After failed attacks against San Juan de Puerto Rico and Panama, 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.

[2] Sir Thomas Baskerville, Colonel-General of the landing forces, was then elected by his officers as the new commander of the retreating fleet,[3] 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.

[5] Engaged by the Spaniards, they received extensive damage, but finally managed to escape avoiding the dangerous shoals of Pinar del Río, and reached England on May 3,[5] just a week before Avellaneda encountered the bulk of the English fleet supplying of wood and water at Guaniguanicos Cove, in the Island of Pinos, south of Cuba.

Vice Admiral Juan Gutiérrez de Garibay's three-ship vanguard managed to intercept and capture two ships:[1] a 300-man galleon and a 25-man patache whose prisoners were put to work on Havana's fortifications.

[6] The survivors reached Plymouth at the same time the Spanish treasure fleet disembarked at Sanlúcar de Barrameda with 20 million silver dollars, one of the largest shipments ever to arrive from the Americas.