Chapter 1205 - Spoils

The cargo manifests from both ships had already been translated. According to the lists, besides the 230,000 pesos in royal subsidy, there was another 60,000 pesos in private funds. However, the Grand Library's analysis suggested that silver smuggling on the Manila Galleons was rampant during this period—officials and notables of New Spain were exporting vast quantities of American silver to Manila to purchase Chinese goods for resale back in the Americas.

The inventory confirmed their initial estimates were accurate. Besides the 310,000 pesos listed in the manifests, items registered as "miscellaneous goods" but actually containing silver coins amounted to 124,000 pesos in private funds. Silver coins alone thus totaled 410,000 pesos.

Additionally, there were 311 silver bars, each weighing one Spanish arroba. A portion bore mint stamps; others had none.

One Spanish arroba equaled 11.5 kilograms—3.5 tonnes in total. However, Yan Maoda—specifically recalled from Guangzhou to assess this trove, a former jewelry company manager—examined the lot and concluded the silver bars varied substantially in purity. The best were approximately 85% pure. Stamps indicated most came from New Spain's Zacatecas and Guanajuato mines. Bars stamped with Potosí and other Peruvian mines were generally lower grade, ranging from 60% to 70%.

A portion of unstamped bars varied even more—some as high as 90%, others below 60%.

"If the purity is low, what's the rest made of?" Sun Xiao asked.

"Mostly lead—the stuff has a natural affinity for silver and looks nearly identical, so it's often used as filler. There's probably some copper and gold too—byproducts from the ore that remain when refining isn't thorough."

"I thought it was pure silver." Sun Xiao was somewhat disappointed.

"Impossible. Even the best Spanish peso is only 84% pure. If we were to mint our own coins, there'd be no need to exceed that purity." Yan Maoda picked up a coin. "Also, you'll notice variation among the coins themselves. This is a New Spain-minted peso—84% pure. This one is from Peru—maybe 60% to 70% at most. If you weigh them, you can feel the Peruvian ones are lighter."

"So to mint coins, we'd have to remelt everything?"

"Exactly. These coins and bars vary widely in composition—they'd have to be refined into uniform coin stock first."

"Let me see the rest," Yan Maoda said.

Gold was less plentiful but varied widely in type—Spanish, Portuguese, and various other European origins. The two ships yielded over 3,400 gold coins of varying fineness, weights, and sizes. They'd also captured 35 gold bars, each one-quarter of a Spanish arroba—about one hundred kilograms total. Purity was approximately 80%.

Though the purity wasn't high, this still represented a significant haul of gold. Using the old-timeline nineteenth-century gold-standard pound sterling's 7.9 grams of pure gold per pound as a baseline, this could serve as reserve for issuing about ten thousand pounds.

"The jewelry is harder to value." Yan Maoda said. "Apart from gold chains, nearly everything is set with gemstones and pearls. The weight alone represents considerable material value. The workmanship isn't bad either—craftsmanship costs extra. Melting it down seems wasteful; selling it directly as artwork would be more profitable. The problem is these pieces have no market in the Ming. I suggest we hand them to the Portuguese or Dutch to liquidate. The gold chains can just be melted down."

Among the captured gems, emeralds were most numerous—eighty stones. Emeralds were the most abundant gemstones from Spanish America. Despite rough cutting, Yan Maoda estimated their value was substantial, and modern recuts could increase it further. Other stones—rubies, garnets, opals, sapphires, and diamonds—were present in smaller quantities. There was also 1.5 liters' worth of assorted Caribbean sea pearls.

"These saltwater pearls could fetch a fortune." Yan Maoda donned gloves and carefully held up a blue saltwater pearl the size of a little finger. "Take this to Beijing and it'd sell for at least eight hundred to a thousand taels of silver—though finding a buyer for something like this is difficult. Very few can afford such things."

All precious metals and gems were logged, sorted, and locked into special boxes. Sun Xiao estimated the total value of precious metals and gems from Operation Hunger at 800,000 pesos.

As for other cargo, the variety was immense. The largest consignments were bales of cotton and huge coils of extraordinarily tough cord. Sun Xiao consulted the Grand Library and learned the cord was maguey fiber. The Philippine colonial government imported American cotton for sailcloth production and maguey fiber for caulking—both for shipbuilding and repair.

Next in quantity were hides—mainly cattle and sheep, over ten thousand pieces. Beyond hides, other bulk goods included cochineal—the insect-derived material was an excellent red dye—and several hundred barrels of Cuban tobacco. There were also several hundred bags of some strange tuber with a tongue-twisting Spanish name: sarsaparrilla. Listed in the cargo manifest as "medicine," the Grand Library discovered it was an American specialty then believed to be a panacea for numerous ailments.

The luxurious garments of silk and wool packed in hide-reinforced crates, along with complete sets of silverware, were obviously the personal baggage of the important passengers. If the Senate ultimately permitted the prisoners to be ransomed, their luggage could also be redeemed. So for now, these items were merely inventoried and resealed rather than added to the warehouse manifest.

But the most surprising cargo Sun Xiao found was in the hold—packed in sealed ceramic jars: two hundred vessels of mercury, each holding one-quarter fanega, or 13.75 liters. The stamps indicated the mercury came from Peru's Huancavelica mine.

Mercury's primary use in this era was silver refining. Why would the Philippines need so much mercury? Were they planning to develop silver mines?

Sun Xiao didn't know whether the Philippines had silver deposits, but the presence of so much mercury on the Manila Galleon was highly unusual. He immediately reported this intelligence to the Executive Committee.

This information alone didn't prove anything—the Philippines had always imported mercury from China. But the scale of this shipment was abnormal. The Executive Committee passed the matter to the Foreign Intelligence Bureau, tasking them with investigation.

After the inventory was complete, the two Spanish galleons were towed to Bopu Shipyard for comprehensive overhaul. The cannons, remaining masts, sails, and rigging had all been removed. Everything would be assessed for modification and reuse.

The cannons went straight to the smelter—the sixty-five bronze guns from the two ships delighted the metallurgy and materials departments. "This is exactly the quality bronze we've been lacking!"

The galleon was an extremely sturdy vessel. The hulls were entirely oak, with planking up to eleven inches thick at the thickest points, and ribs substantially stouter and more closely spaced than on ordinary ships—no wonder the Spanish used them to cross oceans carrying gold and silver.

After consulting the ship registry and on-site surveys, the San Luis had a registered capacity of 800 gross tons and a displacement of 1,450 tons. The San Raimundo was slightly smaller at 650 registered tons and approximately 1,200 tons displacement.

After inspecting them, Wen Desi believed both ships could be refitted for continued use—their burden capacity approached the H800 class. Though their hull lines were somewhat inferior and their speed slow, they were rugged and durable. With steam-power conversion, they'd make excellent transports.

"Actually, with ships this size, even without steam engines and with enough guns, they could dominate the South China Sea," Chen Haiyang remarked after his inspection. "The problem is we don't have enough sailors to crew them."

"If only we could use the Spanish prisoners." Qian Shuiting shook his head regretfully. This was first and foremost "politically incorrect," and second, there were obvious reliability concerns.

"I think employing Europeans in non-military shipping enterprises wouldn't be unreasonable—we lack qualified senior officers after all." Chen Haiyang said. "At minimum, their seamanship far surpasses most of our naturalized local captains—the mere ability to cross the Pacific and Atlantic puts them leagues ahead of most captains in our navy and shipping lines now."

The Navy issued captain certificates at three levels for naval and maritime enterprises: Class A—proficient with navigational instruments, capable of oceanic crossing using charts; Class B—capable of using navigational instruments, familiar with traditional Chinese ocean routes, able to sail to Japan, Thailand, Manila, and Batavia; Class C—familiar with Chinese coastal routes, able to navigate from Hainan to Tianjin.

Most of the transmigrators' captains—former pirates and fishermen—held Class B or C certificates. Only a handful of steam warship captains held Class A—all without exception graduates of Fangcaodi's naval cadet program.

"Reliability, reliability." Qian Shuiting said. "You know that in this era, sailors on ocean-going vessels are basically human scum incarnate?"

"That's true, but perhaps we could try senior officers—I recall reading that back then these officers weren't well paid, and many didn't serve their own countries. They'd work for whoever paid—Italian sailors worked for everyone. Columbus himself was Italian, after all."

(End of Chapter)