The Anglo-Spanish War was an undeclared naval war between Great Britain and the Spanish Empire which lasted from May 1715 to October 1722. The 1713-1715 Peace of Utrecht, which brought an end to open hostilities between Britain and Spain during the War of the Spanish Succession, did not entirely remove the tensions between the two colonial empires. Small skirmishes between the British Royal Navy and the Spanish Navy continued in the Caribbean, even as the scourge of piracy continued to plague the region and adversely effect both empires' shipping routes. As both the British Empire and Spanish Empire were large and powerful empires, the loss of a schooner or brig was negligible, and the frequent naval battles between the British and Spanish in the Caribbean had little impact on Anglo-Spanish relations in Europe.
On Abaco Island in the Bahamas and on the Santanillas in Honduras, British and Spanish soldiers periodically clashed on land, while, at sea, naval battles of varying scales occurred off the southern coast of Jamaica (between Spanish ships from South and Central America and British ships from Kingston and Port Royal), off the Bahamas, off the coasts of Hispaniola, and especially in the disputed 100 nautical miles between Cuba in the north and Jamaica in the south. At times, these naval clashes took place between small ships such as schooners, brigs, or even gunboats. However, there were occasions in which larger ships were involved (especially in the southern Caribbean, where the empires' naval presence was stronger), such as the 1722 Battle of Runaway Bay; a British man o' war and two frigates encircled and destroyed the roving Spanish man o' war Reino de España in a one-sided gunnery contest. Perhaps the largest battle was the Battle of Portland Point, during which both the British and Spanish sent in a man o' war and two frigates to battle off the southern coast of Jamaica.
The fighting in the Caribbean became part of a larger conflict in the War of the Quadruple Succession from 1718 to 1720; in 1720, the Spanish launched a failed raid on the British port of Nassau. In February 1720, the Treaty of the Hague was signed, restoring peace in Europe, but the old policy of "No peace beyond the line" continued as Britain and Spain continued to battle for control of the seas. The violence continued for at least two more years, with the levels of violence varying from small exchanges of fire to large fleet battles. Pirates such as Edward Kenway took advantage of the chaos to plunder both British and Spanish shipping, eventually forcing both nations to rein in their combative navies. Nevertheless, the continuation of small-scale skirmishes between British and Spanish ships in the Caribbean resulted in the War of Jenkins' Ear in 1739.