<P> The expedition sailed from Jamaica on February 3, 1780, escorted by twenty - one year - old Captain Horatio Nelson in the Hinchinbrook . Nelson was the highest - ranking officer present, but his authority was limited to naval operations . The overall commander was Captain (local rank of major) John Polson of the 60th Regiment, who recognized young Nelson's abilities and worked closely with him . Polson had about three to four hundred regulars of the 60th and the 79th Regiments, about 300 men of the Loyal Irish Corps raised by Dalling, as well as several hundred local recruits, including blacks and Miskito Indians . </P> <P> After many delays, the expedition began to move up the San Juan River on March 17, 1780 . On April 9, Nelson--in the first hand - to - hand combat of his career--led an assault which captured a Spanish battery on the island of Bartola . The siege of Fort San Juan, located five miles (8 km) upstream and manned with about 150 armed defenders and 86 others, began on April 13 . Because of poor planning and lost supplies, the British soon began to run low on ammunition for the cannons as well as rations for the men . After the tropical rains started on April 20, men began to sicken and die, probably from malaria and dysentery, and perhaps typhoid fever . </P> <P> Nelson was one of the first to become ill, and he was shipped downriver on April 28, the day before the Spanish surrendered the fort . About 450 British reinforcements arrived on May 15, but the blacks and the Indians abandoned the expedition because of illness and discontent . Although Dalling persisted in trying to gather reinforcements, sickness continued to take a heavy toll, and the expedition was abandoned on November 8, 1780 . The Spanish reoccupied the remains of the fort after the British blew it up on departure . In all, more than 2,500 men died, which "made the San Juan expedition the costliest British disaster of the entire war ." </P> <P> Following these successes, an unauthorized Spanish force captured the Bahamas in 1782, without battle . In 1783 Gálvez was preparing to invade Jamaica from Cuba, but these plans were aborted when Britain sued for peace . </P>

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