Failure of the Drake–Hawkins Expedition

Timeline

1. 1595Plymouth · DevonDrake and Hawkins set out from Plymouth with about twenty-seven warships and twenty-five hundred men, planning first to attack San Juan harbor and then push deep into the Caribbean to seize Spanish colonial wealth—one of the largest expeditions of the Anglo-Spanish War.
2. 1595San Juan · San JuanThe English fleet's siege of Fort El Morro at San Juan met stubborn resistance; the Spanish garrison under Juan de Tejeda repelled the landing parties. Hawkins fell gravely ill during the siege, and the expedition was forced to abandon the siege and turn toward Panama.
3. 1595–1596Offshore of Nombre de Dios · PanamaHawkins died of illness off Puerto Rico on 12 November 1595 and was buried at sea. Drake led the remnants southward but also died of illness off Nombre de Dios on 28 January 1596; the expedition failed completely and the fleet returned to England.