In 1652 the Dutch naval power was without a rival in the world. The sea
seemed to be their proper element, and their fleets of war and commerce
penetrated to every part of the globe. Their colonial possessions were
only inferior to those of Spain, and their wealth, energy and valor
gave every promise of their extension.
England had better home harbors, and a finer geographical position; a
more numerous population, and almost equal maritime resources; and it
was a natural and cherished idea of the English Republicans to form
the Commonwealth and the United Provinces of Holland into one powerful
Protestant State, which should be able to resist all the other powers.
The advantages of such a union were easily to be seen, but the splendid
conception was opposed by commercial jealousies and by dynastic
interests.
William, the second Prince of Orange of that name, had married a
daughter of Charles the First, so that in addition to a princely
antipathy to Commonwealths, an alliance of this kind would have
interfered with a possible succession of his wife and children to the
English throne.
William was exceedingly popular with the masses, and so long as he
lived the two States remained on bad terms. He even refused to extend
to the agents of Parliament the protection of the Dutch law, and they
were constantly insulted, and one lost his life at the hands of a mob,
it was said, by the machinations of Montrose. No redress could be
obtained.
Holland’s recent successes, especially at sea, against Spain and the
Barbary States, had made her very confident in her maritime power.
England was then much exhausted, from internal dissension, and Holland
was anxious to be considered mistress of the Narrow Seas, a right
which England had long claimed, and which the Dutch had always firmly
disputed.
The Prince of Orange died rather suddenly, leaving his heir yet
unborn, and the Democratic party, which comprised the most liberal
and enlightened of the Dutch people, seized the opportunity to
abolish the office of Stadtholder, and restore a pure Republic. After
their success in this it was thought and hoped that at least a close
alliance, offensive and defensive, might be formed between the two
Republican States. An ambassador was sent from England to Holland for
that purpose, but the negotiation lagged. The “High Mightinesses” who
now ruled Holland offered a counter-proposition. Delays followed,
and St. John, the English envoy, whose time was limited to a certain
fixed date, had his pride hurt by the delay. The Dutch, on their side,
thought it arrogant and menacing in the English Parliament to have set
a time for their action and its agent’s return. The exiled court was
then at the Hague, and the exiled cavaliers frequently made St. John
feel their presence. Then, again, Holland may have wished to see the
result of the invasion of Scotland, and, after long delays, St. John
left Holland, more inclined for war than peace.
The Dutch statesmen saw their mistake after the battle of Worcester
had firmly established the English commonwealth, and now endeavored
to renew negotiations. But new troubles prevented an understanding.
Dutch privateers had continued to injure English commerce; while still
more insuperable difficulties arose from the passage by the English
Parliament of the Navigation Act. At that time, in addition to being
great traders, the Dutch were great fishermen. Rotterdam and Amsterdam
were the exchanges of Europe, and immense fortunes were made by the
ship owners of these ports. Under the Stuarts England had neglected the
merchant marine, and afforded a fine field to the Dutch traders, but
the Navigation Act, in declaring that no goods the produce of Asia,
Africa or America, should be imported into England, except in vessels
either belonging to that commonwealth or to the countries from which
the goods were imported, put a period, so far as the British Islands,
their colonies and dependencies were concerned, to a very lucrative
branch of Dutch enterprise.
The new Dutch ambassador endeavored to have this law of exclusion
repealed at once; and while urging the point, hinted that his country
then was fitting out a powerful fleet for the protection of their
trade. This hint was taken as a menace, and Parliament ordered its sea
captains to exact all the honors due the red cross flag which had been
claimed by England in the Narrow Seas since Saxon times. This order
soon made much trouble. An English Commodore, Young, falling in with
a Dutch fleet returning from the Mediterranean, sent to request the
Admiral in command of the convoy to lower his flag. The Dutch officer
refused to comply with this demand, so unexpectedly made, without
consultation with his superiors. Young then fired into his ship, and
a sharp action ensued; but the English being stronger, and the Dutch
taken by surprise, the latter were obliged to strike.
To avenge this insult to their flag, the States General fitted out a
fleet of forty-two sail, and placed it under the command of Van Tromp,
with instructions to use his discretion in resisting the English
claim to supremacy. He was, however, positively required to repel, on
all occasions, and at all hazards, attacks upon the commerce of the
Republic of Holland, and to properly support the dignity of its flag.
Tromp, who had genius as well as courage and skill, was well suited to
carry out these orders. This celebrated naval commander was born at
Briel, in 1597, and died in 1653. He served on a frigate commanded by
his father when only eleven years old, his father being killed in an
action with the French, and the son made prisoner. He rose rapidly in
the Dutch navy, and was a Vice Admiral at the age of forty, when he
totally defeated a Spanish fleet, superior in numbers and weight of
metal. This success not only made him very popular at home, but caused
him to be made a French noble. We shall see in the following pages
how Tromp died. He was buried at Delft, where a splendid monument was
raised to him.
When Tromp was put in command of this fleet war had not been declared,
and the Dutch ambassador was still in England when Tromp and his fleet
suddenly appeared in the Downs. Bourne, who was stationed off Dover
with part of the English fleet, at once sent a messenger to Blake,
who was off Rye with another division of ships. Upon receipt of the
intelligence Blake at once made all sail for the Downs. This wonderful
man, one of the greatest names in English naval history, was fifty
years old before he became a sailor; and yet, upon being appointed a
“General at Sea,” he performed some of the greatest exploits, and won
some of the greatest victories recorded in naval annals. Blake found
Tromp in and about Dover Roads. When the English were still about
ten miles off Tromp weighed and stood out to sea, without lowering
his flag. This, under the regulations then existing, was an act of
defiance. Blake fired a gun, to call attention to the omission, but no
answer was returned. To a second and a third gun, Tromp replied by a
single shot, keeping his flag flying. Stretching over to the other side
of the Straits, he then received some communication from a ketch which
met him, and, as if she had brought imperative orders, he soon came
round and made toward Blake; his own ship, the Brederode, taking the
van.
Blake felt that, in spite of a want of any declaration of war, Tromp
had received orders to offer battle, and at once proceeded to prepare
for it.
Tromp was superior in force, his numbers being greater. This was
partly made up for by the fact that the English carried more guns in
proportion, and larger crews, but many of their men were landsmen.
When the fleets had approached within musket shot, Blake, affecting
not to notice the menacing attitude of the Dutch, stood toward the
Brederode, to remonstrate concerning the lack of honors, in not
lowering the flag.
The Dutch ship sent a broadside into the James, Blake’s flag-ship, and
stopped all remonstrance short. Blake was at this moment in his cabin,
with some officers, and the fire smashed the windows and damaged the
stern. Blake coolly observed, “Well! it is not civil in Van Tromp to
take my flag-ship for a brothel, and break my windows.” As he spoke,
another broadside came from the Brederode. At this he called to those
on deck to return the fire, and the action at once began.
Few of the English officers in high command had then any experience of
warfare at sea, and Vice Admiral Penn was the only one who had received
a regular naval education.
The Council, in giving Blake chief command at sea, had left the
selection of two vice admirals to himself; and to these posts he had,
with Cromwell’s approval, named Penn and Bourne. Penn sailed on board
the Triumph, of 68 guns, taking young Robert Blake, the nephew of the
admiral, as his lieutenant. Bourne was on board the St. Andrew, 60.
Not supposing hostilities likely to occur while the Dutch ambassador
was still in England, Penn was on leave, and there was not a practical
seaman left in high command in the English fleet.
The battle began about four in the afternoon, with a rapid exchange of
broadsides. On the part of the English no line appears to have been
formed; the ships grappled as they happened to meet. The James, a
ship of fifty guns and 260 men, seems to have borne the brunt of the
action. She received 70 shots in the hull, lost all her masts, and
was completely dismantled as to her battery, by the Dutch fire. She
was exposed to a storm of shot for four hours, and had several of her
officers killed or wounded. In spite of great loss her men stood well
up to their unaccustomed work, and their energies were aroused afresh,
just before nightfall, by the arrival of Bourne and his division, which
attacked the enemy’s rear. This additional force came just in time,
and Van Tromp withdrew at dark, after a drawn battle. Blake was too
much disabled to follow, and spent the night in repairs. At daylight no
enemy was in sight, and the English found themselves unopposed upon the
Narrow Seas.
Two Dutch ships had been taken, one of which soon sank, and the other,
of 30 guns, was manned for immediate service. For such a well contested
affair the loss in killed and wounded had been surprisingly small.
This sudden encounter, without any declaration of war, caused profound
feeling in both countries. The Dutch ambassador insisted that Van Tromp
was the assailed, and only stood on the defensive, and that, with
his force, he could have destroyed the English if he had chosen. The
English mob was so indignant that the ambassador had to be protected
by a military guard; and, after long and angry debate and negotiation,
took his leave.
Blake continued to patrol the Channel, with undisputed sway, harassing
the Dutch trade and making many captures. The Dutch merchantmen were
forced to abandon the route by the Channel, and to go north about; or
else land their goods and tranship them, at great expense, through
France. The English Council not only fitted out the captured Dutch
ships, but added more men-of-war and some fire-ships to their fleet;
while the seamen’s wages were raised, and a large number enrolled in
the service of the State.
In the meantime the Dutch, a people of vast resources and inflexible
spirit, were not idle. But Blake, who was the chief authority in
naval matters, caused the English Council to raise the English navy
to 250 sail and fourteen fire-ships. While squadrons were sent to the
western part of the Channel, to the Baltic, and to the Straits of
Gibraltar, one hundred and seventy sail, of all classes, as well as the
fire-ships, were to be placed under Blake’s immediate orders, to fight
the enemy.
The full number of vessels so authorized was never fitted out; but in
a month from the fight off Dover the Admiral had one hundred and five
ships, carrying near 4000 guns, under his immediate command. The great
difficulty was in obtaining men to man the ships; and, to make up for
the scarcity of seamen, two regiments of foot were taken bodily on
board the fleet--and from that time marines, as a distinct corps, have
formed part of the equipment of English men-of-war.
In the meantime the Dutch were urging their preparations, and their
dock-yards at the Texel, the Maas, and on the Zuyder Zee, were at work
day and night. They laid the keels of sixty men-of-war, intended to
be larger and more perfect than had ever been seen in the North Sea.
Merchantmen of size were fitted as men-of-war, and all able seamen
lured into service by high pay and the hope of prize money. In a few
weeks Van Tromp found himself in command of one hundred and twenty
sail, of all classes.
It had become necessary for England to send to the Baltic for supplies
of hemp, tar and spars, and it required a strong fleet to convoy these
vessels safely home. Another fleet was detailed to intercept the rich
Dutch merchant fleets from the East Indies and elsewhere, as well as
to break up the great herring fishery, which the hardy and industrious
Hollanders had monopolized, and in which their vessels were employed by
the thousand. The spring fleet of herring vessels, numbering 600, was
now coming home from the neighborhood of the North British islands, and
as Tromp showed no immediate intention of putting to sea, Blake himself
went to the North, leaving Sir George Ascue, his second in command, in
the Channel, to keep a lookout for Van Tromp.
Blake sailed in the Resolution, with sixty ships, leaving Dover Road
on the 21st of June, and about the time he had passed the Frith of
Forth, Van Tromp appeared in the Downs with over one hundred men of
war and ten fire-ships. Ascue was compelled to shelter his division
under the guns of Dover Castle, and the whole south of England was at
the mercy of Van Tromp. Couriers were sent by land, in hot haste, to
intercept Blake on the Scotch coast, and recall him from his ill-judged
cruise. But before they found him he had met the Dutch herring fleet,
escorted by twelve men of war, and captured 600 of the “busses,” with
their freight. This was not done, however, without a most gallant fight
by the twelve Dutch men-of-war, which lasted three hours, against
overwhelming odds, ending in the sinking of three and the capture of
the others. Blake let the fishing boats go, after warning them never to
fish again among the British islands. For his conduct in thus restoring
their all to these poor people he was afterwards much blamed by many in
England.
Meantime, in the South, hurried preparations were made to meet Van
Tromp. But the latter was detained in mid-channel by a calm, and when
the wind sprung up, it blew from the land with such force that the
Dutch fleet could not approach, and his intention of crushing Ascue was
foiled. With the same strong wind Van Tromp, therefore, returned to the
Texel, where an immense fleet of merchant vessels were waiting for him
to escort them clear of all danger from English cruisers. This duty he
accomplished, and then followed Blake to the North. Blake’s fleet had
suffered much from bad weather, and was now scattered among the roads
and havens of the Orkneys, for repairs. But on hearing that his enemy
was approaching, Blake hastily re-assembled his ships and prepared for
the encounter.
Towards evening on the 5th of August the fleets came in sight of
each other, about half way between the Orkney and the Shetland
islands. Both leaders were confident, and both anxious to engage. But
while preparations were being made a fierce gale burst upon them,
which damaged and destroyed many of the ships of both fleets, but
particularly those of Van Tromp, so that he was obliged to make his
way home with much loss, followed by Blake, who ravaged and insulted
the Dutch coast with impunity. Thence he returned to the Downs, and
gathered his fleet once more about him.
In the meantime Ascue and De Ruyter, Van Tromp’s second in command, had
had a drawn battle, and the States General of Holland, undaunted by
recent reverses, were refitting another large fleet for service in the
Channel.
The failure of Van Tromp to accomplish anything with the powerful fleet
provided him, caused great tumult in Holland. The Dutch had been so
long accustomed to victory at sea that the mob became ungovernable.
Van Tromp was insulted upon his return, and resigning his command,
retired to private life. De Witt, a renowned statesman, as well as an
Admiral, was called to the command of the fleet. De Ruyter now wished
to resign his command, pleading long service, advancing years, and
failing health. But his countrymen would not listen to his retiring,
and insisted upon his once more leading them, as of old, to glory and
victory.
When the fleet was ready for sea, De Witt joined De Ruyter, and assumed
the supreme command.
To oppose this new danger Blake summoned Ascue and his squadron from
Plymouth, and the two hostile fleets were soon at sea, and searching
for each other, to have a renewed trial of strength.
Blake had sixty-eight ships of various force, and was superior to the
Dutch fleet both in number of vessels and in guns.
While cruising about the Channel in search of the Dutch, Blake fell
in with the fleet of the Duke de Vendome, which was fresh from a
victorious engagement with the Spanish fleet. The French fleet was
intended to relieve Dunkirk, then besieged and closely pressed by the
Spaniards. The town was in extremity, but the disaster to the Spanish
fleet had left the sea open to France, and Vendome at once ordered a
relief squadron to Calais Road, to take on board men, arms, stores and
fresh provisions.
At this time privateers from Dunkirk and from Brest preyed, as they had
always done, more or less, upon English commerce, and English cruisers
often retaliated, but there was no formal declaration of war between
France and England.
As soon as Blake learned of Vendome’s doings at Calais, without
awaiting instructions or reporting his intentions, he stood for
the Roads, and found there seven men of war, a small frigate, six
fire-ships, and a number of transports with men and provisions on
board, all ready to sail. Such an accession would enable Dunkirk to
hold out indefinitely.
English interests, both commercial and political, required the downfall
of this stronghold of privateers. The Council of State was convinced
that if the place was taken by the Spaniards they might be induced
to cede their conquest to Great Britain, as was, indeed, afterwards
done. Blake knew the public feeling in England, and was certain that
if he struck a successful blow at the French force, he would not be
held responsible for any trouble it might occasion with the French
Government. Only he must take care to succeed.
He, therefore, in spite of Vendome’s protest, attacked the force
anchored at Calais, and in a few hours had the whole--war-ships,
fire-ships and transports, Admiral, officers and men--safe under the
guns at Dover Castle.
Dunkirk could do nothing but surrender to the Archduke Leopold, and the
seizure of Vendome’s squadron in time of peace remained a monument of
Blake’s bold conception and rapid execution, as well as an illustration
of the extreme powers which he exercised at sea, independent of the
Council of State.
The prizes safely bestowed, he sailed again at once, in quest of De
Witt and De Ruyter. On Sept. 28th Admiral Penn, in the James, came in
sight of the Dutch off the _North Foreland_. He at once signaled to
Blake, who, in his turn, transmitted to his vanguard the order to “bear
in among them as soon as the fleet was up.” “Blake was always ready for
action; he trusted in God and kept his powder dry.” De Witt was not
really in condition for battle, for his ships were not in good order,
and his men were very discontented. The brave and experienced Ruyter
urged him to avoid a battle at that time; but his pride prevented
him from listening to the suggestion; and he resolved to fight at a
disadvantage rather than afford the world the spectacle of a Dutch
admiral retreating before any number of the presumptuous islanders. His
preparations for battle were hastily made, much confusion prevailing in
the fleet.