The battle took place when a flotilla of two galleons commanded by Antonio de Oquendo engaged two English privateers who were plundering shipping lanes and villages around the Gulf of Cádiz.

Antonio was the son of Miguel de Oquendo, a fleet commander who died in October 1588 when his ship foundered off Pasajes, while coming back from the ill-fated campaign of the Spanish Armada.

[2] The goal of Oquendo’s small unit was to fight the Dutch, English, and Moroccan privateers which threatened the shipping lanes along the western Atlantic coast of Spain and Portugal.

[4] In July 1604, sea-traders and inhabitants from villages on the coast of Portugal and Andalusia reported a series of looting raids and attacks on shipping carried out by two privateers.

Captain General Luis Fajardo and King Philip III sent letters of congratulation to him, marking the beginning of a notable naval career.