On the 24th of May, 1572, Captain Drake sailed from Plymouth in the “Pascha,” of seventy tons, accompanied by his brother John Drake in the “Swanne,” of twenty-five tons, having in all seventy-three men and boys, of whom the oldest man was fifty, all the rest being under thirty. All were volunteers, and the vessels were fitted out as men-of-war. Their destination was _Nombre de Dios_. On the 2nd of July they sighted _Santa Martha_, and landed at _Port Pheasant_, where they found a plate of lead, on which John Garret, an English seaman who had been left here, warned Drake to make haste away, as the place had been betrayed. Drake, however, thought this a convenient spot on which to build his pinnaces, which he had brought with him in frames from England, and which were now completed in seven days. On the following day he was joined by an English barque of the Isle of Wight, which brought in a captured Spanish _caravel_. The English captain, Rowse, understanding Drake’s purpose of attacking _Nombre de Dios_, agreed to act in concert with him. Leaving the three ships and the _caravel_ in charge of Rowse, Drake, taking with him fifty-three men, proceeded in four pinnaces and a shallop to the Isles of _Pinos_, which he reached on the 22nd of July, and where he made an alliance with some runaway Indians who had fled from their Spanish masters and were called _Symerons_. Proceeding silently by night, he came before _Nombre de Dios_, where he landed without opposition. He and his men boldly attacked the place, but in the course of a desperate struggle which occurred on the town being alarmed, Drake was dangerously wounded, and had to be conveyed on board ship. It gives a very strange idea of the state of things then existing between England and Spain when we read that immediately after this unprovoked attack by Drake on _Nombre de Dios_, that captain was visited by a _Hidalgo_, who protested that the object of his coming was to see and admire one who had shown such courage. No doubt this gentleman had other objects in view; but it is somewhat remarkable that he should have trusted his person in a pirate’s den; for it must be remembered that, as England was not then at war with Spain, Drake can only be described as a buccaneer. This _Hidalgo_ was, however, very courteously received, and departed protesting that he had never been honoured so much in his life.