On 4 June 1630, Jan Booneter and Adriaen Pater were instructed to surprise the silver fleet at port in Trujillo if they found this feasible.

On 2 November that year, the WIC instructed Jan van Hoorn to sail for the Bay of Honduras to sack Trujillo.

They spent the next three days charting the coastal waters, taking care to remain hidden from sentinels at the Santa Barbara Fortress.

[note 3] In the meantime, the fleet's yachts and sloops made their way west of the city, disembarking soldiers at the mouth of the Santo Antonio Creek.

[10] On 19 July, van Hoorn agreed with Juan de Miranda, the governor of Truchillo,[note 4] to a ransom of twenty pounds of silver for the rest of the city.

[8][11] Van Hoorn's fleet had difficulty circumnavigating the Yucatan Peninsula, their nautical charts proving inaccurate.

[8][note 5] According to Laet's Historie, about 400 men were put onto boats of various sizes and anchored in shallower water where they observed the city and organized themselves.

On the morning of 13 August, the soldiers were brought ashore on a beach about 2.4 km (1.5 mi) southwest of the city, landing in order.

The soldiers immediately began marching on the city, covered by two boats which rowed alongside them and fired cannons when the enemy presented itself.

While loot was loaded onto captured boats, the expedition attempted to gain ransom from Governor Juan de Barros, who refused due to a royal decree prohibiting such.

[13][14] Under command of Cornelis Jol, the Otter and the sloops Nachtegael and Gijsselingh were to set course for Cape San Antonio and cruise the southern coast of Cuba, heading for Tortuga, where the crew were to ascertain whether the Spanish had captured St. Martin, and thereafter undertake 'what is convenient in the service of the Company'.

During the first half of November, the Otter grounded broadside for maintenance and repairs, and learned from an Englishman that St. Martin had been captured by the Spanish.

During the day they saw a single ship separated from the others and attacked, disabling its main sail, and boarded; finding that it carried only ballast, they let it go.

[19] Fernando Centeno Maldonado, governor of colonial Campeche was stripped of his office in 1636, purportedly or partially due to van Hoorn's successful sacking.

that the fleet's two Maya pilots participated in Campeche's sacking voluntarily, which has been regarded as a precedent-setting example of 17th century opposition to Spanish temporal and spiritual hegemony by the province's Amerindian residents.