 By the time the fleet escaped from the storms and arrived in Spanish waters, it had become apparent that they were too poorly supplied to conduct the mission properly and that they were too late to engage the West Indian treasure fleet because of the storms they had encountered; in any case, the treasure fleet had used a more southerly passage than usual.Cecil chose to assault the Spanish city of Cádiz and after successfully sailing to the Bay of Cádiz and landing his force, he was able to take the fort that guarded the harbour of the city.However, he soon found that the city itself had been heavily fortified with modern defences, and he then began to make serious errors.