On the 22d of April, De Ruyter and Duquesne met again off Agosta.

Duquesne had twenty-nine ships, the allied Spaniards and Dutch twenty-seven, of which ten were Spanish.
Unfortunately the Spaniard commanded in chief, and took the centre of the line with the ships of his country, contrary to the advice of Ruyter, who, knowing how inefficient his allies were, wished to scatter them through the line and so support them better.

Ruyter himself took the van, and the allies, having the wind, attacked; but the Spanish centre kept at long cannon range, leaving the brunt of the battle to fall on the Dutch van.

The rear, following the commander-in-chief's motions, was also but slightly engaged.

In this sorrowful yet still glorious fulfilment of hopeless duty, De Ruyter, who never before in his long career had been struck by an enemy's shot, received a mortal wound.