By 1702 England was involved in the European conflict which became known as the War of the Spanish Succession. Sanderson was commissioned to reform his regiment as marines. In February 1702 Thomas Sanderson's Regiment of Marines (or the 1st Regiment of Marines) was reraised in Lincolnshire. The unit took part in the capture and defence of Gibraltar in July 1704. It subsequently took part in the campaign led by the Earl of Peterborough and was involved in the capture of Barcelona in September 1705. The regiment's title changed with the name of its colonel: Thomas Pownall (1704–1705) and Charles Wills (from 1705).