THE STORY OF THE FIRST DUTCH WAR.
The causes of this war are differently stated, according to the humours and opinions of different writers. The parliament, on the one side, was jealous of its newly-acquired sovereignty, and expected extraordinary marks of defference from the powers with which it corresponded. The Dutch, on the other hand, were extremely alarmed when they found the English Commonwealth insisting upon the sovereignty of the sea, the right of fishing, and of licensing to fish, and disposed to carry the point of saluting by the flag to the utmost limit. Under these conditions of excitement and tension, anxiety led to watchfulness and proximity to rupture.
It was in the spring of the year 1652 that the war broke out; but it was warmly disputed then, and has not been fully settled since, who were the actual aggressors. It is clear, however, that the Dutch had secretly made great preparations for war, and had actually one hundred and fifty ships of force at sea; whereas the English parliament had equipped no more than the usual squadron for guarding the narrow seas, which was a fleet of twenty-five ships under the command of Admiral Blake.
The first blood drawn in this quarrel was occasioned by Commodore Young, who fired upon a Dutch man-of-war upon the captain’s refusing him the honour of the flag. This was on May 14th, 1652, and would have attracted much more public attention if an engagement of greater consequence had not happened immediately after.
Admiral Van Tromp was at sea with a fleet of upwards of forty sail, to protect, as was given out, the Dutch trade. This fleet coming into the Downs on May the 18th, met with a small squadron under the command of Major Bourne, to whom the admiral sent word that he was forced in by stress of weather; Bourne answered roundly, that the truth of this would best appear by the shortness of his stay, and immediately sent advice of it to his admiral. The next day, Van Tromp, with his fleet, bore down upon Blake in Dover road, and on his coming near him Blake fired thrice at his flag; upon which the Dutch admiral returned a broadside. For nearly four hours Blake was engaged almost alone with the Dutch squadron; but, by degrees, the weather permitted his fleet to come in to his assistance. Towards the close of the engagement, which lasted from four in the afternoon till nine at night, Bourne joined him with his eight ships, upon which the enemy bore away.
In this battle the victory was clearly on the side of the English, as the Dutch writers themselves confess, there being two Dutch ships taken and one disabled; whereas the English lost none: and yet the forces were very unequal; for the Dutch fleet consisted of forty-two ships and Blake’s at first only of fifteen; and even at the end of the fight of no more than twenty-three. Each of the admirals wrote an account of this affair to their respective masters, wherein they plainly contradict each other: but with this difference, that there is no disproving any one fact mentioned in Blake’s letter; whereas there are several inaccuracies in that of Van Tromp. The states themselves were so sensible of being in the wrong, and at the same time so mortified that their fleet, notwithstanding its superiority, had been beaten, that they apologised for it, and sent over another ambassador, Adrian Paauw, to proceed with the treaty. But the demands of the parliament were, in their opinion, too high; so all thoughts of peace were dismissed on both sides, and war was proclaimed in Holland on July 8th.
The English in the meantime, in virtue of the act of navigation, and by way of reprisal for the late damages, affronts, and hostilities, received from the states-general and their subjects, took many Dutch ships. On June 11th Blake brought in eleven merchant ships with their convoy coming from Nantes. On June 12th Captains Taylor and Peacock, in two English frigates, engaged two Dutch men-of-war on the coast of Flanders, for refusing to strike; one of which was taken and the other stranded: and, on the 13th of the same month, Blake took twenty-six merchant ships, with their convoys, homeward bound from France. On July 4th Vice-admiral Ayscue, who, on his late return from the reduction of Barbadoes, had taken ten merchant ships and four men-of-war, attacked the St. Ubes fleet of about forty sail, of which nearly thirty were taken, burnt or stranded, and plundered, on the French coast.
After this, while the states with the utmost diligence were getting ready a fleet of seventy men-of-war, under the command of Admiral Van Tromp, Blake, with about sixty, received orders to sail to the north to disturb and distress the Dutch fishery. Sir George Ayscue, who, since the destruction of the St. Ubes fleet, had taken five Dutch merchant ships, was left with the remainder of the English fleet, consisting of no more than seven men-of-war, in the Downs. While Blake triumphed in the north, Tromp, with his great fleet, came into the mouth of the Thames, in the hope of either surprising Ayscue or of insulting the coast. Failing in this, he sailed northward to intercept Blake; but his ships being dispersed by a storm, he was disappointed in that scheme also, and lost five or six frigates, which fell into the hands of Blake on his return towards the south.
The people of Holland were very much dissatisfied with the conduct of Admiral Van Tromp, who, first justifying himself to the states, laid down his commission to gratify the people. The main objection against him was his being no great seaman; and this engaged the states to cast their eyes upon De Ruyter, the ablest man among them in his profession. He accepted the command, but accepted it unwillingly; for he saw that as things then stood the English were superior. The parliament, in the meantime, took care to strengthen Sir George Ayscue’s fleet, so that it increased to thirty-eight sail; of which only two were large ships, and the rest frigates and fire-ships. With these he put to sea in search of the Dutch, took many rich prizes, and at last met with De Ruyter, who, with a fleet equal to his own, was convoying home between fifty and sixty merchantmen. This was on August 16th, 1652, and as our admiral was cruising off Plymouth. It was about one in the afternoon when the fleets came in sight. De Ruyter took twenty of the merchant ships into his line of battle, and was then very ready to engage. The fight began about four, when the English admiral, with nine others, charged through the Dutch fleet, and having thus gained the weather-gauge, attacked them again, and continued fighting till night parted them; the rest of Sir George’s fleet having very little to do in the action. The rear admiral, Peck, lost his leg, and soon afterwards died; and most of the captains who did their duty were wounded. One fire-ship was lost. On the other side the Dutch were miserably torn, so that many of their best ships were scarcely able to keep the sea. Sir George Ayscue followed them for some time the next day, and then returned into Plymouth Sound to refresh his men and to repair his ships.
Admiral Blake, who was now in the Channel, did infinite damage to the enemy; and, some hostilities having been committed upon the coast of Newfoundland by the French, he attacked a strong squadron of their ships going to the relief of Dunkirk, and took or destroyed them all, by which means this important place fell into the hands of the Spaniards. The Dutch, seeing their trade thus ruined, and apprehensive of still worse consequences, fitted out another fleet under the command of De Witte, and sent it to join De Ruyter, who was appointed to bring home a large number of merchantmen. After the junction of these fleets, and the sending of their convoy into Holland, the admirals showed a design of attacking the English navy, and Blake gave them a fair opportunity of executing their intention. But when it came to the point the Dutch fleet covered themselves behind a sandbank to avoid action.
Blake, however, engaged them on September the 28th, dividing his fleet into three squadrons; the first commanded by himself, the second by Vice-admiral Penn, and the third by Rear-admiral Bourne. It was about three when the engagement began, and the English quickly discovered their rashness in attacking an enemy under such disadvantages; for the Sovereign, a new ship, struck immediately on the sands, and so did several others; but, getting off again, the English fleet stood aloof till De Witte came freely from his advantages to a fair engagement, which was boldly begun by Bourne and gallantly seconded by the rest of the fleet. A Dutch man-of-war, attempting to board the Sovereign, was sunk by her side, and this by the first discharge she made. Soon after, a Dutch rear-admiral was taken by Captain Mildmay, and two other men-of-war sunk, a third blowing up before the end of the fight. De Witte was then glad to retire, and was pursued by the English fleet as long as it was light. The next day they continued the chase till they were within twelve leagues of the Dutch shore, and then, seeing the Dutch fleet entering into the Goree, Blake returned in triumph to the Downs, and thence into port, having lost about three hundred men, and having as many wounded. For the reception of the wounded the parliament took care to provide hospitals near Dover and Deal, and on the return of the fleet sent their thanks to the admiral and his officers.
It being now the beginning of November, Blake, who thought the season of action over, detached twenty of his ships for the security of the Newcastle colliers; twelve more were sent to Plymouth, and fifteen had retired into the river, in order to repair the damage which they had received in a storm. Admiral Tromp, who had again taken command, having intelligence of this, and that Blake had with him no more than thirty-seven ships, and many of these but thinly manned, resolved to attack him in the Downs, not far from the place where they had fought before. On November the 29th he presented himself before the English fleet, and Blake, after holding a council of war, resolved to engage notwithstanding the great superiority of the enemy; but the wind rising they were obliged to defer fighting until the next day, and that night our fleet rode a little above Dover road. In the morning, both fleets plied westward, Blake having the weather-gauge. About eleven the battle began with great fury; but, very unluckily for the English, half of their small fleet could not engage. The Triumph, in which Blake was in person, the Victory and the Vanguard bore almost the whole stress of the fight, having twenty Dutch men-of-war upon them at once; and yet they fought it out till it was dark. Late in the evening, the Garland, commanded by Captain Batten, and the Bonaventure, Captain Hookston, clapped Von Tromp aboard, killed his secretary and purser by his side, and would certainly have taken his ship if they had not been boarded by two Dutch flag-ships, by whom, after their captains were killed, both these ships were taken. Blake, who saw this with indignation, pushed so far to their relief that he was very near sharing the same fate, if the Vanguard and Sapphire had not stood by him with the utmost resolution and at last brought him off. The Hercules was run ashore in the retreat, and if the night had not sheltered them most of the ships that were engaged must have been lost; but they took the advantage of its obscurity, and retired first to Dover and then into the river.
Admiral Tromp continued a day or two in the Downs, sailed from thence towards Calais, took part of the Barbadoes fleet, and some other prizes, and then sailed to the Isle of Rhé with a broom at his top-mast head, intimating that he would sweep the narrow seas of English ships. There appears, however, no such reason for boasting as the Dutch writers suggest: their fleet had indeed many advantages; yet they bought their success very dear, one of their best ships being blown up and two disabled.
The parliament showed their steadiness by caressing Blake after his defeat, and naming him, in conjunction with Deane and Monk, their generals at sea for another year. In order to the more speedy manning the navy, they issued a proclamation, offering considerable rewards to such as entered themselves within the term of forty days; they also raised the sailors’ pay from nineteen to twenty-four shillings a month: and this had so good an effect that in six weeks’ time they had a fleet of sixty men-of-war ready to put to sea; forty under Blake in the river, and twenty more at Portsmouth. On February 11th both fleets joined near Beachy Head, and thence Admiral Blake sailed over against Portland, where he lay across the Channel, in order to welcome Tromp on his return. This was a surprise to the Dutch admiral, who did not think it possible, after the late defeat, for the parliament to fit out, in so short a period, a fleet capable of facing him again. He had between two and three hundred merchant ships under convoy, and was therefore much amazed when, sailing up the Channel, he found Blake so stationed that it was impossible to avoid fighting. English and Dutch authors vary pretty much as to the strength of their respective fleets; but, on comparing the admirals’ letters, they appear to have been nearly equal, each having about seventy sail.
The Generals Blake and Deane were both on board the Triumph, and with twelve stout ships led their fleet, and fell in first with the Dutch on February the 18th, 1653, about eight in the morning. They were roughly treated before the rest of the fleet came up, though gallantly seconded by Lawson in the Fairfax, and Captain Mildmay in the Vanguard. In the Triumph Blake was wounded in the thigh by a piece of iron which a shot had driven, the same piece of iron tearing General Deane’s coat and breeches. Captain Ball, who commanded the ship, was shot dead and fell at Blake’s feet; his secretary, Mr. Sparrow, was likewise killed while receiving his orders: besides whom he lost a hundred seamen, the rest being most of them wounded and the ship so miserably shattered that it had little share in the next two days’ fights.
In the Fairfax there were a hundred men killed, the ship being wretchedly mauled; the Vanguard lost her captain and a large number of men. The Prosperous, a ship of forty-four guns, was boarded by De Ruyter and taken; but, De Ruyter’s ship being at that instant boarded by an English man-of-war, Captain Vesey, in the Merlin frigate, entered the Prosperous, and retook her. The Assistance, vice-admiral of the blue squadron, was disabled in the beginning of the fight and brought off to Portsmouth, whither the Advice quickly followed her, being no longer able to keep the sea. Tromp, who was long engaged with Blake, lost most of his officers and had his ship disabled; De Ruyter lost his main and foretop mast, and very narrowly escaped being taken. One Dutch man-of-war was blown up; six more were either sunk or taken.
Friday night was spent in repairing the damage and making the necessary dispositions for a second engagement. On Saturday morning the enemy was seen again seven leagues off Weymouth, whither the English plied, and came up with them in the afternoon, about three leagues to the north-west of the Isle of Wight. Tromp had again drawn his fleet together, and ranged it in the form of a half-moon, enclosing the merchant ships within a semi-circle; and in that posture he maintained a retreating fight. The English made several desperate attacks, striving to break through to the merchant ships; during which De Ruyter’s ship was again so roughly treated that she was towed out of the fleet. At last the merchantmen, finding they could be no longer protected, began to shift for themselves, throwing part of their goods overboard for the greater expedition. According to Blake’s own letter, eight men-of-war and fourteen or sixteen merchant ships were taken, and the fight continued all night.
On Sunday morning the Dutch were near Boulogne, where the fight was renewed, but with little effect. Tromp had slipped away in the dark with his merchantmen to Calais sands, where he anchored that day with forty sail; the wind favouring him, he thence tided it home, our fleet pursuing but slowly; for Blake, though he feared not Dutchmen, yet dreaded their shallow coasts: however, the Captains Lawson, Martin, and Graver, took each a Dutch man-of-war, and Penn picked up many of their merchantmen. On the whole, the Dutch had the better of the fight the first day, lost ground the second, and were clearly beaten the third. They lost eleven men-of-war—their own accounts say but nine—thirty merchantmen, fifteen hundred men killed, and as many wounded. As for the English, they lost only the Sampson, which Captain Batten, finding disabled, sank of his own accord; though it is certain our loss in killed and wounded was little inferior to that of the Dutch.
Van Tromp now convoyed a great fleet of merchantmen by the north, trying that route to escape the difficulties of the channel; whereupon our navy followed him to Aberdeen, yet to no purpose: for he escaped them both going and coming back, which gave him an opportunity of coming into the Downs, making some prizes, and battering Dover Castle. This scene of triumph lasted but a week; for on May 31st Tromp had intelligence that Monk and Deane, who commanded the English fleet, were approaching, and that their whole fleet consisted of ninety-five sail of men-of-war and five fire-ships. The Dutch had ninety-eight men-of-war and six fire-ships, and both fleets were commanded by men the most remarkable for courage and conduct in either nation; so that it was generally conceived this battle would prove decisive.
On June 2nd, in the morning, the English fleet discovered the enemy, whom they immediately attacked with great vigour. The action began about eleven o’clock, and the first broadside from the enemy carried off the brave Admiral Deane, whose body was almost cut in two by a chain-shot. Monk, with much presence of mind, covered his body with his cloak: and here appeared the wisdom of having both admirals on board the same ship; for as no flag was taken in the fleet had no notice of the accident, and the fight continued with the same warmth as if it had not happened. The blue squadron charged through the enemy, and Rear-admiral Lawson bid fair for taking De Ruyter; and after he was obliged to leave his ship, sank another of forty-two guns commanded by Captain Buller. The fight continued very hot till three o’clock, when the Dutch fell into great confusion, and Tromp saw himself obliged to make a kind of running fight till nine in the evening, when a stout ship, commanded by Cornelius van Velsen, blew up. This increased the consternation in which they were before; and though Tromp used every method in his power to oblige the officers to do their duty, and even fired upon such ships as drew out of the line, yet it was to no purpose, but rather served to increase their misfortune. In the night Blake arrived in the English fleet with a squadron of eighteen ships, and so had his share in the second day’s engagement.
Tromp did all that was consistent with his honour to avoid fighting the next day; but he would not do more, so that the English fleet came up with him again by eight in the morning and engaged with the utmost fury; the battle continued very hot for about four hours, and Vice-admiral Penn boarded Tromp twice, and had taken him, if he had not been seasonably relieved by De Witte and De Ruyter. At last the Dutch fell again into confusion, which was so great, that a plain flight quickly followed; and, instead of trusting to their arms, they sought shelter on the flat coast of Newport, from whence, with difficulty enough, they escaped to Zealand. Our writers agree that the Dutch had six of their best ships sunk, two blown up, and eleven taken; six of their principal captains were made prisoners, and upwards of fifteen hundred men. Among the ships before-mentioned, one was a vice-admiral and two were rear-admirals. The Dutch historians, indeed, confess the loss of but eight men-of-war. On our side, Admiral Deane and one captain were all the persons of note killed; of private men there were but few, and not a ship was missing; so that a more signal victory could scarcely have been obtained, or, indeed, desired. After this victory the Dutch sent ambassadors to England to negotiate a peace almost on any terms.
The states were, however, far from trusting entirely to negotiations, but, at the time they treated, laboured with the utmost diligence to repair their past losses and to fit out a new fleet. This was a very difficult task; and, in order to effect it, they were forced to raise the seamen’s wages, though their trade was at a full stop; they came down in person to their ports, and saw their men embarked, and advanced them wages beforehand, and promised them if they would fight once more they would never ask them to fight again.
Yet all this would hardly have sufficed if the industry of De Witte, in equipping their new-built ships, and the care and skill of Van Tromp in refitting their old ones, and encouraging the seamen, had not succeeded in equipping a fresh fleet, of upwards of ninety ships, by the latter end of July, a thing admired then, and scarcely credible now. These were victualled for five months; and the scheme laid down by the states was to force the English fleet to leave their ports by coming to block up ours. But first it was resolved Van Tromp should sail to the mouth of the Texel, where De Ruyter, with twenty-five sail of stout ships, was kept in by the English fleet, in order to try if they might not be provoked to leave their station, and thereby give the Dutch squadron an opportunity of coming out.
On July 29th, 1653, the Dutch fleet appeared in sight of the English, upon which the latter did their utmost to engage them; but Van Tromp, having in view the release of De Witte, rather than fighting, kept off; so that it was seven at night before General Monk in the Resolution, with about thirty ships, great and small, came up with him and charged through his fleet. It growing dark soon after nothing more passed that night, Monk sailing to the south and Van Tromp to the northward, by which, unsuspected by the English, he both joined De Witte’s squadron and gained the weather-gauge. The next day proving very foul and windy, the sea ran so high that it was impossible for the fleets to engage, the English particularly finding it hard enough to avoid running upon the enemy’s coasts.
On Sunday, July 31st, the weather having become favourable, both fleets engaged with terrible fury. The battle lasted at least eight hours, and was the most hard fought fight of any that happened during the war. The Dutch fire-ships being managed with great dexterity, many of the large vessels in the English fleet were in the utmost danger of perishing by them, and the Triumph was so effectually fired, that most of her crew threw themselves into the sea; and yet the few who stayed behind succeeded in extinguishing the flames. Lawson engaged De Ruyter briskly, killed and wounded more than half his men, and so disabled his ship that it was towed out of the fleet; whereupon the admiral, returning in a galiot, went on board another ship. About noon, Van Tromp was shot through the body with a musket-ball, as he was giving orders. This effectually discouraged his countrymen, so that by two they began to retreat in great confusion, having but one flag standing among them. The lightest frigates in the English fleet pursued them closely, till the Dutch admiral, perceiving they were but small and of no great strength, turned his helm and resolved to engage them; but some larger ships coming to their assistance, the Dutchman was taken. It was night by the time their scattered fleet reached the Texel, while the English, fearing their flats, rode warily about six leagues off.
This was a terrible blow to the Dutch, who, according to Monk’s letter, lost no less than thirty ships; but from better intelligence it appeared that four of these had escaped, two into a port of Zealand, and two into Hamburg. Their loss, however, was very great; five captains were taken prisoners, between four and five thousand men killed, and twenty-six ships of war either burnt or sunk. On the side of the English there were two ships only, viz., the Oak and the Hunter frigate burnt, six captains killed, and upwards of five hundred seamen. There were also six captains wounded and about eight hundred private men.
The parliament then sitting ordered gold chains to be sent to the Generals Blake and Monk, and likewise to Vice-admiral Penn and Rear-admiral Lawson; they sent also chains to the rest of the flag-officers, and medals to the captains. August 25th was appointed for a day of solemn thanksgiving; and, General Monk being then in town, Cromwell, at a great feast in the city, put the gold chain about his neck, and obliged him to wear it all dinner-time. As for the states, they supported their loss with inexpressible courage and constancy, and buried Tromp with great magnificence at the public expense.
Hostilities between the two states had not continued quite two years, and yet, in that time, the English took no less than one thousand seven hundred prizes, valued by the Dutch themselves at sixty-two millions of guilders, or nearly six millions sterling. On the contrary, those taken by the Dutch did not amount to a fourth part either in number or value. Within that period the English were victorious in no less than five general battles, some of which were of several days’ duration; whereas the Hollanders cannot justly boast of having gained one; for the action between De Ruyter and Ayscue, in which they pretended some advantage, was no general fight; and the advantage gained by Tromp in the Downs is owned to have been gained over a part only of the English fleet. Short as this quarrel was, it brought the Dutch to greater extremities than their eighty years of war with Spain.