On March 5, 1825, the Pirate Cofresí was probably feeling quite pleased with himself. He had a new flagship, the Neptune he’d captured in Jobos Port, and had just completed a solid month of serious raiding and looting. He might have even felt secure since he distributed many captured goods to the poor in and around his hometown. Cofresí was no fool, he knew helping the poor protected him in many ways from the Spanish officials. What he did not know then was that a US-Spanish joint naval force was already closing in on him.

At first, Cofresí and his men thought the ship approaching them was another merchantman ripe for the robbing. What they failed to realize was that the new arrival was the United States Navy schooner Grampus with a heavily armed and well-trained crew. Robert Cofresí and his men attacked the Grampus thinking to capture her. In the engagement, the Grampus came off much the better. She inflicted heavy casualties on Cofresí’s crew and forced him to abandon ship. With the rest of his men, Cofresí fled into the jungle.

The Pirate Cofresí would find no safety in the wilderness, as the Spanish police authorities were already waiting for him. By March 8th, Cofresí and the last of his men were rounded up and arrested. The trial did not take very long. On the 29th, not even a month after some of his greatest successes, a firing squad executed the infamous Roberto Cofresí. Thus was ended the life of one of the last great Caribbean pirate captains.