Spain’s Battle of Brunei Bay, 1521–pt.I
Retelling Magellan’s Southeast Asia
500 years ago on July 29th, 1521, Magellan’s survivors in a Spanish armada reduced to 2 ships were engaged with 2 fleets of the Brunei Empire of the island Borneo. The following short story retells those events based on firsthand accounts and contextual archaeological data of the era.
Additional notes on sources and broader connections follow after the narrative.
This is the first of a 2-part chapter.
Juan of Acurio leaned over the quarterdeck rail of La Victoria as it turned downriver. Back upriver he saw La Trinidad leaning to one side. It was moving too slowly. Beyond the familiar ship, a swarm of other ships was pouring out of the city on the water. Some were as small as canoes and others were larger with tall bows and sterns like longboats. Many of the vessels had outriggers extending to either side. At such a distance Acurio could discern men sitting on the outriggers with oars, and others standing in the hull. Spearheads glinted in the sunlight above their heads.
“ACURIO!” Ship Master Miguel yelled to him from the stern deck above. “CUANTOS BARCOS?” — How many ships?
Acurio glanced up at his commanding officer for a moment. Then he tried to discern the approaching fleet’s formation. The smaller tunghuli and bangka canoes were scattered around the prao longboats. He looked to the left side of the formation towards the south side of the river and began to count the large praos.
He mumbled to himself in Castilian, “ Quinze… Trenta…”
Then he was distracted by La Nao Trinidad as an anchorline slipped out from it and fell loose into the water. The ship rocked upright again and picked up speed. Hopefully it would match pace with La Victoria.
~~~~~~~~~~
Mabilis smelled something sharp and sickly. Leaning against the center mast of Ake’s jyong ship, the young Tagalog warrior looked down at the men crouched over the ship’s armaments. The small lantaka were laid out on rice mats against the deck. They were bronze tubes worked with the faces of naga sea monsters on one end and a ridged spine running down the top. The men were working over them with rags soaked in something dark: the source of the odor.
“Ano yan?” Mabilis asked. What’s that? Salam of Makassar was standing a few feet away looking at something out on the river. The navigator turned to see what Mabilis was asking about.
“They’re using oil to clean out the barrel. The black powder leaves some soot behind after it’s been ignited.”
Mabilis was still staring down a wrinkled nose, annoyed at the smell.
“…Do you know what happens when the kecil gets too dirty?” Salam asked.
Mabilis shrugged. “It doesn’t shoot straight?”
Salam took a quiet step forward and then clapped in front of Mabilis’ face.
“HOY!” The swordbearer jerked away and pulled the sword and scabbard in their belt halfway out.
“It explodes!” Salam said with a chuckle as soon as Mabilis glared back.
Mabilis frowned, slid the scabbard back into place, and straightened their cotton shirt and silk belt. “Ake-po hardly used these ones anyway…”
Salam sighed, “We used them enough, Mabilis… and anyway it helps to clean them often.”
Over Salam’s shoulder, two vessels up the river caught Mabilis’ attention. “Those ships have a lot of sails.” The warrior’s lips pursed and pointed. The ships had black hulls beneath a web of white sails. In the center each sail was a design of red lines intersecting.
Salam turned to look. “Ah yes… And they are moving now. I thought so…” Then Salam called over to someone else on deck: another local of these islands in the south like Salam. They exchanged a few words in language that Mabilis couldn’t quite understand. Mostly in Malay.
“Farangi… Those ships are from the same people who stole Malacca from Sultan Mahmud Syah. At least that style of ship…” Salam stared at the Black Ships. Mabilis watched the wind ruffling Salam’s deep red silk shirt. And a matching head covering was wrapped tight against the man’s scalp.
“You know so many things, Salam…” the young swordbearer said.
“I’ve just seen so many things,” Salam said with a light smile. And then, “Hoy, you see those perahu coming from Kampong Ayer?”
Mabilis squinted and leaned forward but couldn’t see them. Water City was too far beyond the Farangi ships to be discernible. Even Salam’s eyesight as a seafarer was enviable.
“That must be our Raya-Matu’s welcome party and reinforcements — I’ll go inside and inform them…” Salam turned and began to walk toward the hatch while the Tagalog continued to stare upriver with strained eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Cinquenta… sesenta…”
Acurio glanced up at La Victoria’s rigging above him. Most of the sails were loose and puffing with the wind. And men were clutching the yard arms looking forward and aft quietly. Nervously. Wind pulled at Acurio’s linen shirt. The echoing sound of gongs was still blowing over the water from upstream.
“Ochenta y cinco,” he counted further, looking far behind the two nao ships again. “…Ochenta y…”
Eighty-Six. — That was the southern squadron. Far to the right of it was another squadron near the north shore, and a third squadron in-between them.
“Doscientos sesenta…” he said out loud. Then he called up to the stern deck, “MAESTRO!” Miguel’s head popped over the rail above. He shouted through the wind and drums, “TWO-HUNDRED AND SIXTY PRAOS! WITH AS MANY CANOES!”
Master Miguel stared down at Juan Acurio with eyes wide and still. He didn’t turn around to look at the pursuers again. Then, rather than turning to look at the pursuers behind, he turned halfway around and looked toward the north shore. Acurio followed his gaze and saw near the top of the great slope the Sultan’s stone fort …armed with fifty-six cannons. Master Miguel of Rhodes looked forward again and yelled,
“CARGA MORTEROS!” And the gunners moved to load the mortars.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Wait, Salam…” Mabilis asked. The navigator had been walking calmly, as always, and was still just a few steps away. “What’s going to happen to our captives? Will they all just be sold or…”
Salam’s eyes softened sympathetically. The man sighed and glanced to the side while stepping toward Mabilis again. In a soft voice Salam answered, “The debt-slaves will of course be sold again… they may find peaceful work here in the Sultanate if they’re lucky.”
“Or…?” Mabilis tried to sound unconcerned.
“Or peaceful work in another Sultanate,” Salam shrugged with a smile. “The royal servants might be taken on as royal servants again, if they present themselves well.”
“I think one of them is a Babaylan.” Mabilis said, a bit too nervously perhaps.
Salam’s head tilted, looking as if the word were something new to the man, if that were possible.
“ — A wisewoman, I mean. In Maynila that’s what we call them. I don’t know what they call them here…”
Salam’s face slackened again with the hint of a sigh. Mabilis knew that expression to mean an unpleasant lesson was coming. “That one…” Salam looked into the Tagalog’s eyes after pondering for a moment “…that one is certainly well-mannered enough that they’ll probably be taken as a royal servant. Regardless of what they used to do… it may be a good place for them…”
Mabilis raised a hand to their chest absentmindedly and gazed out to the water. Salam glanced at the hand for a moment, then offered kindly,
“Actually, Raya-Matu might give them to Sultan’s daughter when they marry. As a royal handmaid they might even continue their practice openly…”
The Tagalog felt self-conscious on realizing that their hand had been caressing the agimat hanging from their neck. A spiritual amulet.
Something loud shook the air.
Mabilis dropped to one knee against the deck, left hand clutching the sheathed shortsword and right hand gripping the agimat. Then they both turned to look toward the meriam kecil laid out. The weapons were the same as before: unmounted and disassembled. And there was no black powder to be seen.
Something crashed against the water. It sprayed river water onto the deck. Still crouched, Mabilis peered over the rail. A puff of dark smoke was rising from the black Farangi hull across its white sails. The ship was much nearer now than before and it was still coming directly toward Ake’s Armada of Borneo. And its twin ship was right alongside it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mabilis hastily grabbed Salam by the shoulder and turned to speak. But Salam looked Mabilis straight in the eyes. The navigator placed their right hand on the back of the warrior’s head and exhaled softly.
At that, Mabilis felt a moment of quiet amid the clamor. They both let go and stepped apart. Salam walked with a steady gait to the hatch. Mabilis scrambled to the nearest chest of javelins. Other warriors were already arming themselves as well. More blasts from the Farangi ships were rumbling across the water and reverberating against the shorelines. Sailors were shouting and running to set the sail and raise the anchor. The meriam kecil lay useless as the workers awkwardly gathered their tools to keep them from getting kicked about.
Heavy splashes were bursting all around the ship. One shot finally struck near the bow. It cracked straight through the deck and hopefully not through the hull. Mabilis felt the deck rumble beneath their feet, then recovered and pushed between the other warriors crowded against the rail.
The Farangi vessels were even closer and the jyong was just now turning to flee. The rest of the Armada of Borneo was also mobilizing, scattering in every direction for lack of orders. Something flashed from the prows of the Black Ships. Stones little larger than fists whistled over the river. Mabilis watched one fly overhead and heard another smack the side of the jyong.
“ANO BA!?” Raya-Matu shouted across the deck, having finally come out of the cabin.
“NASAAN ANG MGA LANTAKA??” They demanded to know where the cannons were. On seeing them laid out entirely unready for use, the Crown Prince of Maynila, now Lord-Admiral of Brunei cursed, “ANAK NG UNGGOY!” And then looked out toward the enemy. Everyone turned their heads at the sound of wood rattling and ropes slipping. At the side of one of the Farangi ships, a smaller boat dropped and slapped against the water. Inside it were men with metal armor on their chests and heads. Another boat followed on the other side of the ship and two more from the other ship.
Mabilis gripped a javelin tightly in one hand. Then realized awkwardly that there should be more javelins in their offhand to throw after. The youth spun and ran back to the chest. When they returned to position the others were already lobbing their weapons. Mabilis ran up, spotted a boat approaching and threw a javelin wildly into the air. It flew high and fell into the water on the other side of the boat — too far. Other warrior’s javelins did find their marks, but the Farangi blocked them with bright round shields of steel.
Mabilis locked eyes on the approaching attackers and heard Raya-Matu Ake shout an order to head for the shore. The jyong was already moving and began to turn slightly to obey the order. But it hadn’t yet picked up much speed. Mabilis threw another javelin but as he watched it fly he noticed one of the steel shields drop suddenly. Another man behind it was holding something in two hands. A small dark blur zipped out of it and struck a fellow Tagalog next to Mabilis, knocking the man backwards off their feet. Out of their chest stuck the feathered end of a short, thick arrow.
The Farangi lantaka had stopped firing now that the boarding parties were so close. The defenders were picking up tall hardwood shields painted black and readying swords or spears. Mabilis threw one last javelin and was embarrassed to realize their throwing-hand was trembling. It struck uselessly against the shield of an enemy, who was close enough to then lower the shield and glare back with death in their bright eyes.
Ake’s army began to chant battlecries as Mabilis drew the shortsword from Ryukyu out of its scabbard. The warriors around Mabilis were a mix of high-class datu, privileged timawa and maharlika, and lowly gintubo like Mabilis. The wealthy had long one-handed kampilan swords; the others had at least a bolo bladed tool or a fire-hardened spear with an iron head. Now they all were united in battle-song.
“MABUHAY AKE,” Mabilis heard these words rise among the chaos of voices and joined in. One’s own voice was like one more bucket poured into a flood, but one’s lungs felt their own roar, even if one’s ears couldn’t hear it. “MABUHAY AKE!” and then “MABUHAY MAYNILA!” Long live Ake, long live Manila!
Accounts of the conflict are limited to the European side. They say little more than this: that the Spanish ships engaged with cannons and boarding parties (via the boats) and that the junks were each captured or run aground. Accounts differ on how many junks were present but are relatively consistent on how many prahu and bangka were present.
Other records of maritime SE Asia and archaeological finds reveal the designs of junks, prahus, and “lantaka” cannons present in maritime SEA in the early 16th century. Brunei was a wealthy and prevalent power known to possess formidable military numbers, resources, and technology.
Even today’s Sultan of Brunei is among the wealthiest and longest-ruling monarchs of the world. He is partly named after Sultan Bolkiah of Magellan’s time, as Bolkiah ruled in Brunei’s self-proclaimed Golden Age.
Jyong, usually spelled adyong in Tagalog. According to Etymonline, which pulls from a dearth of historical encyclopedias and dictionaries:
junk (n.2)
“large, seagoing Chinese sailing ship,” 1610s, from Portuguese junco, from Malay (Austronesian) jong “ship, large boat” (13c.), probably from Javanese djong. In English 16c. as giunche, iunco.
Lantaka is a Southeast Asian word for cannon; sometimes used to distinguish SE Asian cannon from other types.
Meriam Kecil = literally “little cannon” in Malay and Indonesian
Pronounced [mirry-em ket-chil]
Nao = Spanish 3- or 4-masted ship; called carrack in English
Prao= Paraw = Prao = Perahu = Prahu
Southeast Asian warship known to Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei
