We now come to that period when one of the greatest men who ever ruled
England was to raise her to the highest position among the nations of
Europe.
Numerous engagements had taken place between the ships adhering to the
king, chiefly under the command of Prince Rupert, and those of the
Parliament, under Warwick, Dean, Popham, and Blake. Blake
having finally dispersed Prince Rupert's ships, was appointed
commander-in-chief of the British fleet. He was at first employed in
reducing the Scilly Islands and various places in the West Indies and
America, which still held out for the king. On war breaking out with
the Dutch, he was summoned home to take command of the fleet sent
against them. The Dutch had long been jealous of the commercial
progress made by the English, who everywhere interfered with their
trade, and they only now sought for an opportunity to break with their
ancient allies. It was not long wanting. England claiming the
sovereignty of the seas, insisted that the ships of other nations should
strike their flags whenever they met them. On the 14th May, Captain
Young, the commander of an English man-of-war, fell in with a Dutch
squadron off the back of the Isle of Wight. The Dutchman refused to
strike his flag, on which Captain Young, without further ado, fired a
broadside upon the Dutch commander's ship, which induced her to haul
down her flag. This was the commencement of hostilities, which were
long carried on between the two nations--the Dutch, notwithstanding the
gallantry of Van Tromp, De Witt, De Ruyter, and other admirals, being in
most cases defeated by Blake, Penn, and other naval commanders.
Soon after this Admiral Van Tromp put to sea with a fleet of upwards of
forty sail, under pretence of protecting the Dutch trade. He was met
coming into the Downs by a squadron, when he stated that he was
compelled to put in by stress of weather. The English commander
immediately sent notice to Blake, who was lying off Dover. Blake at
once sailed in search of Van Tromp, and on approaching, fired to put the
Dutchman in mind that it was his duty to strike his flag. Blake
commenced the action with but fifteen ships, and with them, for four
hours, fought the Dutchmen till, late at night, he was joined by the
rest of his fleet. By this time two Dutch ships had been taken and one
disabled, the English having lost none, when Van Tromp bore away and
escaped.
In the Mediterranean, Commodore Bodley, in command of four English
ships, fought a gallant action against eight Dutch ships, commanded by
Admiral Van Galen. The Dutchman laid the English commodore's ships
aboard, but having been thrice set on fire, he sheered off with much
loss. The second ship, which then took her place, was also beaten off,
having lost her main-mast. Two others next attacked the commodore, but
were defeated; though the English lost a hundred men, killed and
wounded. The _Phoenix_, an English ship, had meantime boarded one of
the commodore's assailants and carried her, but was in turn boarded and
captured by another Dutch ship, and taken into Leghorn Roads. Here
Captain Van Tromp took command of the _Phoenix_. The Dutchmen, thinking
themselves secure, spent their time in mirth and jollity on shore, when
Captain Owen Cox, now serving in Commodore Platten's squadron, hearing
of what was going forward, manned three boats with thirty men in each.
In addition to their weapons, each man was provided with a bag of meal
to throw in the eyes of the Dutchmen. Captain Cox pulled in during the
night, and got alongside the frigate at daylight. The boats' crews had
each their appointed work; one had to cut the cables, the second had to
go aloft and loose the sails, while the third closed the hatches and
kept the crew in subjection. Van Tromp was below, but hearing the
alarm, he rushed out of his cabin, and discharged his pistols at the
English, who were by that time masters of the frigate. Finding that his
ship was captured, he leaped out of the cabin window, and swam safely to
a Dutch ship astern. The _Phoenix_ was carried off in triumph, and
reached Naples in safety. Of course, the Grand Duke of Tuscany
remonstrated, and ordered Commodore Flatten either to restore the
_Phoenix_ or to quit Leghorn; he was determined not to do the former,
and sending to Commodore Bodley, who was lying at Elba with his small
squadron, it was arranged he should come off the port, and draw the
Dutch away. This he did. Commodore Van Galen's squadron, at the time
lying off the port to intercept him, consisted of sixteen sail; while,
besides the _Alfred_, of 52 guns, he had only the _Bonaventure_, of 44
guns, the _Sampson_, of 36, the _Levant Merchant_, of 28, the _Pilgrim_
and _Mary_, of 30 guns. He contrived, however, to let Commodore Bodley
know his position, who attempted to draw the Dutch off, and clear the
way for his squadron. Van Galen, after chasing for some time,
perceiving Platten's squadron, returned to attack it. During the action
which ensued, the _Bonaventure_ blew up, while Van Galen lost a leg from
a shot, of which wound he died. Commodore Bodley's squadron having now
joined, the action became general. Captain Cornelius Van Tromp, who
attacked the _Sampson_, was beaten off, but she was directly afterwards
destroyed by a fire-ship. The _Alfred_, the _Levant Merchant_, and
_Pilgrim_ were all overpowered and taken, and the _Mary_ alone effected
her escaped, and joined the squadron of Commodore Bodley.
Another desperate action soon afterwards took place between the Dutch
and the English in the channel, the English having 105 ships, and the
Dutch 104. The action had lasted about an hour when Admiral Dean, the
second in command, was cut in two by a cannon-shot. Monk, the
commander-in-chief, seeing him fall, threw a cloak over his body to
conceal it from the seamen. The ship of Van Kelson, the Dutch
rear-admiral, was blown up after this. From eleven in the morning till
six in the evening the battle raged, when the Dutch endeavoured to
escape. Blake joined the English fleet during the night, and pursued
them. About noon the battle was renewed, and for four hours continued
to rage. Van Tromp grappled Admiral Penn's ship, the _James_, and
attempted to board, but was repulsed, and was boarded in return. The
English having driven the Dutchmen below, Van Tromp ordered the deck to
be blown up, when numbers of the boarders were killed, though he
escaped. His ship was again boarded by the crews of the _James_ and of
another ship, and he would have been captured had not De Witt and De
Ruyter bore down and saved him. The battle was decisive; eleven Dutch
ships were taken and thirteen hundred prisoners, while seven were sunk,
two were blown up, thus making twenty ships taken and destroyed.
Grand naval engagements were carried on in those days with very little
order or regularity, each ship singling out an antagonist, and attacking
her as opportunities offered. Even then, however, some of the more
sagacious naval commanders discerned that this was not the wisest plan
for gaining a victory. Sir William Monson, one of the most skilful
admirals of the period, observes, that the most famous naval battles of
late years were those of Lepanto against the Turks, in 1577, of the
Spaniards against the French, 1580, and the English against the Spanish
Armada, in 1588. After making various remarks, he continues: "The
greatest advantage in a sea-fight is to get the wind of one another; for
he that has the wind is out of danger of being boarded, and has the
advantage where to board and how to attempt the enemy. The wind being
thus gotten, the general is to give no other directions than to every
admiral of a squadron to draw together their squadron and every one to
undertake his opposite squadron, or where he should do it to his
greatest advantage, but to be sure to take a good distance of one
another, and to relieve that squadron that should be overcharged or
distressed. Let them give warning to their ships not to venture so far
as to bring them to leeward of the enemy, for it would be in the power
of the enemy to board them, and they not to avoid it."
The strict ordering of battles by ships was before the invention of the
bowline, for then there was no sailing but before the wind, nor any
fighting but by boarding; whereas now a ship will sail within six points
of thirty-two, and by the advantage of wind, may rout any force that is
placed in that form of battle--namely, that of the Spanish Armada, to
which he is referring. The Admiralty, however, did not appear to agree
with Sir William Monson, for the following instructions were
issued:--"You are to take notice, that in case of joining battle you are
to leave it to the vice-admiral to assail the enemy's admiral, and to
match yours as equally as you can to succour the rest of the fleet, as
cause shall require, not wasting your powder nor shooting afar off, nor
till you come side by side."
The more sagacious commanders saw, that in order to ensure victory,
something beyond a vast host of ships fighting without order was
necessary, and perceived that the fleet which fought in line was in most
cases victorious. The fiercest action of this period was fought on the
9th and 10th of August, when the English fleet, under Monk, came in
sight of the Dutch, commanded by Admiral Van Tromp, who had with him
many other celebrated officers, and nearly a hundred ships of war. Monk
had about the same number of ships, which he drew up in line. The
English manoeuvred to gain the wind, but Van Tromp, who had it at the
first, kept it with advantage, and drew up his own fleet in a line
parallel to that of the English, when, bearing down upon them, he began
the battle with so great a fury, that many ships were soon seen
dismasted, others sunk, and others on fire. A spectator, who was on
board a vessel at a distance, describes the scene: "The two fleets were
now enveloped in a cloud of smoke so dense that it was impossible to
form a judgment of the fierceness of the battle otherwise than by the
horrible noise of the cannon with which the air resounded, and by the
mountains of fire which every now and then were seen rising out of the
smoke, with a crash that gave sufficient notice that whole ships were
blowing up. The battle lasted for eight hours, and was the most hard
fought of any that had happened throughout the war. The Dutch
fire-ships were managed with great dexterity, and many of the large
vessels in the English fleet were in the utmost danger. The _Triumph_
was so effectually fired, that most of her crew threw themselves into
the sea, though others remaining behind put out the fire. Admiral
Lawson engaged Admiral Ruyter, killed and wounded above half his men,
and so disabled his ship, that she was towed out of the fleet. About
noon Van Tromp was shot through the body by a musket-ball as he was
giving his orders. This greatly discouraged the Dutch, so that they
began to beat to windward, and to engage only in retreating, having but
one flag still flying. As the smoke cleared off, the two fleets were
seen in a condition which showed the horrible fury of the conflict in
which they had been engaged. The whole sea was covered with dead
bodies, with fragments, and with hulls of wrecks, still smoking or
burning. Throughout the remainder of the two fleets were seen only
dismasted vessels, and sails perforated through and through by
cannon-balls. The English pursued them, but being afraid of the shoals,
they came to an anchor six leagues off the Texel." The loss of the
Dutch amounted to 6200 men, including Admiral Van Tromp and Evertzen,
with many other persons of distinction, with twenty-six ships of war
sunk or burnt. On the side of the English, 7 captains and 500 men were
killed, and 5 captains and 800 men wounded, besides which three of their
ships were destroyed. Among the English ships were several merchantmen,
and in order to take off the thoughts of their captains from their
owners' vessels and cargoes, Monk sent them to each other's ships, a
scheme which answered perfectly well, no ships in the fleet having
behaved better. He also, it was said, to save time, issued orders at
the commencement of the fight, that no quarter should be given or taken.
This, however, was not so strictly observed, but that 1200 Dutchmen
were saved from the sinking ships. On this occasion the Dutch set the
example of fighting in line, though in their case, owing to the
desperate valour of the English, the plan did not succeed as well as it
did on many other subsequent occasions. Not without difficulty did the
English ships get back to England. This victory compelled the Dutch to
sue for peace.
It was at this time that the following song is supposed to have been
written, showing the spirit which animated the nation. It is probably,
as will be seen, the original of "Ye Mariners of England."
"When gallants are carousing
In taverns on a row,
Then we sweep o'er the deep
When the stormy winds do blow."
"Jack," however, was to have his consolation, for at the end, as we
read--
"When we return in safety,
With wages for our pains;
The tapster and the vintner
Will help to share our gains.
We'll call for liquor roundly,
And pay before we go;
Then we roar on the shore
When the stormy winds do blow," etcetera.
The gallant Blake's latest achievement was the capture of numerous
Spanish galleons, after a desperate battle off Teneriffe. He, however,
did not live to receive the fresh honours Parliament was ready to bestow
on him, as he died on the 17th of August, on board the _George_, just as
she was entering Plymouth Sound. As Clarendon says of him: "He was the
first to infuse that proportion of courage into seamen, by making them
see by experience what mighty things they could do if they were
resolved, and taught them to fight in fire as well as upon water; and
although he had been very well imitated and followed, he was the first
to give an example of that kind of naval courage which leads to bold and
resolute deeds."
The first duty of the English fleet after the restoration had been
determined on was to bring over Charles the Second, who landed in Kent
on the 23rd May, 1660.