ships to follow, Dilkes attacked vigorously with his ships' boats and shallower draft vessels. In the three days that followed he captured one man-at-war, destroying the other two. He also captured fifteen merchantmen and burned or sunk twenty-six, leaving just four survivors of the original flotilla. As a result, Queen Anne ordered gold medals to be struck and presented to Dilkes and his captains. He spent the next few months based in Cork, escorting convoys and patrolling the entrance to the English Channel, before returning to Spithead just in time to avoid the Great Storm of 1703 on 26 November. During this year he was elected to represent Castlemartyr in the Irish House of Commons. The following year, with his flag still in the Kent, he sailed with Sir Cloudesley Shovell to join Sir George Rooke's fleet off Lisbon. Operating with this fleet, on , he led the Kent, and in the pursuit and capture of three Spanish warships: Porta Cœli, Santa Theresa and St. Nicholas. He was not present at the capture of Gibraltar, but soon afterwards took a prominent part in the battle of Málaga as rear-admiral of the white squadron, in acknowledgment of which he was knighted by the Queen on 22 October shortly after his return to England. He was promoted to Rear Admiral of the Red on 18 January 1705, and sent to escort a convoy of merchant ships to Lisbon the following month, hoisting his flag in the . On arrival in the Tagus, he placed himself under the command of Sir John Leake and, on , had a principal share in dealing with the French squadron that was blockading Gibraltar. The French force, consisting of five ships of the line, fled on the approach of the much larger British fleet. In the ensuing Battle of Cabrita Point, Dilkes led the capture of the sixty-gun , whilst the remaining French vessels were either captured or destroyed. On , Sir Cloudesley Shovell arrived in Lisbon with reinforcements, and Dilkes remained through the summer with this grand fleet under the joint command of Shovell and Lord Peterborough. He took part in the successful siege of Barcelona before returning to England with Shovell in November. He seems to have spent 1706 in home waters, employed chiefly in the blockade of Dunkirk, but the following year he sailed once more for the Mediterranean. He joined the fleet commanded