“The buccaneers were now greatly reduced in numbers. They had lost twenty-eight killed and eighteen desperately wounded, as well as about a dozen who had fallen into the Spaniards’ hands, and of the original one hundred and forty men who had set sail on the wild adventure in the Trinity a bare seventy now remained who were in condition to work or fight. But lack of men did not trouble Sharp in the least. Heading northward, they ravished city after city, leaving a trail of blood and smoke behind them, and at last put into the Gulf of Nicoya, battered, weatherbeaten and vastly in need of repairs to both themselves and their ship. But when off San Miguel dissensions had once more arisen, and forty-seven more of the men deserted and headed overland across Darien as had those who had gone before. Their experiences were much the same as those others, although as the rainy season had not come on they were more fortunate, but they had many narrow escapes and many adventures nevertheless. “With his forces now reduced to less than fifty men Sharp put into the Gulf, took prizes of the ships there, raided the villages and by good luck succeeded in making prisoners of some shipwrights and carpenters who were engaged in building ships for the Spaniards. These artizans he impressed into his service and at once proceeded to put the battered Blessed Trinity into condition for the long and dangerous voyage around South America and up the Atlantic to the Antilles. For, despite losses, desertions and all, Sharp and the remaining buccaneers were determined to carry out their original plans. They had now been in the Pacific for over a year, carrying terror far and wide, swooping upon every town or village they could find, capturing vessels and ever managing to escape in their shot-torn, dingy old galleon, and now Sharp planned to make her as staunch and seaworthy as possible with the materials and labor at his command. With almost superhuman efforts the deck was taken up and relaid, new planking was put in her shattered sides, the masts were all shortened and the ship was rerigged and refitted from truck to water line. Then Sharp graciously thanked his captive carpenters and presented them with a vessel he had captured as a reward for their services. Then, freeing all the prisoners and most of the slaves they had taken, the buccaneers set sail for the Gulf of Dulce, where the ship was careened and cleaned, it having been impossible to do this at Nicoya. The condition that the craft was in can be imagined as she had not been cleaned, either outside or in, since she had fallen into the buccaneers’ hands—and the Lord only knows when before that. Ringrose states that, ‘when we came to cleanse her hold both myself and several others were struck blind with the filth and nastiness of it.’