Battle of Alcácer Quibir
By 1575 James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald had formed an alliance with Sir Thomas Stukley to launch a projected 1578 Irish expedition, which Sanders was to have accompanied. The plan was supported by papal nuncio Filippo Sega with the covert encouragement of King Philip. Fitzgerald and Stukley were to rendezvous at Lisbon, where King Sebastian of Portugal convinced Stukley to participate in a campaign in Morocco instead. Stukley abandoned the Irish invasion and sailed his troops to Morocco, where he was killed at the Battle of Alcácer Quibir in August 1578.