In 1705 Ekines joined the Earl of Peterborough's expedition to Spain and served for nine months as an unpaid volunteer. Early on in the campaign he proposed that he lead an expedition of five ships and 1,000 soldiers across the Atlantic to seize Buenos Aires. However this project foundered after Peterbrough took Barcelona. Then in 1707 he offered his services to the Board of Trade and Plantations to take command of a ship to attack pirates at Martinique and Guadeloupe. The response was that the Board did not appoint individual officers.