Terceira Island
In early 1581, António fled to France and, as Philip's armies had not yet occupied the Azores, he sailed there with a number of French adventurers under Filippo Strozzi, a Florentine exile in the service of France, but was utterly defeated at sea by a combined Spanish-Portuguese navy commanded by Don Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz at the Battle of Ponta Delgada off Terceira Island on July 26, 1582 and off São Miguel Island on July 27, 1582. António's attempt to rule Portugal from Terceira Island, in the Azores (where he even minted coins) came to an end in 1583.