The estimates put England's haul at no less than a million pounds in goods and £250,000 in silver at 1656 values. An inflation-based comparison converts the total to roughly a quarter-billion modern pounds, with Spanish losses perhaps four times higher. This comparison illustrates purchasing value rather than the current price of the same goods. For a seventeenth-century treasury, the shock affected the ability to fund military commitments far beyond Cadiz. The battle mattered as economic warfare as much as a tactical naval victory.
Notable Point · 42:00-43:26
The financial shock of Cadiz
The captured bullion and goods reward England while the larger Spanish loss disrupts a treasury dependent on American wealth.