page_title: Battle of Gibraltar (1621)
section_title: Engagement
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Gibraltar (1621) / Engagement
caption_attribution_description: English: This painting represents one of the many naval battles between the Spanish armadas and those of the Netherlands during the first half of the 17th century. From the Dutch school. Español: Representa uno de los numerosos combates navales mantenidos entre las armadas de España y las Provincias Unidas de los Países Bajos durante la primera mitad del siglo XVII. De escuela holandesa.
context_page_description: The Battle of Gibraltar took place on 10 August 1621, during the Eighty Years' War between the Spanish Empire and the Dutch Republic. A Dutch East India Company fleet, escorted by a squadron under Willem Haultain de Zoete, was intercepted and defeated by nine ships of Spain's Atlantic fleet under Fadrique de Toledo while passing the Strait of Gibraltar.
  When the Twelve Years' Truce between Spain and the Dutch Republic ended, the Spanish wished to deal a decisive blow against the Dutch trading ships in the Mediterranean. The Spanish attempted to concentrate a fleet in the Bay of Gibraltar, but admirals Martín de Vallecilla, Juan Fajardo and Don Francisco de Acevedo, with their respective squadrons, failed to join Toledo's squadron, which left Cádiz on 6 August 1621. Toledo thus faced the Dutch with only nine ships. Four days later, the Dutch trading fleet of more than 50 ships was sighted; 20 were warships and the rest were merchantmen.
  While Toledo engaged a succession of Dutch ships with his powerful flagship, setting two on fire, the smaller Spanish galleons captured two ships and torched another.
context_section_description: The Dutch fleet arrived in two groups: one of 24 ships in formation and another, scattered group of about seven. Escorting the convoy were a dozen Dutch warships, all strongly armed, and including two reported as being particularly large, all under the command of Admiral Willem Haultain de Zoete. The Dutch adopted a crescent-shaped formation. Their strategy was to refuse combat if at all possible, and to concentrate on protecting the valuable merchant ships from capture. They were under orders not open fire unless attacked. The Dutch were to windward of the Spanish, which gave Toledo the choice of attacking or not. The historian Agustin González has estimated that the six smaller Spanish galleons were barely equivalent in fighting power to the twelve ships of the Dutch escort. The most important ship of the engagement was the Spanish flagship Santa Teresa, a vessel much larger and more powerful than any other on either side. The Spanish sailed down on the Dutch, hoping to break up the Dutch formation and then exploit their ships' greater manoeuvrability.
  Initially, Santa Teresa fired a warning shot demanded that the Dutch surrender. Haultain's fleet immediately returned fire. The Dutch ships fired at medium range, but Santa Teresa held fire until almost alongside the Dutch ships before firing. The eventual Spanish broadsides caused a "horrible effect to those watching from land and sea". These caused such damage and casualties that the Dutch retreated. Santa Teresa then cut through the Dutch formation, firing in all directions and receiving numerous discharges in return. The galleon of Don Alonso de Mujica boarded and seized a Dutch man-of-war, while the Santa Ana, commanded by Don Carlos Ibarra, did the same with another. Even one of the pataches, commanded by Captain Don Domingo de Hoyos, engaged a Dutch ship, foolhardy given the inequality of force. The Spanish flagship broke entirely through the Dutch formation and turned back towards the convoy. Her close-range fire ignited at least one Dutch ship, and she engaged so closely that at one point the fire spread to the Santa Teresa, which had to break off to extinguish it. She then returned to engage the burning Dutch ship from the weather side, so that the flames would be blown away from her.
  The Spanish flagship was fired on by much of the Dutch fleet, and despite her size and strength the damage was severe, with at least two of her masts down. With Santa Teresa out of the fight and the Dutch fleeing, the remaining Spanish ships drew off and the battle ended at about 3:00 pm. The balance of loss was favorable to the Spanish: they had sunk or burnt five enemy ships; and two more were captured. The Spanish lost no ships, and by far the most damaged was the Santa Teresa, still capable of fighting but unable to manoeuvre due the loss of her masts. Don Luis de Noroña (or Noronha), captain general of Ceuta, witnessed the battle and sent a brig with gunpowder, food, medical supplies and a surgeon. He also sent a message congratulating the squadron leader saying he "did not know that Toledo was at this place [but] he did not think that it could be another who so bravely and with so few ships had disrupted so many".  The Spanish returned to Cádiz.
caption: The battle between Dutch and Spanish men-of-war.
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