WI Sir Francis Drake surprised Spain?

K, so one of Sir Francis Drake's last voyages was to go to San Juan, Puerto Rico, in a suprise attack, to do some raiding there. IIRC, in OTL, the Spanish discovered this voyage, and managed to prepare for it - thus not making it a surprise attack. What if this never happened? What if Spain never managed to "discover" the voyage and thus get caught off guard?
 
he would do a lot of damage and capture alot of gold... would Spain seek revenge by raising a Grand Armada :D and try to invade England again?
 
Drake had raided plenty of Spanish ports in the past-- I'd expect the usual pillage and plunder out of him, not much more. Could fuck up Spanish cross-Atlantic trade depending on what shipping went by Puerto Rico at the time.

The Spanish would be pissed.
 
im leaning toward them raising a fleet or demanding that Queen Elizabeth turn over the pirate Francis Drake for justice :D because wasn't San Juan a major port for spain at this point or is that later?
 
im leaning toward them raising a fleet or demanding that Queen Elizabeth turn over the pirate Francis Drake for justice :D because wasn't San Juan a major port for spain at this point or is that later?

Indeed - it was once called the "Key to the Indies" at the moment. Spain had beefed up fortifications in response to several French raids on the other side of Puerto Rico several years beforehand.
 
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