An instrumental figure in the transformation, and in the formulation of Drake’s new strategy, was a remarkable Negro called Diego, who had defected from his Spanish masters to the English during the raid on Nombre de Dios. He attached himself to Drake as a manservant, and between the two developed a close friendship that benefited both. … It was from Diego that Drake learned more of the cimarrones, of their knowledge of the treasure route between Panama and Nombre de Dios, and of their hatred of the Spaniards, from whose cruelties they had fled. Diego assured Drake that the cimarrones would help him, and the captain led his small squadron into the Gulf of Uraba, where he could perfect his new plan, reprovision his vessels and allow the alarm that had frustrated his attack upon Cartagena to subside.

John Sugden, Sir Francis Drake, loc. 273