Luis Fajardo y Ruíz de Avendaño

Luis Fajardo y Ruíz de Avendaño, ( 1556 – 21 May 1617 ), known simply as Luis Fajardo, was a Spanish admiral and nobleman who had an outstanding naval career in the Spanish Navy. He is considered one of the most reputable Spanish militaries of the last years of the reign of Philip II and the reign of Philip III. He held important positions in the navy and carried out several military operations in which he had to fight against English, Dutch, French and Barbary forces in the Atlantic, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. He is known for the conquest of La Mamora in 1614.

Because he belonged to a noble family, he had several appointments such as Adelantado de Murcia, Knight of the Order of Calatrava and Commander of Almuradiel. This fact affected the Dutch industry, which depended on the product for various uses.

After the attack, he spent a brief time in the Caribbean chasing privateers before returning to Spain. The following year, he defeated the fleet of Dutch Admiral Willem Haultain at the Battle of Cape San Vicente, having done so with a makeshift fleet. This allowed lifting the blockade of the Spanish-Portuguese coast and the arrival of the Spanish treasure fleet that year.

By 1607 his son Juan had begun to assist him in directing the Armada del Mar Océano, accompanying him on his main missions. In May 1609 he delivered a report to the king about the problems in the maintenance of the Spanish ships due to rot caused by inadequately curing the vessels.

With the Pax Hispanica, Fajardo was frequently in the Spanish Levante, dedicating himself to dealing with the growing threat of Anglo-Barbary piracy in the Mediterranean, and trying to hunt down renowned pirates such as Zymen Danseker and Jack Ward.

In June of that year, Fajardo commanded an expedition to the Barbary coast to pursue the pirate Danseker. He arrived at the Tunisian coast, where he attacked the fortified anchorage of La Goulette, destroying and capturing all the ships in the place, which made clear the Spanish capacity to face the pirates. Then he collaborated with part of the fleet in the expulsion of the Moorish from Spain. The manuscripts were not returned by the Spanish Crown and became part of the Royal Library of El Escorial.

In August 1614, Fajardo commanded an expedition of almost 100 ships with 5,000 landing soldiers, with whom he conquered La Mamora, a military action that earned him great prestige for the measures he took during the attack, and for which he had no casualties. The conquest of the place deprived Muley Zidan of a haven for pirates and prevented this strategic place from falling into Dutch hands.

During the last years of his life, he continued to command the Armada del Mar Océano and had some naval engagements along the Spanish Atlantic coast. Fajardo died on 21 May 1617, being succeeded in command of the aforementioned naval force by Fadrique de Toledo, 1st Marquess of Valdueza.