That year the Englishman [_sic_] Oliverio de Noort came in sight of Manila with war vessels, in order to await those ships which were expected from Nueva España. Therefore it was judged advisable to drive him away. Doctor Antonio de Morga, auditor and lieutenant-general of Governor Don Francisco Tello, sailed to attack him. He took one moderate-sized ship, another of less size, one patache, and one galliot, with one hundred Spaniards in each boat. He attacked the pirate, and the flagship, having been conquered, was set afire. Thereupon that of España cast off its grappling-irons, but was so hardly used that it immediately sank. Some of the men escaped in the small boat, and Doctor Morga reached an island by swimming; while the ship was lost, with the rest of the soldiers. The other ship conquered the English almiranta, and took it to Manila. It was an important capture, but very costly. In the year 601, the galleon "Santo Tomas" en route from Nueva España, under command of Licentiate Don Antonio de Ribera Maldonado (who had been appointed to the post of auditor), having been blown by a storm to the Embocadero of Capul and the bay of Catamban, was driven ashore and was wrecked. However, the men and most of the cargo were saved. The latter was taken to Manila overland and by sea, a distance of eighty leguas. In the year 602, Captain Juan Xuarez Gallinato went out in a fleet to attack the Mindanaos, who were infesting the coast of Manila. Although he inflicted some punishment upon them, the cost was greater than the remedy. That year the ship "Espiritu Santo," en route to Acapulco, after it had cast out all its cargo because of the gales that it encountered, put in at Japon, where it was in danger of receiving the same treatment as had been given to the ship "San Felipe." It was saved from that by the watchfulness of Don Lope de Ulloa y Lemos, its commander. The ship "Jesus Maria," with a like loss, put in at the islands of the Ladrones; and, at the end of five months of navigation, both ships returned to Manila, almost without crew and without cargo. In the year 603, on the eve of St. Philip and St. James, some houses caught fire; and although many of the edifices were now of stone, the fire leaped to others which were built of wood, and so many were burned that the loss was estimated at more than one million. That year was one of misfortunes for Manila. The Mindanaos sailed out on a marauding expedition, and went in sight of Manila, pillaging and burning some villages, and taking some Spaniards captive. It was necessary to send a fleet against them, under command of Gaspar Perez, who made them retire.