The battle largely consisted of a fierce fight between the two vans, as the Spanish centre remained at long range from its French counterpart, with some ships in the rear squadrons also engaging each other. The inactivity of the Spanish centre enabled the leading ships of Duquesne's centre to attack on De Ruyter's outnumbered van squadron although the Dutch withstood these attacks, and De Ruyter attacked Duquesne's ship with the intention of boarding it, but was prevented when two French ships went to their admiral's assistance. At the end of the battle, De Ruyter was able to extract his squadron by his own seamanship and the assistance of the Dutch rear squadron.