Source: Amy Notes (ID702)
Author: Howard, Amy (ID633)
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this can be another money-maker for Juan Ignacio, or perhaps Mend gets denied the opportunity becaus
this can be another money-maker for Juan Ignacio, or perhaps Mend gets denied the opportunity because he can?t be trusted to come home.
Cross references
SA's treasury officials monitored harbor activity
Date Created: 2023-10-12 20:56:17
Source: The King?s Coffer (ID 83)
Author: Bushnell, Amy (ID 32)
Content_id: 3016
The treasury officials were a committee of harbor masters, registering the comings and goings of people as well as ships. It was their duty to see that no one entered the provinces without the correct papers, or left without the governor’s consent and their own fiscal release. Impetuous young Pedro de Valdes, betrothed to Menendez’s daughter Ana AN136, was probably the only person ever to stow away for Florida, but convicts, soldiers, and even friars tried to escape. The presidio’s ships had to be manned by Indians and mixed-bloods who could be relied upon to return home. [Note 8: Gov. Marques Cabrera orders to Antonio Matheos 2/28/1687, enclosed with report on Espiritu Santo Bay; Gov. Mendez de Canzo to Vincente Gonzales 3/1/1598 in service record of Hernando de Mestas; cedula to Bartolome de Arguelles 8/18/1593; Gov. Marques Cabrera 5/5/1682] AN137 When the royal officials first began collecting harbor taxes, they recognized the need of a customs constable and inspector (alquacil y fiel ejecutor de la aduana) to record what was loaded and unloaded from ships. Otherwise they had to take turns at the customs house themselves, which Alonso Sanchez Saez, at least, was unwilling to do. [Note 9: He had to be kept there under guard. See Gov. Ybarra 2/5/1605 and 12/23/1605] The crown approved the new position in 1603, with a 25,000-maravedi bonus and no doubt a percentage of goods confiscated. [Note 10: Cedula to the chief constable, other constables and justices, etc. 4/19/1583; Gov. Quiroga y Losada and the royal officials 5/8/1689] The governor appointed as first constable Lucas de Soto, a better sort of soldier sentenced to serve four years in Florida for trying to desert to New Spain from Cuba. By 1608 De Soto was in Spain with dispatches, receiving the salary of customs constable but not doing the work. In 1630 the crown approved a position of chief guard (guardamayor) for all ports, to be chosen by the treasury officials and to select his own assistants. In St. Augustine he was paid a respectable salary of 250 ducats. The royal officials soon objected that the governor appointed all the guards and was thus able to unload ships by night or however he pleased without paying taxes; the customs constable was no more than his servant and secretary. In response to their letter the officials were assigned patronage of the constable’s post as well. Within 10 years they too were letting him serve by proxy. [Note 11: Royal officials 1/12/1608; Gov. Ybarra 2/5/1605; Juan Menendez Marquez, Alonso de las Alas, and Alonso Sanchez Saez 3/12/1608; Recop 10/11/1630; Nicolas Ponce de Leon and Francisco Menendez Marquez, seen in council 10/17/1631; Gov. Quiroga y Losada and the royal officials 5/8/1689; Juan Diez de la Calle, Madrid 1646] (Bushnell KC)