Third Siege of Gibraltar The Third Siege of Gibraltar was mounted between February – June 1333 by a Moorish army under the prince Abd al - Malik Abd al - Wahid of Morocco . The fortified town of Gibraltar had been held by Castile since 1309 , when it had been seized from the Moorish Emirate of Granada . The attack on Gibraltar was ordered by the recently crowned Marinid ruler Abu al - Hasan Ali ibn Othman in response to an appeal by the Nasrid ruler Muhammed IV of Granada . The onset of the siege took the Castillians by surprise . The stocks of food in Gibraltar were heavily depleted at the time due to the thievery of the town ' s governor , Vasco Perez de Meira , who had looted the money that was meant to have been spent on food for the garrison and to pay for the upkeep of the castle and fortifications . After over four months of siege and bombardment by Moorish catapults , the garrison and townspeople were reduced to near - starvation and surrendered to Abd al - Malik . Start of the siege . In 1309 , Castillian troops under Ferdinand IV of Castile captured Gibraltar , then known as the " Medinat al - Fath " ( City of Victory ) , from the Muslim - ruled Emirate of Granada . Its fortifications were repaired and improved by the Castillians . In 1315 the Granadans attempted to retake Gibraltar in the brief and unsuccessful Second Siege of Gibraltar . The alliance between the Nasrids of Granada and the Marinids of Morocco had fallen into abeyance following the loss of Gibraltar , but the accession of the Marinid sultan Abu al - Hasan Ali ibn Othman led to a renewal of the pact between the two Muslim states . A force of 7 , 000 men under the command of Abu al - Hasan ' s son , Abd al - Malik , was secretly transported across the Strait of Gibraltar to rendezvous with the forces of Muhammad IV of Granada at Algeciras in February 1333 . The Castillians were distracted by the coronation of King Alfonso XI and were slow to respond to the invasion force , which was able to lay siege to Gibraltar before much of a response could be organised . Gibraltar was ill - prepared for this eventuality . Its governor , Don Vasco Perez de Meira , had looted the funds allocated by the crown to pay for food and maintenance of the town ' s defences , using it to buy land for himself near Jerez . He also misappropriated the food itself , selling it to the Moors , and kept the garrison under strength . The shipwreck of a grain ship off the Gibraltarian coast , only eight days before the siege began , gave the garrison a little extra food supply , but as events were to prove , it was not nearly enough . The town consisted of a series of individually fortified districts that reached from the dockyard on the sea front to a castle several hundred feet up the slope of the Rock of Gibraltar . By the end of February , Abd al - Malik ' s forces had captured the dockyard and the area on the Rock above the castle , where he set up siege engines . Castillian attempts to organise a relief force were hampered by Granadan raids on their borders that were intended to divert Castillian attention . In addition , political disputes between Alfonso and his vassals delayed the raising of a land force to lift the siege . Although Alfonso had a naval force at his disposal under Admiral Alfonso Jofre de Tenorio , the Moorish ships supporting the siege were positioned close inshore where it was too dangerous to attempt an attack . Fall and capture of Gibraltar . It was not until June that Alfonso was able to put a relief force into the field . His senior advisers had argued against staging a relief expedition on the grounds that it would mean fighting both Granada and Fes , which they saw as too much of a risky venture . After eight days of arguments in Seville , Alfonso got his way and was able to persuade his rebellious vassal Juan Manuel , Prince of Villena to support him against the Moors . He marched his army to Jerez , where they camped by the River Guadalete , four days ' march from Gibraltar . It was , however , already too late for the defenders . The situation in Gibraltar was desperate by mid - June . The food had run out and the townspeople and garrison had been reduced to eating their own shields , belts and shoes in an attempt to gain sustenance from the leather from which they were made . Admiral Jofre attempted to sling bags of flour into the town by firing them over the walls from ship - mounted catapults , but the Moors were able to drive the Castillian ships away . The Moors ' own catapults had caused severe damage to Gibraltar ' s defences and the weakened garrison was in no shape to resist further . On 17 June 1333 , Vasco Perez surrendered Gibraltar after agreeing terms with Abd al - Malik . It was reportedly discovered that he had been hoarding a supply of food in his own storerooms enough for feeding the whole sieged population for five days and that he had been keeping a number well - fed Moorish captives in his own house with the apparent intention of ransoming them . He fled to North Africa to escape punishment for his failures ; as chronicler of the king Alfonso XI wrote , " it was his duty either to deliver the fortress into the hands of his lord , the King , or die in its defence . " He did neither and was condemned by the Castillians as a traitor . The other defenders were allowed to leave with honour as a mark of respect for their courage in defending the town for so long . The fall of Gibraltar was rapturously received back in Morocco ; the Moorish chronicler Ibn Marzuq recorded that while he was studying in Tlemcen , his teacher announced to his class : " Rejoice , community of the faithful , because God has had the goodness to restore Gibraltar to us ! " According to Ibn Marzuq , the jubilant students burst out into cries of praise , gave thanks and shed tears of joy .