More practically, England had a large standing army with ambitious commanders and Cromwell wished to occupy them with a successful campaign, preferably far from home.

[4] High winds and surf made it difficult for the English to land near their first objective, the city of Santo Domingo.

The English fleet carried out an ineffectual attempt to bombard the city into submission, then sailed off to re-embark the army's survivors.

[8] Samuel Pepys, Clerk of the Acts to the Navy Board, considered Admiral Penn a "false knave".

[9] Historian John Morrill wrote "[Venables] was over-promoted and under-supported in a high-profile fiasco in the Caribbean that cost him his reputation."

The gold crab has not survived; it was stolen by General Joseph de Barquier, the last French governor on the island.