Everything about Luis V Ez De Torres totally explained
Luis Váez de Torres (born c. 1565; fl. 1607) was a 16th-17th century
Spanish maritime explorer serving the
Spanish Crown, noted for the first recorded navigation of the
strait which separates the continent of
Australia from the island of
New Guinea, and which now bears his name (
Torres Strait).
Origins and Early Life
The year and place of his birth are unknown; assuming him to have been in his late thirties or forties in 1606, a birth year of around 1565 is considered likely. Accounts attribute his nationality as
Spanish, though Don Diego de Prado y Tovar, a
Spanish nobleman who accompanied Torres, refers to him in his account as a “Breton”. Recently, it has been pointed out that at the time, anyone of Celtic blood was called a Breton in which case it's most likely that he originated from Spain's northwest province of
Galicia.
Nothing is known of Torres's early life, but at some point he entered the naval service of the
Spanish Crown and found his way to its
South American possessions. By late 1605 he first entered the historical record as the nominated commander of the second ship in an expedition to the
Pacific proposed by
Pedro Fernández de Quirós, searching for
Terra Australis.
The Quirós Voyage
Pedro Fernández de Quirós was a Portuguese navigator who commanded a party of three ships,
San Pedro y San Pablo (150 tons),
San Pedro (120 tons) and the tender (
patache)
Los Tres Reyes left
Callao in Spanish
Peru, on
21 December 1605, with Torres in command of the "San Pedro." In May
1606 they reached the islands which
Quirós named
La Austrialia (sic) del Espiritu Santo (now
Vanuatu);
Austrialia being a compliment to the House of Austria, to which the king of Spain belonged.
After six weeks
Quirós’ ships put to sea again to explore the coastline. On the night of June 11, 1606
Quirós in the
San Pedro y San Pablo became separated from the other ships in bad weather and was unable (or so he later said) to return to safe anchorage at
Espiritu Santo. He then sailed to
Acapulco in
Mexico, where he arrived in November 1606. In the account by Prado, which is highly critical of
Quirós, mutiny and poor leadership are given as the reason for
Quirós’ disappearance . Torres remained silent on the subject other than to write his “condition was different to that of Captain Quiros.”
Torres assumes command
Torres remained at Espritu Santo for 15 days before opening sealed orders he'd been given by the Viceroy of
Peru. These contained instructions on what course to follow if the ships became separated and who would be in command in the event of the loss of
Quirós. The orders appear to have listed Prado as successor to
Quirós, as he was
capitan-entretenido (spare captain) on the voyage. However, there's overwhelming evidence Torres remained in command, including Prado’s own account.
The south coast of New Guinea and Torres Strait
In 26 June
1606 the
San Pedro and
Los Tres Reyes under Torres command set sail for
Manila. Contrary winds prevented the ships taking the more direct route along the north coast of
New Guinea. Prado’s account notes that they sighted land on 14 July 1606, which was probably the island of
Tagula in the
Louisiade Archipelago, south east of
New Guinea. The voyage continued over the next two months, a number of landfalls being made to replenish the ships’ food and water and take possession of the land for
Spain. This brought the
Spanish in close and sometimes violent contact with local indigenous people. Prado and Torres both record the capture of twenty people, including a pregnant woman who gave birth several weeks later . Prado drew a number of sketch charts of anchorages in the
Gulf of Papua, several of which survive .
For many years it was assumed that Torres took a route close to the
New Guinea coast to navigate the 150 kilometre strait that now bears his name, but in 1980 the
Queensland historian Captain Brett Hilder demonstrated that it was much more likely that Torres took a southerly route through the channel now called Endeavour Strait. From this position he'd certainly have seen Cape York, the northernmost extremity of
Australia. Whether or not he did so, the ever pragmatic and calm Torres never claimed that he'd sighted the southern continent and simply noted he'd passed through a strait. The expedition proved that
New Guinea wasn't part of the sought after continent.
On 27 October Torres reached the western extremity of
New Guinea and made his way north of
Ceram and
Misool toward the
Halmahera Sea. At the beginning of January 1607 he reached
Ternate, part of the
Spice Islands. He sailed on 1 May for
Manila arriving on 22 May.
Results of the Voyage
Torres intended to personally present the captives, weapons and a detailed account to the king on his return to Spain. His short written account of the voyage indicates this. However, it appears there was no interest in
Manila in outfitting his voyage back to
Spain, and he was told his ships and men were required locally for the king’s service.
On 1 June 1607, two ships arrived in Manila from South America, one being
Queirós former flagship
San Pedro y San Pablo, now under another name, but with some of her former crewmen still aboard. Learning that
Quirós had survived, Torres immediately wrote a report of his voyage to
Quirós. Although that account no longer survives,
Quirós himself referred to it in some of his many memorials to the king, agitating for another voyage.
Torres, his crew and his captives disappear entirely from the historical record at this point, and their subsequent fate is unknown. Prado returned to
Spain, possibly taking one of the captive New Guineans with him. Most documents of Torres's discoveries were not published, but on reaching
Spain, filed away in Spanish archives, including Prado’s lengthy account and the accompanying charts.
Some time between 1762 and 1765, written accounts of the Torres expedition were seen by British Admiralty Hydrographer
Alexander Dalrymple. Dalrymple provided a sketch map which included the Quirós -Torres voyages to
Joseph Banks, who undoubtedly passed this information to
James Cook
Accounts of the voyage
There are a number of documents describing the Quirós – Torres voyages still in existence. Most significant are
- Quirós’ many subsequent Memorials to the King Philip III regarding the voyage and further exploration,
- Torres brief account to the king (written July 1607),
- Prado’s narrative Relacion Sumaria (first written in 1608) and 4 charts of New Guinea
- Juan Luis Arias de Loyola’s memorial to King Philip IV (written about 1630 and based on discussions between Quirós and Loyola)
1617 may be the date of the first English translation of one of
Quirós’ memorials, as
Terra Australis Incognita, or
A New Southerne Discoverie.
A short account of
Quirós’ voyage and discoveries was published in English by Samuel Purchas in 1625 in
Haklvytvs posthumus, or,
Pvrchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv, p. 1422-1432. This account also appears to be based on a letter by
Quirós to the King in 1610, the eighth on the matter.
Further Information
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