By midnight the Spanish were repulsed at all points having suffered heavily in the assault and were milling about in the ford in confusion. Vere saw an opportunity he could not miss, and ordered the west sluice to be opened, through which the waters that had been stored in the town ditch and had been closed at high tide now rushed down the haven in a huge torrent while the Spanish were wading across. The damage inflicted by this torrent was tremendous and carried many of the assailants away into the sea.