1696
During the campaign of 1696, the regiment served with the army of Flanders under the Prince of Vaudemont; and was formed in brigade with a battalion of the Royals, the third, fifth, and seventeenth regiments under Brigadier-General Selwyn; and its services were limited to the protection of Ghent, Bruges, and the maritime towns of Flanders. In the autumn it returned to Ghent.
1697
Leaving Ghent in the spring of 1697, the regiment joined the army of Brabant under King William, and took part in the movements of this campaign; which were terminated by the treaty of Ryswick, when the British monarch saw his efforts for the liberty of Europe, and the preservation of the Protestant religion, attended with success.
On the termination of hostilities, the regiment marched to Ghent, where it was quartered several weeks, and on the 10th of December embarked at Ostend for Ireland. As two of the transports approached the Irish coast, they were chased by a Sallee man-of-war of eighteen guns, carrying Zealand colours. Seeing his brave soldiers in danger of being made slaves, Lieut.-Colonel Stearne called them on deck; the whole resolved on a desperate defence; and it was arranged that when the Sallee man-of-war attacked one transport, the other should come to its assistance, and the enemy should be boarded by the soldiers sword in hand, not doubting but that they would overpower the Turks and Moors, and capture the ship. With this view the soldiers were kept out of sight to induce the enemy to make an attack, and every man was ready for action. "The Sallee man-of-war kept us company about an hour, and was once, as we thought, coming up to board us; however, she thought better of it, fell astern, and stood off without firing a shot."[18] During the following night the two transports narrowly escaped destruction from a storm; they afterwards arrived safe in Bantry Bay; the soldiers landed on the 24th of December, and marched to Cork, where the regiment was assembled.
1699
From Cork the regiment marched, in July, 1698, to Waterford; in the spring of 1699 it proceeded to Dublin, and in 1700 it was removed to Kinsale.
1700
Pursuing those schemes of aggrandizement which had repeatedly involved Europe in war, Louis XIV. procured the accession of his grandson, Philip Duke of Anjou, to the throne of Spain, in violation of existing treaties; seized on the Spanish Netherlands; and made prisoners the Dutch troops in garrison in the barrier towns. The sudden acquisition of the Spanish monarchy by a grandson of the most ambitious and potent monarch of Europe, with the prospect of France and Spain being eventually united under one sovereign, affected the interests and agitated the public mind of all countries.