The naval battle fought off the coast of Estepona in 1342

In 1342, during the long naval war between Castile and the Marinid sultanate of Morocco known as the Battle of the Strait, a naval engagement was fought off the coast of Estepona — recorded by medieval chronicles and modern historiography as the Battle of Estepona. According to historian Wenceslao Segura González's reconstruction from the Crónica de Alfonso XI and Jerónimo Zurita's Anales de la Corona de Aragón, the Aragonese admiral Pedro de Moncada (Pere de Montcada), commanding twenty galleys en route to reinforce the Christian blockade of Algeciras, encountered thirteen Marinid galleys from Morocco off Estepona. Four Muslim galleys were captured, two ran aground near the coast, and the remaining seven escaped to Morocco. The captured galleys were carrying wheat destined to resupply besieged Algeciras — a detail that ties the battle directly to the siege Alfonso XI launched weeks later, on 2 August 1342. The exact date is reconstructed rather than directly recorded: Zurita places it at the end of May, and the Crónica de Alfonso XI places it four days after the victory at Guadalmesí (27 May) — both pointing to 31 May 1342.