"The following morning the whole fleet came to anchor before the point of the harbor without the town, a little to the westward, where they remained till nightfall, and then twenty-five pinnaces, boats and shallops, well manned, and furnished with fireworks and small shot, entered the road. The great castle, or galleon the object of the present enterprise, had been completely repaired, and was on the point of sailing, when certain intelligence of the intended attack by Drake reached the island. Every preparation had been made for the defense of the harbor and the town; the whole of the treasure had been landed; the galleon was sunk in the mouth of the harbor; a floating barrier of masts and spars was laid on each side of her, near to the forts and castles, so as to render the entrance impassable; within this breakwater were the five zabras, moored, their treasure also taken out; all the women and children and infirm people were moved to the interior, and those only left in the town who were able to aid in its defense. A heavy fire was opened on the English ships, but the adventurers persisted in their desperate attempt, until they had lost, by their own account, some forty or fifty men killed, and as many wounded; but there was consolation in thinking that by burning, drowning and killing, the loss of the Spaniards could not be less; in fact, a great deal more; for the five zabras and a large ship of 400 tons were burned, and their several cargoes of silk, oil and wine destroyed." After thus being defeated in his main object, Drake did not return to San Juan. He contented himself with laying tribute upon Porto Rico, and burning the towns on the Caribbean side of the island. He then sailed for Wombee de Dios, and, when the fleet was off the South American coast, he died on the 28th of January and was buried at sea. Drake was succeeded in command by Sir Thomas Baskerville. When the latter was on his way back to England he encountered a Spanish fleet and engaged in battle off the Isle of Pines. The victory was decidedly with the English, but the Spaniards were apparently the same then as they are to-day. Everybody remembers Blanco's famous dispatches, famous for their absurd falseness. So then the Spanish admiral issued a bulletin in which he claimed a magnificent triumph. Baskerville was so angry that he publicly declared the admiral to be a liar and challenged him to a duel. Nothing, however, ever resulted from this challenge. Three years later the Duke of Cumberland, who might also he called a corsair, but a private one, as he acted on his own hook, attacked San Juan, and after three days' fighting, laid the city in ruins. He was unable to follow up his victory, however, as the fever killed his men by the hundreds. The English tried to take it in 1615, and again in 1678. Once more in 1795, seeing the great advantage of owning the harbor of San Juan, the English attempted to capture it, but they were repulsed with great slaughter.