The God Culture Philippines Biblical History Library

“If the junk don’t fit… you must acquit.
Ryukyu? Not guilty.
Only the Philippines coalesces: Ophir. Lequios. Home.”
—The Smoking Quill Series

📜 What Fernão Mendes Pinto Actually Described

In Peregrinação (~1558), Portuguese explorer Fernão Mendes Pinto described encountering ships belonging to the “Lequios.” These were no ordinary vessels. According to his detailed account, they were:

• Extraordinarily large and ocean-capable

• Constructed with double-thick planks

• Fastened with iron bolts—not wooden pegs

• Equipped with multiple masts and deck levels

• Outfitted with superior rigging, anchors, and sails

• More formidable than Chinese junks

• Crewed by heavily armed warrior-navigators

He unmistakably portrays these ships as warlike, seafaring, and sovereign—a description that doesn’t just suggest a trading culture, but a maritime power.

🚫 What Ryukyuan Ships Were Actually Like

Pinto’s Lequios Ships: Large, multi-deck, ocean-faring

🚫 Ryukyuan Junk-Type Ships: Small to mid-sized, regional ships

Pinto’s Lequios Ships: Iron bolts and strong hulls

🚫  Ryukyuan Junk-Type Ships: Light construction, no record of iron bolts

Pinto’s Lequios Ships: Militarized, crewed by warrior-seamen

🚫 Ryukyuan Junk-Type Ships: Peaceful, diplomatic crews on tribute missions

Pinto’s Lequios Ships: More formidable than Chinese junks

🚫 Ryukyuan Junk-Type Ships: Based on Chinese design but smaller and weaker

Pinto’s Lequios Ships: Combined trade and defense capability

🚫 Ryukyuan Junk-Type Ships: Built for tribute and diplomacy, not for battle

Ryukyu's historical fleet was functional for short-distance diplomacy between China, Japan, and Korea—but it was not built for dominance. It lacked both the scale and the armament Pinto describes. Then, what does fit?

🧭 The Real Match? Pre-Hispanic Philippines

Pinto’s ships find their best match in Philippine maritime tradition, particularly:

• The Karakoa – A long-range, multi-oared warship with raised deck platforms and armed warriors. This is mentioned by several Spanish chroniclers including Pigafetta's mention of giant Junk Ships which were as large as the Spanish. 

• The Balangay – A plank-on-plank vessel, riveted and joined with iron nails (documented in Butuan as long as 80' and dated as early as 320 A.D.).

• Vessels described by Spanish chroniclers as carrying soldiers, traders, and emissaries. (several accounts)

And notably, these ships were not ceremonial. They were used in real warfare, inter-island raids, and long-distance trade—a match to the “warlike Lequios” in Pinto’s account and archaeology and history well support this.

[Read our full chapter on Ancient Ships: King Solomon and Ophir in The Search for King Solomon's Treasure free in eBook in English, Tagalog, and Ilokano.]

🧠 Conclusion: Ryukyu Was Never That

Pinto wasn’t describing Ryukyu. He was describing:

• A maritime warrior-trader culture.

• A region known for gold, long-range navigation, and seafaring power.

• A civilization with sovereign shipbuilding traditions.

That matches Luzon, not Okinawa. The Lequios of Pinto’s narrative were clearly Filipino, and his testimony becomes one more smoking quill in the ash heap of colonial misdirection.

🔥 Bottom Line:

Pinto’s Lequios were the maritime Filipinos of Luzon—not the pacifist tributaries of Ryukyu.
The evidence doesn’t float in Okinawa. It sails home to the Philippines.