would command another Manila galleon, the San Agustín, which explored the Alta California coast on its return voyage and was wrecked north of San Francisco with loss of all cargo. We know of no other Cermeño documents at auction, nor any other similar contracts for the early Manila galleons. See Mathes, "El Galeón de Manila: Un contrato no cumplido de 1586," in Calafia 3 (September 1989), pages 15-18; and the English version, "The Unfulfilled Contract of an Unlucky Galleon Pilot," in Mains'l Haul: A Journal of Pacific Maritime History 38:1-2 (2002), pages 30-35 (a copy is included with the lot), which includes a full English translation of the document.
