A Short History of the Royal Navy, 1217 to 1688

by David Hannay

When, partly by the press and partly by promises, the fleet had at last been manned, it was concentrated in the North Sea under the command of the Duke of York. The duke himself went as Lord High Admiral, having Penn in the flagship as his naval adviser, and Lawson as his second in command of the centre or Red Squadron. The White Squadron was commanded by Prince Rupert, with Myngs and Sansum as his second and third. The Blue Squadron was under the command of Sandwich, with Cuttins and Sir George Ayscue as his subordinates.

It would seem that our fleet was a little farther advanced than the enemy in readiness. In the early days of May the Duke of York sailed over to the coast of Holland, and stationed himself opposite the Texel, in hope of provoking the Dutch to come out to battle, or, if he failed in this purpose, of inflicting serious damage on their commerce. The Dutch did not, however, put to sea at once, and the duke was compelled to return to England by want of provisions. The complaint that the victuals provided would not be sufficient had been heard for months, and nothing gives a more vivid impression of the administrative inefficiency of the time than the fact that it had not produced a remedy. The English fleet returned to the coast of Suffolk to take in stores. While there, it was visited by Court ladies and joined by numbers of volunteers. In later times gentlemen of distinguished family who had offered to lumber the quarter-deck of a flagship in the Channel would probably have been answered in the spirit of the boatswain in The Tempest—"You mar our labour: keep your cabins: you do assist the storm." But in the seventeenth century it was not yet thoroughly understood that a spirited and willing gentleman may be a superfluity in a fight, if he has no training to the business. The fleet of the Duke of York was full of nobles and gentlemen who came to serve a campaign. The business of victualling the fleet was but slowly performed, and the difficulties as to men had not yet been conquered. Sir William Coventry, the Duke of York's secretary, complained that sailors were not to be got, and gave a very sensible reason for the deficiency, namely, that men who could earn £8 a month in a collier—for, under the stress of war, wages had risen to this height—could hardly be expected to be content with 23s. in a king's ship, for which, moreover, they had to wait a year. Small wages, ill-paid, were not made the more acceptable by short allowances of food, by want of beer, and in some cases by the want even of water. "The duchess and her beautiful maids," whose departure from the fleet was noted by Coventry in a serio-comic vein, must have been very glad to find themselves back in London, even though the plague had already made its appearance there.

While the English fleet was painfully filling up with provisions and water, the Dutch had at last got to sea. They were under the command of Baron Opdam de Wassanaer, who had with him Courtenaer, Evertsen, and Cornelius van Tromp. Opdam's first purpose was to cover the return home of Michael de Ruyter with a convoy, then he was to seek out and give battle to the English fleet. The Dutch admiral, though a man of undoubted courage, as he showed in the ensuing action, was not much disposed to engage the English except at an advantage. He was aware of the inferior size of his ships, and also that the military spirit of a number of his captains was not good. Therefore, though he discharged the first part of his duty with success, and even made a great many captures of English merchant vessels, he showed a certain reluctance to force on the battle. Although he was short of men, the Duke of York did not hang back, but stood to sea from Solebay on the 1st of June, when he heard of the approach of Opdam and his capture of some English merchant ships from Hamburg. He had an additional motive for acting with vigour, since the coaling fleet was then on its way south from the northern ports. The capture of this convoy by the Dutch would have caused immense inconvenience to London, and would, moreover, have been a serious misfortune to the duke himself, since it would have deprived him of his best chance of recruiting his fleet by pressing the colliers. The promptitude of our movements averted this misfortune. The coal fleet was met on the 1st of June, and the duke reinforced his ships by taking out the crews. The vessels were probably left at anchor near the coast under the charge of one or two watchmen. The wind was easterly, with a tendency to turn to the S.W. Opdam, distrusting the quality of his own command, was unwilling to engage, but his reluctance to fight was overcome by the emphatic orders of John de Witt. The Grand Pensionary, who was not a man of military training either on sea or land, may have underrated the difficulties which weighed on the mind of Opdam, but as a politician he understood that it is sometimes better to fight and be beaten than not to fight at all, and his common-sense must have told him that if the Dutch fleet only fought hard enough, it would certainly make the English pay very dear for their victory. It may be, too, that John de Witt was secretly conscious of sufficient resolution of character to make use of those means of keeping the captains up to their duty which Cornelius de Witt had in vain threatened to set in motion in the previous war. There was much to be said for bringing on a battle in order to find who would do his duty and who would not, provided it was also decided to make a necessary example of such as showed the white feather.

The first great battle of the second Dutch war was fought on the 3rd June between thirty and forty miles S.E. of Lowestoft. On the 1st June the Duke of York had been at anchor at Solebay when he was informed of the appearance of the Dutch to the S.S.E. He at once weighed, and stood farther out, coming to an anchor at nightfall. The wind was easterly. During the whole of the 2nd June the English were working up towards the Dutch, who continued to decline battle; and as the wind, though drawing round to the south, was still more or less easterly, they had the weather-gage, and could not be forced to action. At dark we anchored again. During the night the wind shifted round to the S.S.W., and when the morning came the English were to windward. The duke at once gave the order to bear down on the enemy. Opdam, stimulated by the orders of John de Witt, did not decline battle. He would have done better for Holland if he had attacked while he had the wind in his favour and could have used his fireships. The battle began at half-past three in the morning. Rupert led the van. The duke was in the centre with the Red Squadron, and Sandwich commanded in the rear with the Blue Squadron. It appears that the Dutch now endeavoured to regain the windward position which they had held on the day before, but failed to weather the head of the English line. English and Dutch passed on opposite tacks, we heading to the north, they to the south. When the two fleets had passed, there was a pause in the fire. Then both tacked, which reversed the order of the squadrons so that at the second "charge" the rear or Blue Squadron under Sandwich led the English line. It was now six o'clock. The opponents passed one another again, heading in the reverse of their former direction, the English towards the south, the Dutch to the north, and once more there was a pause in the battle. As each fleet consisted of from eighty to a hundred ships, it must have covered from eight to ten miles of sea, measuring from the leading ship to the last. As the rate of speed was certainly slow, not more than three or three and a half miles, it is easy to understand that each of these passes, or, as they were called at the time, charges, would take two and a half or three hours to perform. Both fleets tacked together for the third pass, and the Dutch had some hope of weathering Rupert's squadron, which was again leading. But the duke with the Red Squadron was so well to windward that he would have weathered them, and they would have been placed between two fires. They therefore fell to leeward of Rupert. As they were passing, the duke tacked his fleet, beginning with the Blue Squadron, and thus brought the English fleet to head in the same direction as the Dutch. The English fleet now pressed on to the attack so fiercely that they baffled the attempt of the Dutch to tack. Opdam fought his own ship bravely till she blew up by the side of the English flagship. Then some of the Dutch ships in the centre flinched from the attack of the duke and his vice-admiral, Lawson. They fairly ran to leeward, thus leaving a gap in the line, through which he broke. The battle now became a furious mêlée, in which the Dutch were completely beaten and fled towards their own coast. Their loss would have been more serious than it was if their retreat had not been covered by Cornelius van Tromp with a seamanship and indomitable courage worthy of his father.

The escape of the enemy was assisted by a mysterious incident in the English flagship. Night fell while the Dutch were still struggling to escape with the English in pursuit. The duke led his fleet in the Royal Charles of eighty guns, and the orders were that the other ships were to follow his light. The battle had cost us less than a thousand men in killed and wounded, but it had been extraordinarily fatal to men of high position, and to those immediately around the duke. Admiral Sansum had been killed. Sir John Lawson was disabled by a musket-shot which shattered the bone of his leg above the knee, inflicting a mortal wound. The Earl of Marlborough, who had been sent out to take possession of Bombay for the king, had also fallen, so had the Earl of Portland. In the flagship the Earl of Falmouth, Lord Muskerry, and Mr. Boyle, gentlemen serving with the duke, were all killed together, by a chain-shot, close to his side. He was drenched in their blood, and wounded in the hand by a fragment of Mr. Boyle's skull. The courage of the Duke of York has been praised even by his enemies, and, although Swift recorded the cruel sneer that he made a cowardly popish king, we are not entitled to doubt his bravery. Yet, the horror of such a scene as this, coming on the top of the fatigues of the battle and the anxiety of the preceding weeks, may pardonably have been something too much for a man who was not hardened by experience to scenes of blood and conflict. It is certain that he left the deck on the persuasion of the officers of his household. It is no less certain that, shortly afterwards, one of his gentlemen, Brouncker by name, came up from the cabin to John Harman, captain of the flagship, who remained on the quarter-deck, with the order to shorten sail. After more or less hesitation, Harman obeyed. Sail was shortened in the flagship, and, as the other vessels were strictly ordered not to pass the admiral's light, the English fleet fell behind, and the Dutch escaped into the Texel. The truth of this incident was afterwards wrapped up in a cloud of contradictions, and of what we are justified in asserting must in part have been lies. The duke denied that he gave Brouncker the order, and finally dismissed him from his service. Brouncker, who was of infamous character, was capable of misusing the duke's name, but it is strange that if he did he was not sooner punished. The explanation that he was valuable to his master for services it is not well to record, is as nearly discreditable to the duke's character as want of firmness could have been in the reaction natural after such a terrible experience. The truth about the Duke of York is perhaps that his courage was of the kind defined by Marryat as negative. He had the nerve to face a foreseen danger when it came in his way, but not that "springing valour" which can attack and adventure.

The loss inflicted upon the Dutch in this first great battle of the war was much exaggerated in the excitement of the victory. It was said that almost all the Dutch officers had been killed, and the number of vessels taken or burnt was greatly over-estimated. In truth, the loss of the Dutch in principal officers was less than our own. The total number of prizes brought into Harwich was fifteen, and it is doubtful if, when we add the vessels sunk and burnt, their total loss much exceeded twenty. Their historians put it far lower. It was more painful to the feelings of a patriotic Dutchman than any mere material loss could have been, that the defeat was undeniably due at least as much to the palpable misconduct of some among the captains as to the superiority of the English in the quality of their ships and the skill of their leaders. It had been noticed in the previous war that some of the Dutch captains employed in their fleet, though no doubt good seamen, were wanting in military ardour. This experience was repeated in the battle of the 3rd of June. It provoked John de Witt to take very stern measures. Four of the captains who had deserted their posts in the line of battle were shot for cowardice. Others whose guilt was less flagrant were cashiered. Unfriendly critics of the Dutch have represented that these measures were taken merely for the purpose of throwing the responsibility of defeat on individual officers, but the misconduct of some of the captains in the battle of the 3rd of June is undeniable, and it was of the kind which by the customs of all nations deserves death. John de Witt obtained for himself a commission from the States General to join the fleet as deputy. His numerous enemies have founded on this an accusation of foolish vanity. Professional judges, both seamen and soldiers, are naturally impatient of the presence of a civilian in the midst of warlike operations, but there are times when the interference of a representative of the State is of immense value. If he comes to hamper the admiral or general he is no doubt a mere nuisance, but if his purpose is to assist the commander to enforce discipline, and to stimulate him to vigorous exertions, then the deputy may supply an element of much-needed vigour. If John de Witt had been a prince, his conduct would have been thought heroic, and it did instil a spirit of decision into the handling of the Dutch fleet, which had hitherto been wanting. It is possible that the Grand Pensionary might have been less successful if he had not found a commander-in-chief for the fleet who gave him effectual assistance. This was Michael de Ruyter. Cornelius van Tromp considered himself entitled to the place. The disappointment he felt at the nomination of De Ruyter deepened his hatred of the Loevenstein Party. He conceived a peculiar animosity to De Witt, which he afterwards showed in a manner highly dishonourable to himself, by publicly gloating over the corpses of the Grand Pensionary and his brother Cornelius, when they had been horribly murdered by a mob. He did not, however, refuse to serve, and the Government, though well aware of his feelings, did not venture to remove him from command.

The attention given to the war on the part of the English Government was not so energetic as to interfere with the measures taken by John de Witt to improve the discipline of the Dutch fleet. The Duke of York did not stay long on the coast of Holland. His fleet, in truth, had suffered so severely in the spars and rigging as to be in great need of a refit. When it was found that the Dutch had contrived to take refuge in the Texel, the English made no effort to establish a blockade, but returned immediately to their own coasts. The ships were brought back to the ports between Lowestoft and Harwich, and refitted without bringing them into the Thames. Within a month they were again ready for sea, but did not sail under the command of the Duke of York. It is to be noted that, in spite of the reputation he has retained as an admiral, the Duke of York's services at sea during war were scanty and erratic. In this case, for instance, after commanding in a successful battle, he was suddenly removed from the command. It is difficult to believe that this was done wholly against his own wish. He and his brother the king were not always on the best terms, but it is not to be believed that Charles would have compelled his brother to come on shore if the Duke of York had been really anxious to stay at sea. Much was made of the fact that he was heir to the crown, and it is said that the duchess laid strict injunctions on the duke's servants not to let him engage too far, and that it was her influence with the king that prevented her husband from going to sea again; but the world has generally thought lightly of the courage of a fighting man who is kept out of danger by his wife. If his relationship to the king made his life too valuable to be risked, he ought never to have gone to sea at all. He was succeeded in the command of the fleet by the Earl of Sandwich, who was to have been associated with Prince Rupert, but the prince was reluctant to share authority, and the sole command was left in the hands of the earl.

Sandwich stood over to the coast of Holland, but found the Dutch not yet ready to put to sea. The States General had put an embargo upon commerce, partly to facilitate the manning of their fleet, but partly also to diminish the risk of loss by capture. A blockade of the Texel was therefore far from lucrative; and as Charles's Government was, as usual, in great straits for money, Sandwich was inclined to entertain any suggestion for making a more profitable use of his force. The Court was equally well inclined to approve of arty enterprise which was likely to produce plunder. At this moment a considerable temptation was thrown in its way. Although the Dutch had put an embargo on the outward-bound trade, they had naturally not attempted to stop the return home of their convoys from the East Indies and the Levant. The vessels belonging to these two fleets had only been instructed to avoid the dangerous route up Channel, and to return home by the north of Scotland. Twenty vessels engaged in these two lucrative branches of the Dutch trade were reported to be lying in the harbour of Bergen in Norway. They had taken refuge in this port probably in obedience to a warning from Holland. Norway was then a part of the dominions of the Crown of Denmark, which was in alliance with Holland, and had indeed owed its escape from destruction by the Swedes, to Dutch intervention, only a few years before this time. Gratitude is proverbially a motive of little or no power with politicians. The then King of Denmark did not consider that his debt to the Dutch made it obligatory upon him to abstain from endeavouring to profit by their misfortunes. A scheme for plundering the ships at Bergen was drawn up. Whether it was suggested by the English envoy, Sir Gilbert Talbot, to the king, or by the king to Sir Gilbert, is not quite certain, and it is not perhaps a matter of much importance. The essential fact is, that a scheme was made for plundering the Dutch, and that the host with whom they had taken refuge was a party to it. Sandwich sailed north. He seems to have wished to be quite sure of the co-operation of the King of Denmark. Indeed, if it was intended that he was to sail into Bergen and attack vessels under the protection of Danish batteries, it was obviously desirable to be sure beforehand of the co-operation of the King of Denmark's officers. But the king, though perfectly ready to share in the plunder of the Dutch, had a gentlemanly disinclination to write himself down a rogue. He refused to allow a written agreement to be made, and insisted that the scheme should be carried out on an honourable but vague understanding. Sandwich can hardly have liked his work, for it was too probable that if the plan failed, the King of Denmark would deny his own responsibility; and if he also found it useful to vindicate himself to the Dutch by professing to quarrel with England, the whole blame would be thrown on the English admiral. It was also within the knowledge of Sandwich that the Dutch would make a resolute effort to bring their fleet off safe, and that De Ruyter had been appointed to the command. The English admiral must have been perfectly well aware that his Dutch opponent would not fail through want of faculty or energy. If the Dutch ships at Bergen were to be seized, the work must be done at once.

The result might have been more profitable to the English if Sandwich had resolved to attack immediately, and had directed the enterprise himself. Whether because he thought that the arrival of De Ruyter was the greater danger, or because he also was anxious to provide himself with a scapegoat in case of failure, he entrusted the direction of operations to his subordinate, Sir Thomas Teddiman. Teddiman sailed into Bergen, accompanied by a Mr. Clifford, who had been sent from Copenhagen by Talbot with the assurances that the King of Denmark was friendly to the venture, though he did not care to take an open part in it. This agent was landed to inform the Danish governor at Bergen that the English were ready to perform their part in the act of brigandage approved by his august master. The governor was aware of what was expected of him, but had not yet received sufficiently definite instructions from his superior, the Danish viceroy at Christiania. He asked the English to wait for a little. Teddiman was not disposed to wait; perhaps he had very small confidence in persons who showed such a manifest disposition to roguery as the Danish officials, and perhaps he was afraid of the arrival of Michael de Ruyter. He decided to attack the Dutch the next day. In the meantime the convoy had taken vigorous measures for its own safety. Great part of its goods had been landed on the guarantee of the Danish governor. As the water of the harbour at Bergen is very deep, the Dutch had been able to draw their ships up close to the shore, and it was the more difficult to attack them because the port is broken by masses of rock. If the Danes had co-operated actively, the Dutch would have been at the mercy of the associates, but the governor did not render any assistance to Teddiman. Among persons engaged in carrying out a piece of brigandage, it is not unreasonable to suspect the presence of the mutual distrust common among thieves. It may well be that when the Danish governor found Teddiman attacking in such haste, he may have thought that the English meant to act without his consent, in order to have an excuse for carrying off all the booty; and it would indeed be rash to assert that he was wrong. The upshot of it all was, that when the English fell on, they were received with a hot and damaging fire, not only from the Dutch ships, but from the Danish batteries. In the end the English were driven out to sea. Edward Montagu, a cousin of the Earl of Sandwich, and several captains were killed in the fight.

On the following day the viceroy arrived from Christiania. This official appeared to regret what had happened, and endeavoured to persuade Sandwich to renew the attack, promising that on this occasion he should not want for effective assistance. At the same time, however, he suggested that before the English carried off their plunder they should make a fair division with the Danes. Now the first scheme had been that the whole was to be carried off by the English, and that the King of Denmark was to receive his share from the King of England. Reflection had brought the Danes to the judicious conclusion that it was much safer to get the plunder into their own hands directly. But Sandwich had no orders to make this arrangement, and may have perhaps begun to doubt whether the Danes really meant to help him. He sailed from the coast of Norway, and so that episode of the second Dutch war came to an end.