Capture of Portobello (1601)

Capture of Portobello (1601)
Part of the Anglo–Spanish War (1585-1604)
Present-day ruins of 16th and 17 centuries Santiago de la Gloria fort at seaport town of Portobelo, Colon, Isthmus of Panama on the Spanish Main of the then world-wide Spanish Empire
Date 17 January 1601 Location Portobelo, Colón, Spanish Main Spanish Empire (present-day Republic of Panama) Result English victory[1]
Belligerents
Spain	England
Commanders and leaders
Gov Pedro Meléndez	Sir William Parker of Plymouth, England (died 1618)
Strength
100 soldiers 3 ships	5 ships 200 soldiers & sailors[2]
Casualties and losses
50 casualties 3 ships captured[3]	Light[2]

The Capture of Portobello was a military event during the long ongoing Anglo–Spanish War of 1585-1604, in which an English naval expedition under the command of privateer William Parker (died 1618), of Plymouth, assaulted and took the seaport town of Portobelo at Colon on the eastern / northern coast of Panama / Isthmus of Panama in Central America, from the Spanish, captured some looted booty, and then sacked the place, an important site on the Spanish Main in the then world-wide Spanish Empire.^[4]