Japanese warship San Buena Ventura
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San Buena Ventura was a 120-ton ship built in Japan under the direction of the English navigator and adventurer
On 30 September 1609, the Spanish galleon San Francisco with a crew of 373 was wrecked on the coast of
Ieyasu expressed his desire to expand trade with New Spain (Mexico) and Spain. Rodrigo de Vivero answered that he could readily organize trade on a scale surpassing that of the Dutch, the main rivals of Spain in Asia at the time. He also offered to send to Japan 50 experts in silver mining from Mexico. In exchange, he asked for the protection of Spanish priests in Japan, support for shipwrecked boats on the Japanese coasts, and the expulsion of Dutch merchants from Japan, the last request being rejected by Ieyasu.
In order for the Spanish to return to Mexico, Ieyasu lent them William Adams's ship,
The viceroy of Nueva España decided to send an embassy to Japan in the person of the famous explorer Sebastián Vizcaíno. Vizcaino also had a mission to return the 4,000 ducados and to research "gold and silver islands", supposedly to the east of Japan. He left for Japan on 22 March 1611, and after another shipwreck eventually returned in 1613 on board the Japanese-built galleon San Juan Bautista with the first official Japanese embassy to the Americas and Europe, led by Hasekura Tsunenaga.