Cape São Vicente

Cape São Vicente marks the southwestern corner of mainland Europe, where Portugal's Atlantic coast turns east along the Algarve. Its cliffs overlook waters crossed by ships travelling between the Atlantic and the Strait of Gibraltar. On 14 February 1797 a British fleet under John Jervis met a larger Spanish fleet off the cape. The British victory became one of the notable naval encounters of the war, fought near a headland long familiar to sailors rounding the Iberian Peninsula.