Four days’ sail brought the fleet within sight of the island. The settlement was near the mouth of one of the rivers. Morgan sent forward one of his best sailing vessels to reconnoitre the defences. The river emptied into a large bay or harbor called the Grande Aguada. Upon the shores of this harbor the town was beautifully situated, surrounded by massive and well-garrisoned forts. Several of Morgan’s desperadoes had been there before. With his whole fleet he entered the harbor in the night-time. Guided by instinctive military ability, with his usual promptness he landed one thousand men. Instead of marching directly upon the batteries, a corps of able engineers, with their axes, cut a new path through the tangled forest to the residence of the governor. Here they found a small rampart which was abandoned. The Spaniards, not being able to cope with so large a force as Morgan led, had retired to a stronger position. The pirates pursued. Soon they came upon a massive fort so fortified with encircling batteries as to seem impregnable. As soon as the pirates arrived within gun-shot the Spaniards opened upon them so deadly a fire from their heavy guns, that they were compelled to retire beyond reach of the balls, and take a position upon the grass of the open fields. Night came. The pirates were weary and hungry. No food had been brought from the ships. It was supposed that food would be found in abundance. But the Spaniards had destroyed all which they could not remove; and it took a very large quantity to satisfy the appetites of a thousand hungry men. Faint from hunger, they threw themselves unsheltered upon the grass to sleep. At midnight a tropical tempest arose. The glare of the lightning and the crashing peals of thunder were terrific. The windows of heaven seemed to be opened, and the flood fell in sheets. The sailors had left the ships with no clothing but their trousers and a shirt. In one moment they were drenched. And yet, hour after hour, in blackest darkness, the deluge descended, smothering them with its volume and flooding the fields. Notwithstanding all their efforts, nearly all of their powder was injured, and much was utterly destroyed. In the morning, for an hour the rain ceased. They had just begun to flatter themselves that a pleasant day was opening upon them, when the clouds again gathered blackness, and the tempest assailed them with redoubled fury. It did seem as though they were exposed to the frown and the chastising blows of an indignant God. They found in the fields a poor old sick horse, “which was,” writes Esquemeling, who was present, “both lean and full of scabs and blotches, with galled back and sides. This horrid animal they instantly killed and skinned, and divided into small pieces among themselves as far as it would reach; for many could not obtain one morsel. This they roasted and devoured without either salt or bread more like unto ravenous wolves than men.”