Drake's 1571 cruise of the West Indies islands and the Caribbean Sea had proved quite successful, earning him and his crew immense profits of over £100,000 (100 thousand) English pounds sterling.

[2][n 2] At Port Pheasant, Drake and Raunse's men built a log palisaded fort and sheds for protection, so as to allow the ships' carpenters time to assemble Drake's stored cargo of three smaller pinnace boats[3] On 20 July, the pinnaces having been assembled and rigged for sailing, the little Drake‍–‍Raunce English fleet set sail for Isla de Pinos (not the Cuban isle), where they surprised, attacked and captured two Royal Spanish naval warships frigates out of the port town of Nombre de Dios, (on the north & east / Caribbean Sea coast of Colon Province of modern Panama).The frigates' (enslaved) crews of foreign sailors were freed and furnished the English Drake party with fresh intelligence and additional manpower regarding the said Spanish port, whereupon Capt.

In the plaza, the Drake detachment were greeted by the amues, fuses sing descriptive 'a jolly hot volley of shot,' from the remaining Spaniards but they nevertheless eventually scattered the impromptu local defending militia, and thereby secured the city for themselves.

Before the crew could loot the treasury, however, a sudden rainstorm drenched the men's matches, fuses and gunpowder, and (coincidentally), Drake fainted from loss of blood, having sustained a minor gunshot wound earlier during the militia volley.

[8][n 5][n 6][n 7] The fleet reached Magdalena on 5 November, but found the settlements deserted and the herds withdrawn inland (Spanish authorities having forwarded the vecinos).

They nonetheless managed to seize a few silver-loaded mules, and make a hasty retreat to Venta Cruces, which they easily occupied for some time, reaching base camp on 22 February.

[10][n 10] Undaunted, Drake determined to cruise off Veragua (aboard the Minion), finally desisting on 19 March, having gained a frigate and its Genoese pilot.

In the meantime, Oxenham cruise eastwards (aboard the Bear), where he seized a well-provisioned frigate out of Tolú, heading back to camp by 21 March.

On 25 March, they chanced upon Guillaume Le Testu (and his 70 men aboard an 80-tonne ship), who agrees to join Drake and the cimarrones in an attempt against the treasure train.

As their treasure summed nearly 30 tonnes of silver and gold, the surviving crew hid half of the booty before hastily making their escape, planning to recuperate the loot later on.

Some of this windfall treasure of gold and silver bullion, jewels and sold-off miscellaneous cargo, may have been forwarded to members of the English Royal government Privy Council, (close to the Crown and Queen Elizabeth I), who reportedly secured Captain Drake a pre-emptive pardon for his unauthorised naval mercantile expedition.

Sir Francis himself may have used some of his share of Spanish treasure to later be known to have bought a piece of property on Notte Street, in Plymouth, where he was listed two years later in documents as a merchant in 1576.

[17] The neighboring Real Audiencia of Guatemala likewise took steps to better defend its realm and eastern coast on the Caribbean Sea, planning – 'to settle some Indians in a location [in Golfo Dulce] such that they can send warning if any [pirate] vessels seek to enter.

[19] Captain / Sir Francis Drake (or his crew member Oxenham) is further reputed as the first Englishman / men to have sighted both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans together (simultaneously) at the same time from Pedro Mandingo's mountain-top vista lookout point, (as did famous explorer Vasco Nuñez de Balboa (c.1475–1519), had done for the first time, sixty years before in 1513, purportedly from the same lookout point), and they were the first Englishmen to have cruised the Bay of Honduras along the western coast of the Caribbean Sea, (and possibly the eastern waters off-shore of the present-day Republic of Belize – former colony of British Honduras in Central America).

I departed from hence this present 7 of July 1572.In the month of February a little frigate sailed along the coast of Verague to the mouth of El Desaguadero [San Juan River].

/ On Holy Thursday, in the afternoon, these same English with a frigate and a pinnace and a skiff arrived at La Guanaja, which is an island close to the city of Trujillo.

/ I had written to the town council to be on the alert to attack these English if they called; and I warned Puerto de Caballos to be ready, advising that I understood these people were going to do damage in that place.