Despite the general perception that many Spanish galleons were captured by foreign privateers and pirates, relatively few ships were lost to Spain's enemies in the course of the flota's two and a half centuries of operation; more flota galleons were lost to hurricanes. Only the Dutch admiral Piet Hein managed to capture an entire fleet, in the Battle in the Bay of Matanzas in 1628, after which its cargo was taken to the Dutch Republic.[32] The English admiral Robert Blake twice attacked the fleet, in the Battle of Cdiz in 1656 and in the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in 1657, but he captured only a single galleon and Spanish officers managed to prevent most of the silver from falling into English hands.[33]