On early 1604, 27-year-old Spanish officer Antonio de Oquendo was appointed commander of a two-galleon flotilla based at Lisbon by his superior, Luis Fajardo, Captain General of the Spanish Ocean Fleet. Antonio was the son of Miguel de Oquendo, a fleet commander who died in October 1588 when his ship foundered off Pasajes, while coming back from the ill-fated campaign of the Armada Invencible. The goal of Oquendo’s small unit was to fight the Dutch, English and Moroccan privateers which threatened the shipping lanes along the western Atlantic coast of Spain and Portugal. The squadron was made of the flagship Delfín de Escocia and the slightly smaller Dobladilla.