Early in 1733, a fleet of British ships under escort of the Scarborough, 20, Captain Thomas Durell, was loading salt at the Tortugas, when there came down on it two Spanish men-of-war, one of sixty, and the other of seventy guns. [probably these were much smaller Guarda-Costas] Four of the merchantmen, viz., the Catherine, Two Sisters, Hopewell, and Three Brothers, were taken at the outset before the Scarborough could cover her convoy; but after that she managed to engage the attention of the Spaniards so well that the rest of the salt ships made good their escape.