Battle of the Gulf of Cadiz (1604)

Battle of the Gulf of Cadiz (1604)
Part of the Anglo–Spanish War
Monument to Antonio de Oquendo in Donostia
Date 7 August 1604 Location Gulf of Cadiz Result Spanish victory
Belligerents
Spain	England
Commanders and leaders
Antonio de Oquendo	unknown
Strength
2 galleons	1 galleon 1 fusta
Casualties and losses
1 galleon damaged	1 galleon captured 1 fusta damaged 100 dead and wounded

The Battle of the Gulf of Cádiz was a naval action which occurred on 7 August 1604, during the very last days of the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604). 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. One of the English ships was captured and the other damaged. Later in his life, Antonio de Oquendo led the Spanish fleet that was utterly defeated by the Dutch at the Battle of the Downs in 1639. Oquendo's action off Cádiz is notable for having been fought just 21 days before the signing of the Treaty of London, which ended the protracted war between England and Spain.

On early 1604, 27-year-old Spanish officer Antonio de Oquendo was appointed commander of a two-galleon flotilla based at Lisbon by his superior, Luis Fajardo, Captain General of the Spanish Ocean Fleet. 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 Armada Invencible. 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. The squadron was made of the flagship Delfín de Escocia and the slightly smaller Dobladilla.

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. The privateer flagship was a 500-ton vessel while the smaller warship was described as a fusta. Oquendo’s squadron departed from Lisbon on 15 July in search of the enemy.

...
Wikipedia