Battle of Puerto Caballos (1603)

Battle of Puerto Caballos (1603)
Part of the Anglo–Spanish War
A Spanish galleon similar to the one Newport captured at Puerto Caballos
Date 17 February 1603. Location Off Puerto Caballos, Royal Audiencia of Guatemala (Present day Honduras) Result Anglo-French victory
Belligerents
Spain	England French pirates
Commanders and leaders
Juan de Monasterio	Christopher Newport Michael Geare
Strength
2 galleons, 100 militia onshore	8 ships, 400 men
Casualties and losses
1 galleon burnt, 1 galleon captured, 2 merchant ships captured, 230 killed, wounded or captured	30 casualties

England

The Battle of Puerto Caballos was a military event during the Anglo–Spanish War to capture the Spanish town and port of Puerto Caballos (present day Puerto Cortés, Honduras) on 17 February 1603 by an English fleet under Christopher Newport and Michael Geare along with the help of French pirates. The English were able to achieve victory after a bitter fight. Two Spanish galleons were captured, one of which was subsequently burned. The Anglo-French consortium occupied the area and after two weeks withdrew with captured booty.

With the Anglo-Spanish war still raging, English privateers were harassing Spanish shipping. These were mainly London merchants who, in a grinding war of attrition, were still able to roam the coast of the Spanish New World. In charge of one of these expeditions was veteran Christopher Newport who had been in the Caribbean since 1602 and had continually returned. He had lost his arm during a successful expedition in 1590 but this did not still stop him from fighting.

In November 1602, at the smuggling outpost of Tortuga at northern Hispaniola, Newport had teamed up with Captain Michael Geare (another veteran of raiding the Spanish Main) who himself had teamed up with three French slavers to attack a pair of Spanish galleons expected soon at Puerto Caballos (modern-day Puerto Cortés, Honduras). The 300- to 350-ton English vessels – Archangel of Geare, Newport's Neptune, and Anthony Hippons in Paul Bayning's ship Phoenix—were joined by Spanish prizes to increase their fleet's size to eight.

Newport had successfully raided Puerto Caballos before in May 1592, where he captured a 200-ton merchantmen. He knew the area well but the fleet needed supplies badly so they headed first for Jamaica. On 24 January 1603, while heading for Puerto Caballos, the Anglo-French flotilla raided Jamaica. The Spanish repelled the attack. Newport and his associates withdrew with minor losses.

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