Meanwhile, Governor Guerra sent a force from Florida to oust the intruders at Ashley River. Three ships sailed northward, under command of Juan Menendez Marques, accompanied by fourteen periagoes of Indians. In mid-August [1670?] the Carolinians were warned by friendly Indians that the Spanish 'with all the Indians about Ste. Augustine and the Spanish Keyes' were about to attack. Great guns were mounted and defenses hastily improvised. The danger, though exaggerated, was real. Neither the ship Carolina} sent to Virginia for provisions, nor the sloop despatched to Bermuda had returned. Starvation already threatened, and now the Spanish fleet blockaded Charles Town bar while the Guale Indians hovered about the Stono inlet. But a storm dragged the Spaniards' anchors, and the ships withdrew without an attempt upon the town. After the Carolina returned the Spanish Indians soon melted away. The first crisis had been passed. It had served to demonstrate the friendship of the neighboring tribes and the usefulness of Woodward as Indian agent. 'All the Indians about us,' Lord Ashley was told, 'came with their full Strength to our Ayde.'19