After his departure from Valinor, Fëanor went to Alqualondë, the Swanhaven of the Teleri, to demand the use of ships to make the crossing of the Great Sea. Olwë their lord refused him, and so Fëanor gathered his host and attempted to take the ships of the Teleri by force. The Sea-elves fought back, and battle was joined between the Noldor and the Teleri beneath the stars and the lamps that lit the haven of Alqualondë.

When Fëanor's half-brother Fingolfin came upon the battle, not knowing the cause of the conflict, he joined on the side of the Noldor. Thus the Teleri were defeated, and many of them were killed in that battle: an act by the Noldor that came to be known in infamy as the Kinslaying.

After the battle, Uinen's grief was so great that a storm came up and wrecked many of the captured ships, but nonetheless the victorious Noldor escaped with a small fleet and made their way northwards away from Alqualondë and towards the coasts of Middle-earth.