On 18–19 December 1669,[1] a battle took place in the waters near Cádiz between the English fourth-rate frigate Mary Rose under the command of Rear-Admiral John Kempthorne, escorting several merchantmen, and a group of seven pirate ships operating out of Algiers.

The action occurred while the Mary Rose was returning from a diplomatic mission to Mulay Rashid (referred to as "Tafiletta" in early English sources), the sultan of Morocco, that had been conducted by Lord Henry Howard, with Hollar accompanying him in order to complete some drawings and maps of Tangier that he had begun some years earlier.

The Mary Rose, a fourth-rate frigate of the English Royal Navy[4] carrying forty-eight guns,[3] conveyed Lord Henry Howard, with an entourage of 70 attendants and £4000 in gifts, to Tangier in 1668[5] or 1669.

[7] The engraver Wenceslaus Hollar formed part of the expedition on his own request to finish drawings of Tangier he had started when he accompanied Howard's grandfather on a similar mission in 1636.

The Mary Rose immediately prepared for action, clearing the decks in order to work the guns, taking on the prize-crew of the King David and abandoning her to be driven by the wind, and throwing overboard anything that might prove a hindrance.

The Algerine ships passed near noon; one of the prisoners, a Dutchman, identified them as the Golden Lion, Orange Tree, Half Moon, Seven Stars, White Horse, Blewhart, and Rose Leaf.

[9] The English casualties were twelve killed and eighteen wounded; according to Owen Hurst, the Mary Rose had all three masts damaged, and her mainmast, foremast, and both topmast yards disabled.

[3] The Mary Rose returned to England in April 1670 with a thirty-ship convoy of Mediterranean trade and a cargo of silver,[2] whereupon Kempthorne was knighted for "his very great valour and conduct shown against the pirates of Algiers.

"[3][11] King David, which had been taken by the Rose Leaf, was recaptured by Sir Thomas Allin, who ordered her to be sold with her cargo as a prize at Málaga; the original owners successfully petitioned to have them restored.

[9][15] A copy with the monogram of Adriaen van Diest inscribed on the reverse was with the Leger Galleries in London in 1973, and another is recorded as being in the collection at Castle Howard, North Yorkshire, England.

Exaggerated references to this engagement have become fodder for a popular naval ballad sometimes titled "Turkish Men of War" or "The Royal Oak"[16] sometimes sung with lyrics mixing up names and numbers of the ships involved.