A relief fleet of thirty-three ships under…
May 1625 CE
A relief fleet of thirty-three ships under Admiral Boudewijn Hendricksz, seconded by Vice Admiral Andries Veron, bears down upon the bay, divided in two columns, several days after the Dutch surrender.
Toledo, who had been warned about its arrival, disposes six galleons to lure them to a murderous crossfire.
Hendricksz, however, seeing the huge Hispano-Portuguese fleet anchored inside, decides to withdraw to open sea.
Spanish warships attempt to pursue him, but a galleon runs aground, and pursuit is abandoned.
Francisco de Moura Rollim, appointed governor of Salvador by Fadrique de Toledo, remains in the town with a garrison of one thousand Portuguese soldiers.
During the journey back to Spain, three Spanish ships and nine Portuguese ships will sink in storms.
Maestro de Campo Juan de Orellana is among the drowned men.
The Dutch prisoners will be returned to the Low Countries aboard five German store ships, the officers being judged on their arrival for the loss of the city.
Hendricksz divides his fleet in three groups.
One of them returns to Holland with the supplies and ammunitions for the garrison of Salvador; the other two attack respectively San Juan de Puerto Rico and the Castle of Elmina, being both decisively defeated.
The Dutch will not return to Brazil until 1630, when they will manage to conquer Pernambuco from the Portuguese.