A patache (occasionally "patax" or "pataje") is a type of sailing vessel with two masts, very light and shallow, a sort of cross between a
brig and a
schooner, which originally was a warship, being intended for surveillance and inspection of the coasts and ports.[1] It was used as a tender to the fleet of vessels of more importance or size, and also for trans-Pacific travel, but later began to be used for trading voyages, carrying cargo burdens of 30 tons or more.
History
Pataches were used by the
Spanish Navy (Armada Española) in the 15th–18th centuries mainly for the protection and monitoring of the overseas territories of the
Spanish Empire. Because of their lightness and speed of movement privateers favored them in attacking commercial vessels.[2] Fleets of pataches participated in several historical battles:
The attempted Spanish invasion of
England by the Spanish Armada in 1588.
The
Battle of Ponta Delgada (Battle of Terceira Island) in 1582, between the French and Spanish.
They were part of Spain's Atlantic fleet, the Armada del Mar Océano from about 1700.
Santiago, the smallest vessel in the
Loaísa expedition to the Pacific in 1525–26. After losing sight of her sister ships on 1 June 1526, Santiago sailed north in a 10,000 kilometer voyage along the Pacific coast of South America, Central America and Mexico, becoming the first European vessel to pass within sight of North America's western coastline.[3]
San Lucas, piloted by
Lope Martín and commanded by
Alonso de Arellano, was part of the expedition of
Miguel López de Legazpi to the
Philippines in 1564. It is a matter of some contention whether it was this ship or
Urdaneta's much larger
nao, the San Pedro, that was first to discover the crucial return path (or tornaviaje) across the Pacific from the Philippines to New Spain.
St. Nicholas, a frigate acquired by the
Spanish crown in 1636 from Gabriel Tamaril.
Galgo (Greyhound) and The Margarita, belonging to the Royal Navy Guard of the
Indies run of the Spanish colonial convoy system, were stranded on the island of
Bermuda in 1639.
San Juan and San Pedro (1639), Basque and Flemish pataches, respectively, belonging to
Juana Larando, the corsair widow from Donostia-San Sebastian, pillaged ships off the coast of
France and in the
English Channel.[4]
Buen Jesús, sent by the Spanish crown in 1648 from
Panama to the Spanish colony of the
Philippine Islands to discover if they had fallen into the hands of the
Netherlands.
Santa Cruz, part of the
Tierra Firme Fleet, built in 1698 in the royal
shipyards of
Guayaquil, Ecuador; armed with 44 cannons and a crew of 300 sailors under the command of Nicolas de la Rosa, Count de Vega Florida.
Nuestra Señora del Carmen (Our Lady of Carmen), commanded by Captain Araoz in 1708.
^Hoffman, Paul E. (1980). The Spanish Crown and the Defense of the Caribbean, 1535–1585. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. pp. 67–69.
ISBN0807124273.
^Berguno, Jorge (1990). "The South and Mid-Pacific Voyages". In Hardy, John; Frost, Alan (eds.). European Voyaging towards Australia. Australian Academy of the Humanities. p. 25.
ISBN0909897190.