 Cooke led his small squadron past <unk> on 15 January and turned south . Four days later in a storm one of the gunboats broke its tow line and was never seen again , lost with its twelve crew . The frigates subsequently scouted <unk> before reaching <unk> on 22 January . There Cooke raised Spanish colours in an attempt to <unk> the authorities into supplying food and water to his squadron but <unk> grounded on a <unk> at the entrance to the port which raised the suspicions of a <unk> sent by the governor of <unk> , <unk> <unk> . The captain of the Spanish boat asked the British ships the names of their captains , and on receiving no answer but a volley of rifle fire , he put the town on alert . With the defenders <unk> , Cooke abandoned his <unk> and after <unk> <unk> the following morning , ordered a bombardment of the fort protecting the harbour . This had little effect , though later the Spanish recovered at least 450 <unk> from different <unk> , and Malcolm then attempted an amphibious landing in order to storm the <unk> side of the fort . The boats came under heavy fire , one smashed by a <unk> , killing two and wounding four . Another boat grounded on a <unk> and became stuck ; so with his force in <unk> , as 250 villagers armed with lances ambushed and drove the British from the beach , Malcolm called off the operation . After exchanging shot for an hour both frigates cut their anchor cables and retreated out of range , with two dead and one wounded on <unk> and eight wounded on Fox , in addition to those lost in the boats . The defenders lost a single man killed and 4 wounded . 
