“You, uh… You’ll do fine. Good luck, buddy.”

[**Quick set-up: The Spanish commander of San Gerónimo, which is ill-prepared for an incoming attack by English pirates, gets some lackluster well-wishes from the governor of Cartagena.**] >[…] the [**Spanish**] Crown felt it had done all it could with its strained resources and Don Juan soon understood he’d have to fend for himself; there would be no warships or musketeers whipping their way from Spain. Meanwhile he was receiving reports that the pirates were building a fleet of thirty canoes for the assault. “I give you these warnings even though I know that you are a great soldier and you will not need them,” the governor of Cartagena wrote to Don Juan. It was perhaps the only thing he could think to say when the news was so obviously bad. ___________________________ **Source:** Talty, Stephan. “207.” *Empire of Blue Water: Captain Morgan’s Great Pirate Army, the Epic Battle for the Americas, and the Catastrophe That Ended the Outlaws’ Bloody Reign*. New York: Crown Publishing Group (NY), 2007. 207. Print.