He had assembled in June, 1565, a fleet of thirty-four ships and a force of twenty-six hundred men. Arciniega, another commander, was to join him with fifteen hundred. On June 29 he sailed from Cadiz in the _San Pelayo_, a galleon of nearly a thousand tons, a leviathan for those days. Ten other ships accompanied him; the rest of the fleet would follow later. It was the plan of Menendez to wipe out the garrison at Fort Caroline before Ribault could get there, plant a colony there and one on the Chesapeake, to control the northern fisheries for Spain alone. On the way a Caribbean tempest scattered the ships and only five met at Hispaniola, but Menendez did not wait for the rest. When he reached the Florida coast he sent a captain ashore with twenty men to find out exactly where on that long, lonely shore line the French colony had squatted. About half past eleven on the night of September 4, the watchman on one of the French ships anchored off shore saw the huge _San Pelayo_, the Spanish banner lifting sluggishly in the slow wind, coming up from the south. Ribault was in the fort, so were most of the troops, and three of the ships were anchored inside the bar. The strange fleet came steadily nearer, the great flagship moved to windward of Ribault's flagship the _Trinity_, and dropped anchor. The others did likewise. Not a word was spoken by friend or foe. The Spanish chaplain Mendoza afterward wrote: "Never since I came into the world did I know such a stillness." A trumpet sounded on the _San Pelayo_. A trumpet sounded on the _Trinity_. Menendez spoke, politely. [Illustration: "'GENTLEMEN, WHENCE DOES THIS FLEET COME?'"--_Page_ 204] "Gentlemen, whence does this fleet come?" "From France." "What is it doing here?" "Bringing soldiers and supplies to a fort of the King of France in this country--where he soon will have many more," flung back the Breton captain defiantly. "Are you Catholics or Lutherans?" This time a score of clear voices reinforced the Captain's--"Lutherans--Huguenots--the Reformed Faith--The Religion!" And the Captain added, "Who are you yourself?" "I am Pedro Menendez de Avila, General of the fleet of the King of Spain, Don Felipe the Second, who come hither to hang and behead all Lutherans whom I find by land or sea, according to instructions from his Majesty, which leave me no discretion. These commands I shall obey, as you will presently see. At daybreak I shall board your ships. If I find there any Catholic he shall be well treated. But every heretic shall die." The reply to the rolling sonorous ultimatum was a shout of derision. "Ah, if you are a brave man, don't put it off till daylight! Come on now and see what you will get!"