At the end of the Franco-Spanish War, the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659 provided for Louis XIV to marry Maria Theresa, the eldest daughter of Philip IV of Spain, who was to bring a substantial dowry to Louis and who renounced her right to inherit the Spanish throne.

Mariana's nearest male relative, the Emperor Leopold might therefore have had a claim to the Spanish throne if Charles died childless,[6] so Louis therefore claimed that, since Maria Theresa's dowry had not been paid, her renunciation was invalid, and under an obscure Netherlands law, that as child of Philip IV's she rather than Charles II should have inherited, and that Maria Theresa's rights "devolved" to him as her husband.

A small French squadron with a few troops and limited food supplies was sent to Messina in September 1674, but it withdrew before the year end in the face of a Spanish fleet of 22 ships and numerous galleys.

However, de Ruyter was unable to attack Messina because of contrary winds and, on 7 January 1676, while cruising near the Lipari Islands, he encountered the French fleet led by Duquesne and the convoy it was escorting.

[2] However, during the night the wind veered to a west-southwesterly direction and, as both fleets were heading almost due south, it now favoured the French.

[18] The wind had also strengthened overnight, so the Spanish galleys had taken refuge in the lee of the Lipari Islands: Duquesne therefore sent the convoy ahead and prepared to attack the Dutch.

[1] De Ruyter's van and centre reacted by gradually giving way so that their French opponents could not get close to them and remained at a disadvantage, subject to full Dutch broadsides.

[2] Both sides had suffered significant damage to many ships and the Dutch Essen from Verschoor's Third Squadron sank the next day.

[2] France (Duquesne)[4] Netherlands/Spain (Michiel de Ruyter)[4] The combined fleet was also accompanied by a number of Spanish galleys.