with 500 men, they were forced to retreat after a brief exchange of cannon fire. The British returned with a force of more than 1,200 men and twelve ships in early October. Battle The British established some batteries to fire on the fort, and supported them with fire from three ships. Simón Desnaux, the fort's commander, returned fire. He succeeded in damaging , which ran aground but was eventually refloated. Although Desnaux was badly outnumbered, he refused an offer for surrender in the hope that Gálvez would be able to send reinforcements. On the night of the 20 October, a small number of British attackers climbed into the fort and opened one of the gates. After a brief exchange of small arms fire, Desnaux surrendered. Among the spoils the British won when they gained control of Omoa were two Spanish ships, anchored in the harbour, that held more than three million Spanish dollars of silver. Counterattack Gálvez immediately began planning a counterattack. On the 25 November his forces began besieging the fort, now under Dalrymple's control, engaging in regular exchanges of cannon fire. Gálvez, whose force was smaller than Dalrymple's, magnified its apparent size by setting extra campfires around the fort. He then attempted an assault on the 29 November but difficulties with his artillery caused him to call it off. Still, Dalrymple, whose forces were significantly reduced by tropical diseases, withdrew his men from the fort and evacuated them that same day. Aftermath The British continued to make attacks on the Central American coast but were never successful in their goal of dividing the Spanish colonies and gaining access to the Pacific Ocean. Equally, the Spanish were unsuccessful in driving out the British settlements in Central America, most of which the British had recaptured by the war's end. The British Tar at Omoa Though a fairly small engagement and a short lived victory, the storming of the fortifications at Omoa was the scene of an event that would be repeatedly depicted by British engravers for years to come. Captain William Dalrymple, in his letter to Lord George Germain dated the 21 October 1779, wrote:Your lordship will pardon my mentioning an instance of an elevated mind in a British tar, which amazed the Spaniards, and gave them a very high idea of English valour: not content with one cutlass, he scrambled up the walls with two; and meeting a Spanish