On May 3, the Spanish naval vessel Atalaya traversed British territorial waters near Gibraltar, calling on commercial ships anchoring at port to immediately leave the area. The Royal Navy responded by dispatching the armed patrol boat hms Scimitar.
According to the government in Gibraltar, the Spanish boat crossed into the British territorial zone and “contacted all merchant shipping on the eastside of the Rock within British Gibraltar Territorial Waters and ordered them to raise anchors and to leave since they did not have permission to be in Spanish waters.”
