| rdfs:comment | - After failed attacks against San Juan de Puerto Rico and Panamá, during which Francis Drake and John Hawkins had perished from dysentery, the English fleet anchored in Portobello to reorganize and careen their ships prior to return to England. Sir Thomas Baskerville, Colonel-General of the landing forces, was then elected by his officers as the new commander of the retreating fleet, whose number of ships soon decreased to 18, as two of them, the Delight and the Elizabeth, had to be burned or sunk due to lack of crew. Two generals, 15 captains and 22 officers had died in combat or from disease; a loss which demoralized the men on board.
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| abstract | - After failed attacks against San Juan de Puerto Rico and Panamá, during which Francis Drake and John Hawkins had perished from dysentery, the English fleet anchored in Portobello to reorganize and careen their ships prior to return to England. Sir Thomas Baskerville, Colonel-General of the landing forces, was then elected by his officers as the new commander of the retreating fleet, whose number of ships soon decreased to 18, as two of them, the Delight and the Elizabeth, had to be burned or sunk due to lack of crew. Two generals, 15 captains and 22 officers had died in combat or from disease; a loss which demoralized the men on board. The English fleet departed Portobello on February 8. A few days later a storm scattered the fleet. Several ships returned to England via Jamaica, while Baskerville, with the bulk of the fleet, headed to Cabo Corrientes to sail to his country along the northern coast of Cuba. In Spain, meanwhile, news of Drake-Hawkin's attack in Gran Canaria had reached the Spanish court. A fleet of 8 galleons and 13 other vessels (mainly hulks and pinnaces) under Captain General Don Bernardino de Avellaneda, with Juan Gutiérrez de Garibay as Admiral, Juan de Villaviciosa as flag captain, and about 3,000 men aboard, was dispatched from Sevilla to Cuba, which was supposed to be menaced by the English. In early March they arrived at Cartagena de Indias, disposed to pursue Baskerville.
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