At dusk on 29 April 1587 an English fleet under the command of Sir Frances Drake entered the Bay of Cádiz. There were at that precise moment sixty carracks (naus) and various smaller boats in the port . Further sightings revealed twenty French ships present in the bay, and other smaller vessels were seeking refuge in Port Royal and Port Saint Mary, which were protected by sand banks that the larger carracks could not cross. Juan de Vega, Mayor of Cádiz, sent word to Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, who arrived from Sanlúcar that night to take over the defence of the main square. The Spanish galleons, who in the absence of the Governor of Castile were under the command of Pedro de Acuña, sailed out to meet the English fleet but were forced to retire back to Cádiz before the superiority of the English. Gun positions on the shore opened fire, shelling the English fleet from the coast with little effect, but they managed to repulse an attempted landing by launches at El Puntal. During the night of the 29th and all the following day and night the battle raged in the bay. At dawn on the 1st May the English retreated having destroyed between 23 and 33 Spanish ships, with a combined weight of 10,000 tons. Furthermore, they had captured four other ships, laden with provisions.