 Cooke 's opportunistic diversion had determined that the Spanish forces in the Philippines posed no immediate threat , although the mission had cost 18 lives : Admiral <unk> later expressed his satisfaction with the outcome in a letter to the Admiralty . More might have been achieved with reinforcements : Historian C. <unk> Parkinson suggests that had Cooke 's squadron united with Resistance together they may have been able to destroy the disarmed Spanish warships at <unk> . He also notes however that in this scenario <unk> would have been commanding officer , a man with considerably less imagination and <unk> than Cooke . Historian Richard <unk> was critical of the mission , considering the operation to have " no glorious outcome " and citing the failure to capture the treasure ships as its greatest short @-@ coming . 
