Searle immediately ordered to his men to seize the galleon, but they would not leave their wine or, more likely, were unable to obey. De Peralta, alarmed when his men failed to return and suspicious of the barque moored nearby, weighed anchor with some difficulty and fled into the night, being out of sight by daybreak. When the main body of buccaneers eventually learned of this missed opportunity a few days later, they were outraged. Esquemeling, even writing several years after the event, scornfully related how, when the watering party had been brought before Searle, the old rover “had been more inclined to sit drinking and sporting with a group of Spanish women he had taken prisoner, than to go at once in pursuit of the treasure ship.” Searle was bitterly reproached by Morgan and never regained his favour. Years later, Captain de Peralta was captured by the English privateer, William Dampier, in the Pacific and told the story of his narrow escape from Searle with much relish.