They have a difficult time of it, however, the bay proving too vast to corner the Englishmen. Having noticed the fleet, on 22 October (at dawn), two frigates from Carthagena engage Drake. On 20 October, the fleet intercept a 58-tonne and a 12-tonne frigate, likewise stranding their crews. On 17 October, Oxenham and the Swan seize a 50-tonne barque, marooning its 10 men and 5 slaves. On 7 October they are once more cruising off Cartagena. John having cemented an alliance with the cimarrones (by 24 September), the company relocate Port Plenty, and spend the next two weeks fortifying it. From this base, (Francis) Drake and company spend the next five or six weeks raiding settlements along the Main (as far east as the Magdalena River), while John Drake endeavours to befriend the Panamanian cimarrones. Shortly thereafter, the crew set up a camp, christened Port Plenty, in the Gulf of San Blas (ie Darien). As his crew was now stretched thin across two ships, three pinnaces, and three Spanish prizes, Drake burns one of the prizes, and scuttles the Swan. This is followed by the seizure of two frigates the next day. That night, the men seize the Pasha, a 240-tonne merchantman. Drake (now with only his 73 men) now sets upon the Spanish Main, sighting Carthagena by the evening of 13 August. While recuperating at Bastimentos, Paunce takes his leave (on 6 August). The fleet hastily retreated to Bastimentos (at dawn, on 30 July). Before the crew could loot the treasury, however, a sudden rainstorm drenched the men's match and gunpowder, and (coincidentally), Drake fainted from loss of blood (having sustained a gunshot during the volley). In the plaza, the Drake detachment are greeted by 'a jolly hot volley of shot,' but they nevertheless eventually scatter the impromptu militia, and thereby secure the city for themselves. Upon hearing the warning bells and war drums, Drake and Raunce split their company– a dozen men guard the shore, John Oxenham and 16 others circle behind the plaza, while Drake leads the rest (46 men, with Raunce) noisily up the town's main thoroughfare. They now began dismounting its ordinance, which endeavour stirred the vecinos out of slumber. Drake and company managed to land, however, whereupon they took the town's six-gun battery without opposition.
Īt 3:00 am that night, the men steal into the port aboard rowboats, but are nonetheless espied by a 60-tonne Spanish merchantman in the harbour. The frigates' (enslaved) sailors furnish the party with fresh intelligence regarding the said port, whereupon Drake (with 53 of his men aboard Drake's three pinnaces) and Raunce (with 20 of his men aboard a Spanish prize shallop) set sail for Nombre de Dios, making landfall in the evening of 29 July.
On 20 July, the pinnaces having been assembled, the Drake–Raunce fleet sail for Isla de Pinos (not Cuban isle), where they surprise two Spanish frigates out of Nombre de Dios. Insvlæ Americanæ, 1634 map of the Spanish Main / 1634 map by Willem Janszoon Bleau / via LCĪt Port Pheasant, Drake and Raunse's men built a log fort, so as to allow the carpenters time to assemble Drake's pinnaces.
The following day, Drake is joined by James Raunse and his 30 men.
Here, the crew refreshed their provisions, and set (on 1 July) set for Port Pheasant (Zapzurro Cove, 35 leagues west of Tolú), which they reached in 11 days (on 12 July). Expedition Departure ĭrake and company departed Plymouth (aboard the Pascha and Swan) in May 1572, landing in southern Dominica on 29 June. Consequently, upon his return to Plymouth that year, Drake determined to repeat his feat, assembling, with his brothers John and Joseph, a fleet of two light ships and three small pinnaces. Francis Drake's expedition of 1572–1573 was an uncommissioned profiteering voyage by Sir Francis Drake in the western and southern quarters of the Caribbean Sea.ĭrake's 1571 cruise of the West Indies had proved quite successful, earning him and his crew over £100,000.