Ten English armed merchant vessels of the Levant Company were met and intercepted by twelve Spanish galleys under Pedro de Acuña in the service of Spain in the region of the Gibraltar Straits.

The war with Spain in 1585 had started and as a result the company armed their ships as part of an investment by the English crown and sailed in convoy for their mutual protection.

This proved successful as in July 1586 off Pantelleria island, five ships of the company managed to repel eleven Spanish galleys.

[8] In mid April 1590 ten ships of the company, some freighted for Venice, for Constantinople and to other parts of the Mediterranean met on their homeward course within the Straits of Gibraltar having escaped all danger thus far.

[6][9] On 24 April as they approached the Straits of Gibraltar twelve tall galleys were seen and soon the ships under orders from Barnham were told to prepare hastily for action.

English sources assert that the galleys were under the command of Andrea Doria's great-nephew Giovanni Andrea Doria.,[6][9] while Spanish official data show that the actual commander of the Spanish squadron was don Pedro de Acuña, although they acknowledge a previous unsuccessful attempt of Doria against an English convoy.

The galleys however continued to attack the English ships in attempts to grapple and board; a usual Spanish tactic on the sea at the time.

After around four days and with the wind now in their favor, the English sailed off without incident; the Spanish in the harbor of Algeciras unable to intercept them because of their severe damage or the rough sea.

On August Acuña sank one ship and took another,[11] while in 1591 an English convoy would meet another fleet of Spanish galleys under Doria in the same area and with the same outcome.