An expedition led by John Hawkins and his nephew, Francis Drake, consisting of five small vessels from Plymouth, was caught in September, 1568, by a greatly superior Spanish force at San Juan de Lua on the Mexican coast, and overwhelmed, in violation, as it was asserted, of a compromise that had been arranged. Two of the smallest vessels alone escaped with Hawkins and Drake ; and thenceforward the latter devoted his great genius, skill and boldness, to harrying Spanish commerce from the seas.