Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag — How to Sink the Spanish Ships in Proper Defenses

Proper Defenses is Memory 06 of Sequence 03 in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, and its combat objective comes down to one naval fight near the Salt Lagoon. You shadow a heavily armed Spanish galleon called El Arca Del Maestro, then destroy a group of smaller Spanish ships that arrive once your allies join the fight.

Quick answer: Trail El Arca Del Maestro without entering its yellow field of view. When your allies show up and eight weaker Spanish ships appear to the east, ignore the galleon, sail out, and sink all eight to complete the memory.

Prepare the Jackdaw before starting the mission

Before you trigger the memory, fit the Jackdaw with the Heavy Shot. This upgrade is only required if you want the optional objective, but installing it now saves a return trip later.

Open the world map and sail to the objective marker at the Salt Lagoon.

Enter Edward’s cabin and buy the Heavy Shot upgrade. This weapon fires only at close range, so plan to close in on targets during the later fight.

Leave the Jackdaw, swim to shore, and speak with the pirates gathered around the campfire to start the memory.

Track El Arca Del Maestro without being spotted

After the opening cinematic, return to the Jackdaw and take the wheel to begin sailing. A green circle on the map marks the area holding your target. The green zone sits inside a restricted area, so steer clear of the cones of vision from patrolling enemy ships as you approach.

Sail into the green zone and use the spyglass to find El Arca Del Maestro near its northern edge. It is a massive ship, so it stands out clearly from everything else around it.

Do not enter its yellow field of view. This galleon is extremely powerful and can wreck the Jackdaw quickly if it detects you. Slip around behind it and follow at a slow, steady distance.

Keep tailing the galleon while dodging any other ships that drift into the safe pocket behind it. Continue until your allies appear and a short encounter plays out.

Note: Do not try to fight El Arca Del Maestro directly. The objective never requires you to sink it, and engaging it head-on almost always ends with the Jackdaw destroyed.

Sink the eight Spanish ships to finish Proper Defenses

Once the encounter with your allies begins, eight smaller Spanish ships appear to the east. These are the vessels you need to destroy, and they are the whole point of the fight.

Break off from the galleon and sail east to meet the incoming Spanish ships. Leave El Arca Del Maestro alone.

Engage the group with broadside cannons and mortars. These are fairly weak ships, so they go down fast even though you are outnumbered. Schooners and gunboats can also be sunk or disabled with a single ram if you have the Ram fitted.

Keep hunting down stragglers until every one of the eight ships is destroyed. When the last one sinks, a scene plays and the memory ends.

Optional objectives during the fight

The memory carries two optional objectives, and both are best attempted during the fight against the eight Spanish ships since they cluster together and take little damage to sink.

Optional objective	How to complete it
Sink two boats with one broadside	Line up two Spanish ships close together on one side of the Jackdaw, then fire a single broadside volley to sink both at once.
Sink two ships with the Heavy Shot	Close the distance and use the Heavy Shot, which is highly destructive but only works at short range, to destroy two of the weak ships.

How to confirm the memory is complete

You know the fight is over when the last of the eight Spanish ships sinks and a closing cutscene begins automatically. There is no need to sink El Arca Del Maestro. If the mission fails to end after you think you have cleared the group, sweep the eastern water again for a surviving vessel, since one missed ship keeps the objective open. Keeping the Jackdaw out of the galleon’s field of view throughout the sequence is the main way to avoid getting sunk before you reach that point.