command of the
governor. Every man was to be armed, at least with a sword, day and
night, and none was to absent himself from the city without the
permission of the governor. Every vessel of any kind that approached the
harbor was signalled to stop outside until it could be visited and its
identity be established; though if any refused thus to halt there was no
adequate power to compel it to do so. However, refusal to stop would of
course be regarded as proof of hostile character.

With all these preparations the defensive ability of Havana was
pitifully if not ludicrously slight. Three small cannon manned by twelve
volunteers constituted the armament of a fort which might be attacked by
a ship of twenty guns and two hundred men. The "army" of the place
comprised sixteen horsemen and less than seventy footmen, scarcely any
two of them armed alike. The chief commander under the governor was Juan
de Rojas, who was the governor's bitterest political enemy, though he
had once been his close friend and deputy. He was a brother of the
former governor, Manuel de Rojas. In these circumstances the commander
of the fort awaited with unspeakable trepidation the anticipated
approach of the enemy.

His fears were presently realized in the coming of perhaps the most
formidable of all the Frenchmen then scouring the seas; the famous
Jacques Sores. This daring captain was not only a Frenchman and
therefore hostile to Spaniards on racial and political grounds, but he
was also a Huguenot, like many other French seamen of that day, and
therefore hostile to them on religious grounds. He was supposed to be
under the patronage of the great Conde, and also at one time to have
received material aid from Queen Elizabeth of England. Indeed, he was at
this time regarded as the foremost champion of the Protestant cause at
sea. Although a privateer, he commanded not a single vessel but a
squadron of three, which he handled with the skill of a master mariner.

Sores did not, however, deem it needful to bring his whole array against
Havana. A single vessel, a brigantine, would be sufficient. So it came
to pass that in the early morning of July 10, 1554, a signal came from
the watchers on the Morro headland, that a strange sail, probably
French, was approaching. A shot was fired from La Fuerza, to summon the
men of Havana to arms. Lobera led his garrison of twelve men to their
places within the fort. Angulo took command outside. For an hour or two