The Organization of the Maestranza de San Blas and the Role of Its Artisans in Alta California
- The Organization of the Maestranza de San Blas and the Role of Its Artisans in Alta California
The colonization of Alta California might never have been effected had it not been for the Marine Department of San Blas. The department was established by José de Gálvez the year before the first settlements of San Diego and Monterey were founded, not only for the purpose of protecting the Gulf of California and the Manila Galleon from piracy and foreign incursion, but also as the administrative point between Mexico and the new colonies to be established and as a point of departure for future expeditions to the North Pacific coast. San Blas provided the ships San Carlos and San Antonio that carried supplies and some personnel to meet the overland expeditions at San Diego in 1769. Thereafter, its ships were to keep the growing colonies supplied with vital goods through annual shipments. The involvement of the department and its marine personnel in the history of California was far more intensive than has been realized generally, however.
In order to understand the interwoven histories of New Spain’s Pacific province and the Marine Department an outline of the organization of San Blas—with emphasis on the shipyard and its personnel—is necessary. Supreme authority was vested in the comandante de apostadero, who oversaw both military and civilian branches, including the naval department of ship commanders and pilots who met regularly with him to plan expeditions, naval construction, ship repair, mapping, and such matters.1 The military branch, headed by the naval, or port, commander, consisted of six sub-departments. The first and second were corps of soldiers and artillerymen responsible for the defense of San Blas and Tepic. The third was the cuerpo de maestranza, made up of civilian artisans engaged in shipbuilding, which could also be mustered out as a land [End Page 818]
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Plan for the town of San Blas from CA, Vol. 67. Two slightly different scaled plans are depicted in this copy, to which I have added identifications to important buildings. With the possible exceptions of the two unidentified houses in the church block, others were houses for the town population. One plat shows an unbroken wall along the northeast side of the church to the end of the block and an opposing wall along the southeast side ending short of the priest’s house. The accompanying information indicates that the size of the proposed church was reduced from 223 varas (63.89 feet) in width by 40 varas (111.11 feet) in length to 10 varas (27.78 feet) in width to better accord with the population. The two plats also differ in that one depicts only a street-facing wall before the church and the two unidentified houses at the northeast end of the block.
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garrison in case of emergency. Next was the fleet itself, whose size varied over time. It consisted of frigates, galiots, and packet boats that provisioned the Californias and the Philippines, plus smaller craft to operate the port and load cargo. A corps of chaplains who served aboard vessels and met the needs of the resident population constituted the fifth division. A medical corps completed the military branch.
The civilian branch, composed of administrative offices, was headed by a comisario. A customs office controlled merchandise en route to the Californias or that from Peru or the Philippines destined for the interior. A licensing department was in charge of pearl fishers and was responsible for the collection of the king’s quinto, or fifth. The office of situados handled payrolls for presidial garrisons and missionaries’ stipends issued in Mexico City. Salaries were partly paid in merchandise ordered by the recipients and handled in the capital by an habilitado, or agent who bought goods and sent them via mule pack to San Blas for shipment to the frontiers. A last department administered the regional salt beds and tobacco plantations that were Crown monopolies.
It is the cuerpo de maestranza, its hierarchy and composition, that bears directly on this study. Four years following the initial colonization effort in Alta California...
