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Comment by nerdponx | Hacker News Reader

Cool article. This was one time when I actually wish the article was slightly longer. I came away with only the vaguest sense of what made the return trip more difficult. Who were the "enemies" in question?

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Your wish is granted! There are four chapters.

https://multimedia.scmp.com/culture/article/spanish-galleon/...

As for the "enemies," they were little more than pirates, brigands, and otherwise despondent vagrants looking for a bit of self-help justice (helping themselves to the spoils of thievery and robbery.)

ya, the navigation on the static footer of the page is really ineffective, as it difficult to see in an desktop browser. It should have been part of the page content or styled with much more contrast or something to make it more obvious.

Thanks a lot for the links! I was looking for them last time but never found it :(

Here some narrative on a privateer prowling the California coast at end of the China trade route period. http://factcards.califa.org/ran/elrefugio.html

A notable known one is Sir Francis Drake. He crossed into the pacific in 1578, took two treasure ships (among other, less important vessels carrying more mundane cargo), and returned in 1580. As a privateer, he surrendered half of his proceeds to the Queen. This half was worth more than all the other revenues of the Crown of England for that year.

England and Spain were not officially at war at the time.

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