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Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1641)

Battle of Cape St. Vincent
Part of the Eighty Years' War
Slag bij St Vincent 4 november 1641.jpg
Battle of Cape St. Vincent, by Carel Christiaan Antony Last
Date 4 November 1641
Location Near Cape St. Vincent, Portugal
Result Strategic Spanish victory
Belligerents
 United Provinces Spain Spain
Commanders and leaders
Dutch Republic Artus Gijsels Spain Juan Alonso Idiáquez
Strength
20 warships 23 warships
Casualties and losses
100-200 killed, 2 ships sunk 1,100 killed, 2 ships sunk

The Battle of Cape St Vincent of 1641 took place on 4 November 1641 when a Spanish fleet commanded by Don Juan Alonso de Idiáquez y Robles intercepted a Dutch fleet led by Artus Gijsels during the Eighty Years' War. After a fierce battle two Dutch ships were lost but the Dutch claimed only a hundred of their men were killed; the Spanish fleet also lost 2 ships but over a thousand dead. The damaged Dutch fleet was forced to abandon its planned attack on the Spanish treasure fleet.

In 1641, after the outbreak of the Portuguese Restoration War, the Portuguese government, with Dutch and French help, prepared to start the offensive against Spain at sea. Dom António Telles da Silva, who had fought the Dutch in India, was designated commander of squadron of 16 ships, which along of another 30 of the Dutch Republic under Artus Gijsels, was entrusted the mission of capture and hold the Spanish towns of Cádiz and Sanlúcar. The attempts failed thanks to the fortuitous encounter that they had with 5 Dunkirkers under Judocus Peeters, who was chasing a flotilla of Algerian privateers, off Cape St. Vincent. Peeters managed to reach Cádiz without losing a single vessel and put on alert the Marquis of Ayamonte and Don Gaspar Alfonso Pérez de Guzmán, 9th Duke of Medina Sidonia.

Gijsels and Telles returned to Lisbon, where Telles was replaced by Tristão de Mendonça, former Ambassador to the Dutch Republic. The Portuguese fleet then sailed with the French fleet of the Marquis de Brézé, while the Dutch fleet set sail in order to intercept and capture the Spanish West Indies Fleet between the Azores and Cape St. Vincent. It was a hasty maneuver, since the Dutch ships had orders to return to their country if the West Indies Fleet didn't appear before November.


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