But on February 12, 1542, the crown officers, including Castellanos,
reported that _the emperor's order to suspend work on the fort of San
German had been obeyed_.
In February, 1543, the bishop wrote to the emperor: "The people of San
German, for fear of the French privateers, have taken their families
and property into the woods. If there were a fort they would not be
so timid nor would the place be so depopulated."
As late as September, 1548, he reported: "I came here from la Espanola
in the beginning of the year to visit my diocese. I disembarked in San
German with an order from the Audiencia to convoke the inhabitants,
and found that there were a few over 30, who lived half a league from
the port for fear of the privateers. They don't abandon the important
place, but there ought to be a fort."
But the prelate pleaded in vain.
Charles V, occupied in opposing the French king's five armies, could
not be expected to give much attention to the affairs of an
insignificant island in a remote corner of his vast dominions. Puerto
Rico was left to take care of itself, and San German's last hour
struck on Palm Sunday, 1554, when 3 French ships entered the port of
Guadianilla, landed a detachment of men who penetrated a league
inland, plundering and destroying whatever they could. From that day
San German, the settlement founded by Miguel del Toro in 1512,
disappeared from the face of the land.
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