Promoted to full admiral on 6 May 1702, Shovell brought home the spoils of the French and Spanish fleets, which had been captured by Admiral George Rooke at the Battle of Vigo at an early stage of the War of the Spanish Succession, arriving in England in late 1702. After commanding a fleet dispatched to take troops to Lisbon in Spring 1703, he commanded a squadron which served under Rooke at the capture of Gibraltar in August 1704 and also repulsed the French fleet at the Battle of Málaga later that month. He was appointed a member of the council of the Lord High Admiral (an office vested at that time in Prince George of Denmark) in December 1704, appointed Rear-Admiral of England on 26 December 1704 and promoted to Admiral of the Fleet on 13 January 1705.