Battle of Vila Franca do Campo

Battle of Ponta Delgada
Part of the War of the Portuguese Succession

Fresco by Niccolò Granello showing the Battle of Ponta Delgada in the Hall of Battles at El Escorial
Date26 July 1582
Location
Result Spanish victory[3][4][5]
Belligerents
Spain Spanish Empire
Portugal Portugal
 France
 England[1]
 United Provinces[2]
PortugalPortuguese loyal to Prior of Crato
Commanders and leaders
Spain Álvaro de Bazán Kingdom of France Piero Strozzi 
Strength
28 warships[6] 60 warships[6]
Casualties and losses
224 dead,
550 wounded
1,500 dead,
1,500 wounded, missing or captured,
7 ships missing,
4 ships sunk,
2 ships burned,
4 ships captured[6]

The naval Battle of Vila Franca do Campo, also known as Battle of Ponta Delgada and Naval Battle of Terceira Island, took place on 26 July 1582, off the coast of the island of São Miguel in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores, during the War of the Portuguese Succession. A combined corsair expedition, mainly French (a French, English and Dutch fleet with Portuguese forces included),[2] sailed against a Spanish naval force made up of Portuguese and Castilian ships, to preserve control of the Azores under the pretender António, Prior of Crato and to defend the islands from incorporation into the Iberian Union, the largest French force sent overseas before the age of Louis XIV.[6]

In the first engagement between large fleets of carracks and galleons operating at great distances from the mainland,[7] the mercenary fleet under Filippo di Piero Strozzi was severely defeated by a squadron under Álvaro de Bazán.[8] The Spanish victory resulted in the rapid Spanish conquest of the Azores and completed the incorporation of Portugal into the Spanish Empire.[9]

  1. ^ An English flotilla of seven privateer ships and two more vessels commanded by a Captain Henry Richards, assisted the Portuguese loyalists, in the Azores. Richards' vessels took part in the first battle of São Miguel. Quinn, David (1979). England and the Azores, 1581-1582: three letters. UC Biblioteca Geral 1, pp. 212–213
  2. ^ a b Winfield 2023, p. 29.
  3. ^ Colin Martin/Geoffrey Parker p. XVIII
  4. ^ Konstam/Bryan p.44
  5. ^ Nascimento p.122
  6. ^ a b c d Glete p. 156
  7. ^ Walton p. 80
  8. ^ Hakluyt p. 418
  9. ^ Nascimento Rodrigues/Tessaleno Devezas p. 122