A French fleet under Owen of Wales was intended to join them, but arrived too late to take part. Pembroke knighted some of his squires on his flagship. A contemporary said the Earl and his army were "marvellously pleased...for they did not think much of the Spanish and thought to beat them easily." Pembroke's smaller ships were towered over by the tall carracks, and Castilian archers rained arrows onto the decks of English ships, while protected by their own wooden breastworks. Pembroke found his fleet caught between the enemy and the sandbanks located off what later became La Pallice. The Castilian ships were equipped with arbalests, which caused great destruction to the wooden decks of the English ships. Pembroke was unable to replicate the English victories of such earlier naval battles as Winchelsea and Nájera because of his lack of archers, which would otherwise have allowed him to lay down suppressing fire on the enemy crews. Similarly, the Castilian missile superiority meant English soldiers were unable to board the Castilian ships. The battle lasted two days. The fighting broke off as night fell on the 22nd; Pembroke had lost two ships and was surrounded by the Castilian fleet overnight. Fighting recommenced in the morning. Pembroke found his flagship attacked by four of the enemy galleys, who used grappling hooks to attach themselves to the English ship, and later managed to douse the decks of some ships with oil which could then be ignited by fire arrows. Fire, says Sherborne, played a vital role in the Castilian triumph. Around this pointwith horses running wild and kicking holes in the hulls and his men throwing themselves overboard to avoid the flamesPembroke surrendered. Much of his fleet was burned or captured, many of his retinue were killed, and those who survived were taken prisoner. The Earl of Huntingdon was among those captured. The £12,000 in silver was discovered and taken by the French. Pembroke's actions at La Rochelle have been the subject of criticism by several historians: J. H. Ramsay describes Pembroke's defeat as the worst ever inflicted on the English navy, E. F. Jacob suggests that it was a disastrous blow, and Anthony Steel argues it lost England control of the English Channel for several years. Capture, imprisonment and ransom Following his capture, Pembroke was taken to Castile, along with about 160 other survivors of the battle, 70 of them knights, and