CASTRO, Rambn de, Spanish soldier, flourished in the latter part of the 18th century. On 17 April, 1797, an English fleet of sixty vessels, commanded by Admiral Henry Harvey, with a landing force of about 7,000 men under Sir Ralph Abercrombie, attacked the City of St. John of Porto Rico, laying siege to the place by sea and land. Castro had but a limited number of Spanish troops, with hardly any military experience and little ammunition and stores: but he displayed so much ability, bravery, and tenacity during the de-fence that on the fourteenth day of the siege, 1 May, 1797, the English were forced to retreat and re-embark in great haste, leaving their artillery, as well as many wounded and prisoners, in the hands of the Spaniards. The Spanish government rewarded him with great honors, and his defense of Porto Rico has become a famous one in the history of the Antilles.