After learning of the American presence, on 4 August, Governor General Manuel Macías y Casado sent Colonel Pedro del Pino and about 220 troops, including civil guardsmen to recapture the town. When Colonel Pino entered Fajardo on the afternoon of 7 August, he found it nearly deserted because the residents, fearing a battle, had fled to the Fajardo Light and the surrounding hills. At close to midnight on 8 August, Pino's troops began their assault on the lighthouse. The landing party of "Amphitrite"s sailors occupying the lighthouse doused the light and signaled the ships offshore, initiating shore bombardment as the naval guns began firing a protective pattern. After two hours exchanging small arms and machine gun fire with the Americans in the lighthouse, the Spanish forces retreated back to Fajardo. The Americans suffered no casualties, despite a close call when a wayward naval shell smashed through the thick walls of the lighthouse within touch of six men but failed to explode. The Spanish losses were two dead and three wounded, including a lieutenant.