The Italian princes were brought to book, as the
Spaniards had just been brought to book at Malaga. Then Blake swooped
down on the Moorish pirates' nest at Tunis, sinking every vessel,
silencing the forts, and forcing the pirates to let their Christian
slaves go free. After this the pirates of Algiers quickly came to
terms without waiting to be beaten first.
Meanwhile the frightened Spaniards had stopped the treasure fleet of
1655. But next year they were so short of money that they had to risk
it; though now there was open war in Europe as well as in New Spain.
Running for Cadiz, the first fleet of treasure ships fell into British
hands after very little fighting; and Londoners had the satisfaction of
cheering the thirty huge wagon-loads of gold and silver booty on its
way to safekeeping in the Tower.
All that winter Blake was cruising off the coast of Spain, keeping the
seaways open for friends and closed to enemies, thus getting a
strangle-hold under which the angry Spaniards went from bad to worse.
In the spring his hardy vigil met with its one reward; for he learnt
that the second treasure fleet was hiding at Santa Cruz de Teneriffe in
the Canary Islands, within a hundred miles of north-western Africa.
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