Though the Dutch force was rather small, consisting of only seventeen vessels, it managed by a clever use of the line-of-battle to severely damage the larger and crowded Spanish ships. De Oquendo feared that if he entered the narrow channel to Dunkirk, he would be trapped in that port, so he opted to take refuge in The Downs, in neutral English waters at the coast of Kent. As Charles I of England had concluded a secret treaty with Spain against the Dutch, De Oquendo hoped to move his troops to Flanders by means of English shipping. On 31 October the Dutch fleet, grown to over a hundred ships, violated English neutrality and attacked the Spanish fleet, succeeding in destroying or capturing many enemy vessels. De Oquendo himself escaped but was heavily wounded and morally broken. He never fully recovered. After his return to Spain he soon died in A Coruña.