Forty large ships and thirteen barges, well manned and provided, were furnished by the King of Castile, and were commanded by four men whose names were a terror at the period.

These were, Ambrosio de Bocca Negra the Grand Admiral of Spain, Cabeza de Vaca, Ferrant de Pion, and Radigole Roux, or Riu Diaz de Rojas.
These valiant captains had moored their fleet opposite the harbour of La Rochelle, awaiting the expected arrival of the English and their allies, for whose sails they looked anxiously forth.

It was on the Vigil of St.
John the Baptist's Day, 1372, that the Spaniards espied the English approaching in gallant array, and _they_ discovered that the entrance to the town of La Rochelle was stopped, and that a contest must ensue.
The English were greatly inferior in ships and numbers; but there was no want of spirit amongst them.

The Earl of Pembroke made several knights on the occasion, and every nerve was strained to support the character of British valour.

They had fearful odds to sustain, and terrible was the battle which was fought, in which such deeds of arms were done, that Palmerin of England, and Amadis de Gaul, seemed leading on the combatants.