Rooke safely delivered Archduke Charles of Austria (the claimant to the Spanish throne) to Windsor Castle in December 1703. Flying his flag in the second rate HMS "Royal Katherine", he commanded the allied naval forces who arrived in Gibraltar in August 1704: after a bombardment by 22 ships directed by Admiral George Byng a landing party disembarked, hoisted the Union Flag and captured Gibraltar. Rooke also attacked the French fleet at the Battle of Málaga later that month.