as far as the Cañuelo. That night, about 10 o'clock, 25 launches, each
containing from 50 to 60 men, advanced under cover of the darkness and
attacked Tello's frigates. The flames of 3 of the ships, which the
English succeeded in firing, soon lit up the bay and enabled the
artillery of the 3 forts to play with effect among the crowded
launches. The Spaniards on board Tello's ships succeeded in putting
out the fire on board 2 of the ships, the third one was destroyed.
After an hour's hard fighting and the loss by the English, as
estimated by the Spanish chronicler, of 8 or 10 launches and of about
400 men, they withdrew. The Spanish loss that night was 40 killed and
some wounded.

The next day the English fleet stood out to sea again, keeping to
windward of the harbor, which made Tello suspect that they intended to
return under full sail when the wind sprang up and force their way
into the harbor. To prevent this, 2 more ships and a frigate were sunk
across the entrance with all they had on board, there being no time to
unload them.

As expected, the fleet came down at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, but
did not try to force an entrance. It quietly took up the same position
between the Morro and Goat Island, which it had occupied the day
before, and this made the Spaniards think that another night attack on
the 3 remaining frigates was impending. After dark the frigates were
removed to a place of safety within the bay.

The night passed without an alarm. The next day the English launches
were busy all day sounding the bay as far as the Boquerón, taking care
to keep out of range of the artillery on shore. Night came on and when
next morning the sun lit up the western world there was not an enemy