Escaño became a midshipman at the age of 17 and took part in almost every major Spanish naval operation of his time. These included the Battle of Cape Spartel (1782), which was an indecisive naval battle between a British fleet under Admiral Richard Howe and a Franco-Spanish fleet under Spanish Admiral Luis de Córdova; an expedition against Algiers (1783) to attack Barbary raiders; and the Battle of Cape St Vincent (1797), where thanks to his military perceptiveness while in command of the "Príncipe de Asturias", he helped to save the Spanish flagship, the "Santísima Trinidad", when the squadron commander José de Córdoba y Ramos lost control over the situation while under attack by British Commodore Horatio Nelson. For this, Escaño was rewarded with the Order of Santiago.