Porto Bello had such a reputation for bad health that merchants, shipmasters, sailors and everybody got away as soon as possible after the fair was over. Indeed, I have seen it stated that it was the health conditions that limited the length of the fair; that the shipmasters would stay as long as they had crew enough to work their ships. When sickness had reduced the crew to the minimum which was able to work the ship, the shipmaster sailed away and thus broke up the fair. Porto Bello was established by royal decree when the Spaniards abandoned Nombre de Dios, a town on the Caribbean coast about twenty miles east of Porto Bello. Porto Bello was strongly fortified by the Spaniards. Four different large and extensive stone forts were erected at various points about the harbor. These masonry structures were considered very strong for their day, and were well armed and well manned. One of the largest was built well up the side of the mountain which formed the protection for the harbor on the north, and where we afterwards established our quarry, above referred to. Drake in his last expedition attempted to capture Porto Bello. He was repulsed in his attempt to storm the forts, but succeeded in capturing the Spanish fleet in the harbor. He died in the harbor of Porto Bello a few days after the fight, January 28, 1596. His followers placed his body in the flagship of the Spanish fleet, took the ship to the mouth of the harbor and there scuttled her. The island at the mouth of the harbor is still known locally as Drake’s Island. I cannot imagine a more appropriate burial place for Drake than this spot, nor a more fitting tomb than the Spanish flagship. For this was the scene of some of his greatest triumphs over the Spaniards. Morgan, about seventy years later, succeeded in storming the forts and capturing the town, and Admiral Vernon again captured it in 1730.