THE SIEGE OF OSTEND
On the 5th of July, 1601, the Archduke Albert began the siege of
Ostend with 20,000 men and 50 siege guns. Ostend had been completely
rebuilt and fortified eighteen years previously, and was defended
by ramparts, counterscarps, and two broad ditches. The sand hills
between it and the sea were cut through, and the water filled
the ditches and surrounded the town. To the south the country was
intersected by a network of canals. The river Yper Leet came in
at the back of the town, and after mingling with the salt water in
the ditches found its way to the sea through the channels known as
the Old Haven and the Geule, the first on the west, the second on
the east of the town.
On either side of these channels the land rose slightly, enabling the
besiegers to plant their batteries in very advantageous positions.
The garrison at first consisted of but 2000 men under Governor
Vander Nood. The States General considered the defence of Ostend
to be of extreme importance to the cause, and appointed Sir Francis
Vere general of the army in and about Ostend, and sent with him
600 Dutch troops and eight companies of English under the command
of his brother, Sir Horace. This raised the garrison to the strength
of 3600 men. Sir Francis landed with these reinforcements on the
sands opposite the old town, which stood near the seashore between
the Old Haven and the Geule, and was separated from the new town
by a broad channel. He was forced to land here, as the Spanish guns
on the sand hills commanded the entrances of the two channels.
Sixteen thousand of the Spanish troops under the order of the
archduke were encamped to the west of the town, and had 30 of their
siege guns in position there, while 4000 men were stationed on the
east of the town under Count Bucquoy. Ten guns were in position
on that side. Ostend had no natural advantages for defence beyond
the facility of letting the sea into the numerous channels and ditches
which intersected the city, and protected it from any operations
on the south side. On the east the Geule was broad and deep, and
an assault from this side was very difficult. The Old Haven, on
the west side, was fast filling up, and was fordable for four hours
every tide.
This, therefore, was the weak side of the town. The portion
especially exposed to attack was the low sandy flat on which the
old town stood, to the north of Ostend. It was against this point,
separated only from the enemy's position by the shallow Old Haven,
that the Spaniards concentrated their efforts. The defence here
consisted of a work called the Porc Espic, and a bastion in its
rear called the Helmond. Three works lay to the north of the ditch
dividing the old from the new town, while on the opposite side of
this ditch was a fort called the Sand Hill, from which along the
sea face of the town ran strong palisades and bastions.
The three principal bastions were named the Schottenburg, Moses'
Table, and the Flamenburg, the last named defending the entrance to
the Geule on the eastern side. There was a strong wall with three
bastions, the North Bulwark, the East Bulwark or Pekell, and the
Spanish Bulwark at the southeast angle, with an outwork called the
Spanish Half Moon on the other side of the Geule. The south side
was similarly defended by a wall with four strong bastions, while
beyond these at the southwest corner lay a field called the Polder,
extending to the point where the Yper Leer ran into the ditches.
Sir Francis Vere's first step after his arrival was to throw
up three redoubts to strengthen the wall round this field, as had
the enemy taken possession of it they might have set the windmills
upon it to work and have drained out many of the ditches. Having
secured this point he cut a passage to the sea between the Northwest
Bulwark and the Flamenburg Fort, so that shipping might enter the
port without having to ascend the Geule, exposed to the fire of
the Spanish guns. To annoy the enemy and draw them away from the
vital point near the sea, he then stationed 200 men on some rising
ground surrounded by swamps and ditches at some distance to the
south of the city, and from here they were able to open fire on
the enemy's boats coming with supplies from Bruges.
The operation was successful. The Spaniards, finding their line
of communication threatened, advanced in force from their position
by the sea, and their forts opened a heavy fire on the little work
thrown up. Other similar attempts would have been made to harass
the Spaniards and divert them from their main work, had not Sir
Francis Vere been severely wounded in the head on the 4th of August
by a shot from the Spanish batteries, which continued to keep up
a tremendous fire upon the town. So serious was the wound that the
surgeons were of opinion that the only chance of saving his life
was to send him away from the din and turmoil of the siege; and on
the 10th he was taken to Middelburg, where he remained for a month,
returning to Ostend long before his wound was properly healed.
On the 1st of August a batch of recruits had arrived from England,
and on the 8th 1200 more were landed. The fire of the besiegers
was now so heavy that the soldiers were forced to dig underground
quarters to shelter themselves. Sir Horace Vere led out several
sorties; but the besiegers, no longer distracted by the feints
contrived by Sir Horace Vere, succeeded in erecting a battery on
the margin of the Old Haven, and opened fire on the Sand Hill Fort.
On the 19th of September Sir Francis Vere returned to the town, to
the great joy of the garrison. Reinforcements continued to arrive,
and at this time the garrison numbered 4480. There were, too, a
large number of noblemen and gentlemen from England, France, and
Holland, who had come to learn the art of war under the man who was
regarded as the greatest general of the time. All who were willing
to work and learn were heartily welcomed; those who were unwilling
to do so were soon made to feel that a besieged city was no place
for them.
While the fighting was going on the archduke had attempted to
capture the place by treason. He engaged a traitor named Coningsby;
who crossed to England, obtained letters of introduction to Vere,
and then went to Ostend. Thence he sent intelligence to the besiegers
of all that took place in the town, placing his letters at night
in an old boat sunk in the mud on the bank of the Old Haven, a
Spaniard wading across at low tide and fetching them away. He then
attempted to bribe a sergeant to blow up the powder magazine. The
sergeant revealed the plot. Coningsby was seized and confessed
everything, and by an act of extraordinary clemency was only
sentenced to be whipped out of town.
This act of treachery on the part of the archduke justified the
otherwise dishonourable stratagem afterwards played by Vere upon
him. All through October and November the Spaniards were hard at
work advancing their batteries, sinking great baskets filled with
sand in the Old Haven to facilitate the passage of the troops, and
building floating batteries in the Geule. On the night of the 4th
of December they advanced suddenly to the attack. Vere and his
officers leapt from their beds and rushed to the walls, and after
a fierce struggle the besiegers were driven back. Straw was lighted
to enable the musketeers and gunners to fire upon them as they
retreated, and the assault cost them five hundred lives.
On the 12th a hard frost set in, and until Christmas a strong gale
from the southeast blew. No succour could reach the town. The
garrison were dwindling fast, and ammunition falling short. It
required fully 4000 men to guard the walls and forts, while but 2500
remained capable of bearing arms. It was known that the archduke
soon intended to make an assault with his whole force, and Vere
knew that he could scarcely hope to repel it. He called a council
of his chief officers, and asked their opinion whether with the
present numbers all parts of the works could be manned in case of
assault, and if not whether it was advisable to withdraw the guards
from all the outlying positions and to hold only the town.
They were unanimously of opinion that the force was too small to
defend the whole, but Sir Horace Vere and Sir John Ogle alone gave
their advice to abandon the outlying forts rather than endanger the
loss of the town. The other officers were of opinion that all the
works should be held, although they acknowledged that the disposable
force was incapable of doing so. Some days elapsed, and Vere
learned that the Spanish preparations were all complete, and that
they were only waiting for a low tide to attack. Time was everything,
for a change of wind would bring speedy succour, so without taking
council with anyone he sent Sir John Ogle with a drummer to the
side of the Old Haven.
Don Mateo Serrano came forward, and Ogle gave his message, which
was that General Vere wished to have some qualified person to speak
to him. This was reported to the archduke, who agreed that Serrano
and another Spanish officer should go into the town, and that Ogle
and a comrade should come as hostages into the Spanish camp. Sir
John Ogle took his friend Sir Charles Fairfax with him, and Serrano
and Colonel Antonio crossed into Ostend. The two Englishmen were
conducted to the archduke, who asked Sir John Ogle to tell him if
there was any deceit in the matter. Ogle answered if there were
it was more than he knew, for Vere had simply charged him to carry
the message, and that he and Fairfax had merely come as hostages
for the safe return of the Spanish officers.
Ogle was next asked whether he thought the general intended sincerely
or not, and could only reply that he was altogether unacquainted
with the general's purpose.
The next morning Serrano and Antonio returned without having seen
Vere. The pretext on which they had been sent back was that there
was some irregularity in their coming across; but instead of their
being sent back across the Old Haven they were sent across the
Geule, and had to make a long round to regain the archduke's camp.
Thus a day and a night were gained. The next day, towards evening,
the two Spanish officers were admitted into Ostend, and received
very hospitably by Sir Francis. After supper many healths were drunk,
and then Sir Francis informed them to their astonishment that his
proposal was not that he should surrender Ostend, but that the
archduke should raise the siege. But it was now far too late for them
to return, and they went to bed in the general's quarters. During
the two nights thus gained the defenders had worked incessantly in
repairing the palisades facing the point at which the attack would
take place, a work that they had hitherto been unable to perform
owing to the tremendous fire that the Spaniards kept up night and
day upon it.
At break of day five men of war from Zeeland came to anchor off the
town. They brought four hundred men, and provisions and materials
of war of all kinds. They were immediately landed under a heavy
fire from the enemy's batteries on both sides. The firing awoke the
two Spanish envoys, who inquired what was taking place. They were
politely informed by Sir Francis Vere that succour had arrived,
and the negotiations were of course broken off; and they were
accordingly sent back, while Ogle and Fairfax returned to Ostend.
Vere's account of the transaction was that he had simply asked for
two Spanish officers to speak with him. He had offered no terms,
and there was therefore no breach of faith. The commander of a
besieged town, he insisted, is always at liberty to propose a parley,
which the enemy can accept or not as he chooses. At any rate, it
was not for the archduke, who had hired a traitor to corrupt the
garrison, to make a complaint of treachery. Twelve hundred men
were employed for the next eight days in strengthening the works,
Sir Francis being always with them at night, when the water was
low, encouraging them by his presence and example.
Early in January he learned that the enemy were preparing for the
assault, and on the 7th a crushing fire was kept up on the Porc
Espic, Helmond, and Sand Hill forts. The Spaniards had by this
time fired 163,200 cannon shot into the town, and scarcely a whole
house was left standing. Towards evening they were seen bringing
scaling ladders to the opposite bank of the Haven. Two thousand
Italian and Spanish troops had been told off to attack the sand
hill, two thousand were to assault Helmond and the Porc Espic, two
parties of five hundred men each were to attack other works, while
on the east side Count Bucquoy was to deliver a general assault.
The English general watched all these preparations with the
greatest vigilance. At high water he closed the west sluice, which
let the water into the town ditch from the Old Haven, in the rear
of Helmond, in order to retain as much water as possible, and
stationed his troops at the various points most threatened. Sir
Horace Vere and Sir Charles Fairfax, with twelve weak companies,
some of them reduced to ten or twelve men, were stationed on the
sand hill.
Four of the strongest companies garrisoned the Porc Espic; ten weak
companies and nine cannon loaded with musket bullets defended the
Helmond. These posts were commanded by Sergeant Major Carpenter and
Captain Meetkerk; the rest of the force were disposed at the other
threatened points. Sir Francis himself, with Sir Lionel Vickars as
his right hand, took his post on the wall of the old town, between
the sand hill and the Schottenburg, which had been much damaged by
the action of the waves during the gales and by the enemy's shot.
Barrels of ashes, heaps of stones and bricks, hoops bound with
squibs and fireworks, ropes of pitch, hand grenades, and barrels
of nails were collected in readiness to hurl down upon the assailants.
At dusk the besiegers ceased firing, to allow the guns to cool.
Two engineer officers with fifty stout sappers, who each had a rose
noble for every quarter of an hour's work, got on to the breach in
front of the sand hill, and threw up a small breastwork, strengthened
by palisades, across it. An officer crept down towards the Old
Haven, and presently returned with the news that two thousand of
the enemy were wading across, and forming up in battalions on the
Ostend side.
Suddenly a gun boomed out from the archduke's camp as a signal
to Bucquoy, and just as the night had fairly set in the besiegers
rushed to the assault from all points. They were received by a
tremendous fire from the guns of the forts and the muskets of the
soldiers; but, although the effect was serious, they did not hesitate
a moment, but dashed forwards towards the foot of the sand hill and
the wall of the old town, halted for a moment, poured in a volley,
and then rushed into the breach and against the walls. The volley
had been harmless, for Vere had ordered the men to lie flat until it
was given. As the Spaniards climbed up barrels of ashes were emptied
upon them, stones and heavy timbers hurled down, and flaming hoops
cast over their necks. Three times they climbed to the crest of the
sand hill, and as many times gained a footing on the Schottenburg;
but each time they were beaten back with great slaughter. As fiercely
did they attack at the other points, but were everywhere repulsed.
On the east side three strong battalions of the enemy attacked the
outwork across the Geule, known as the Spanish Half Moon. Vere, who
was everywhere supervising the defence, ordered the weak garrison
there to withdraw, and sent a soldier out to give himself up, and
to tell them that the Half Moon was slenderly manned, and to offer
to lead them in. The offer was accepted, and the Spaniards took
possession of the work.
The general's object was to occupy them, and prevent their supporting
their comrades in the western attack. The Half Moon, indeed, was
quite open towards the town. Tide was rising, and a heavy fire was
opened upon the captors of the work from the batteries across the
Geule, and they were driven out with the loss of three hundred men.
At length the assault was repulsed at all points, and the assailants
began to retire across the Old Haven. No sooner did they begin to
ford it than Vere opened the west sluice, and the water in the town
ditch rushed down in a torrent, carrying numbers of the Spaniards
away into the sea.
Altogether, the assault cost the Spaniards two thousand men.
An enormous amount of plunder in arms, gold chains, jewels, and
rich garments were obtained by the defenders from the bodies of
the fallen. The loss of the garrison was only thirty killed and a
hundred wounded.
The repulse of the grand attack upon Ostend by no means put an end
to the siege. Sir Francis Vere, his brother Horace, Sir John Ogle,
and Sir Lionel Vickars left, the general being summoned to assume
command in the field; but the siege continued for two years and a
half longer. Many assaults were repulsed during that time, and the
town only surrendered on the 20th September, 1604, when the sand
hill, which was the key of the whole position, was at last captured
by the Spaniards.
It was but a heap of ruins that they had become possessed of after
their three years' siege, and its capture had not only cost them
an immense number of men and a vast amount of money, but the long
and gallant defence had secured upon a firm basis the independence
of Holland. While the whole available force of Spain had been so
occupied Prince Maurice and his English allies had captured town
after town, and had beaten the enemy whenever they attempted to show
themselves in the open field. They had more than counterbalanced
the loss of Ostend by the recapture of Sluys, and had so lowered
the Spanish pride that not long afterwards a twelve years truce was
concluded, which virtually brought the war to an end, and secured
for ever the independence of Holland.
During the last year or two of the war Sir Francis Vere, worn out
by his fatigues and the countless wounds he had received in the
service of the Netherlands, had resigned his command and retired
to England, being succeeded in his position by Sir Horace. Lionel
Vickars fought no more after he had borne his part in the repulse
of the great assault against Ostend. He had barely recovered from
the effect of the wound he had received at the battle of Nieuport,
and the fatigues and anxiety of the siege, together with the damp
air from the marshes, brought on a serious attack of fever, which
completely prostrated him as soon as the necessity for exertion
had passed. He remained some weeks at the Hague, and then, being
somewhat recovered, returned home.
While throughout all England the greatest enthusiasm had been
aroused by the victory of Nieuport and the repulse of the Spaniards
at Ostend, the feeling was naturally higher in the Vere's county
of Essex than elsewhere. As soon as Lionel Vickars was well enough
to take any share in gaieties he received many invitations to stay
at the great houses of the county, where most of the gentry were
more or less closely connected with the Veres; and before he had
been home many months he married Dorothy Windhurst, one of the
richest heiresses in the county, and a cousin of the Veres. Thus
Geoffrey had, after Juan Mendez retired from taking any active part
in the business, to work alone until his sons were old enough to
join him in the business. As soon as they were able to undertake
its active management, Geoffrey bought an estate near Hedingham,
and there settled down, journeying occasionally to London to see
how the affairs of the house went on, and to give advice to his
sons. Dolores had, two or three years after her arrival in England,
embraced the faith of her husband; and although she complained a
little at times of the English climate, she never once regretted
the step she had taken in leaving her native Spain.