even vessels belonging to the buccaneers, and
numerous smaller boats.[520] The appearance of so formidable an armament
in the West Indies caused a great deal of concern both in England and in
Jamaica. Martial law was proclaimed in the colony and every means taken
to put Port Royal in a state of defence.[521] Governor Beeston, at the
first news of de Pointis' fleet, sent advice to the governors of Porto
Bello and Havana, against whom he suspected that the expedition was
intended.[522] A squadron of thirteen vessels was sent out from England
under command of Admiral Nevill to protect the British islands and the
Spanish treasure fleets, for both the galleons and the Flota were then
in the Indies.[523] Nevill touched at Barbadoes on 17th April,[524] and
then sailed up through the Leeward Islands towards Hispaniola in search
of de Pointis. The Frenchman, however, had eluded him and was already
before Cartagena.

Cartagena, situated at the eastward end of a large double lagoon, was
perhaps the strongest fortress in the Indies, and the Spaniards within
opposed a courageous defence.[525] After a fortnight of fighting and
bombardment, however, on the last day of April the outworks were carried
by a brilliant assault, and on 6th May the small Spanish garrison,
followed by the _Cabildo_ or municipal corporation, and by many of the
citizens of the town, in all about 2800 persons, marched out with the
honours of war. Although the Spaniards had been warned of the coming of
the French, and before their arrival had succeeded in withdrawing the
women and some of their riches to Mompos in the interior, the treasure
which fell into the hands of the invaders was enormous, and has been
variously estimated at from six million crowns to twenty millions
sterling. Trouble soon broke out between de Pointis and the buccaneers,
for the latter wanted the whole of the plunder to be divided equally
among the men, as had always been their custom, and they expected,
according to this arrangement, says de Pointis in his narrative, about a
quarter of all the booty. De Pointis, however, insisted upon the order
which he had published before the expedition sailed from Petit Goave,
that the buccaneers should be subject to the same rule in the division
of the spoil as the sailors in the fleet, i.e., they should receive
one-tenth of the first million and one-thirtieth of the rest. Moreover,
fearing that the buccaneers would take matters into their own hands, he