Stories Of The Second Dutch War

BY JOHN CAMPBELL.





I. THE DEFEAT OF THE DUTCH OFF HARWICH.



The second Dutch war was declared in Holland in January and in England

in February, 1665. It arose out of the conflicts of the rival companies

of Dutch and English merchants in the East and West Indies and in

Africa, and the refusal of Charles II. to remedy a condition of things

which had become unendurable.



In 1664 the Dutch sent an embassy to the English court, to complain of

the depredations from which they suffered at the hands of the

Anglo-African company, of which the king's brother, the Duke of York,

was then governor; but the king replied that he had received no

particular information of the affairs in question and that the rival

companies must settle their differences among themselves. On the other

hand, the English merchants appealed to him with so much persistence,

that he finally demanded satisfaction of the Dutch.



The first action of consequence that happened after the war actually

broke out was an attack made upon a Dutch fleet coming richly laden from

Smyrna upon the Spanish coast near Cadiz. This consisted of forty

merchant ships, some of them very large, and well provided with

ordnance; and their convoy was composed of four third-rate men-of-war.

Sir Thomas Allen, who commanded the English squadron, had with him about

nine ships. With these he attacked the enemy so successfully, that

having killed their commodore, Brackel, and taken or sunk four of their

richest ships, he drove the rest into the Bay of Cadiz, where for some

time he blocked them up. A misfortune of the same kind befell the Dutch

Bourdeaux fleet, out of which about one hundred and thirty ships were

taken.



These heavy misfortunes obliged the Dutch to lay an immediate embargo on

all vessels in their ports; by which their fisheries and their annual

commerce were stopped for that season. They likewise settled a fund of

fourteen millions of guilders for the support of the war; and, in order

to show that there ought to be some difference between such wars as are

made by trading nations, and those entered into by arbitrary princes,

for the mere thirst of dominion, they ordered about fifty English and

Scotch vessels, which had been seized in their harbours, to be set at

liberty; and, on the arrival of these ships in England, the civility was

returned by a like release of all the Dutch ships that had been stopped

here.



The English fleet, which was the first ready, consisted of one hundred

and fourteen sail of men-of-war and frigates, twenty-eight fire-ships

and ketches, having about twenty-two thousand seamen and soldiers on

board. The whole was commanded by the Duke of York, as lord

high-admiral; Prince Rupert was admiral of the white; and the Earl of

Sandwich who, as Captain Montague had won distinction under Blake, was

admiral of the blue. On April 21st, 1665, the English sailed for the

Dutch coast, and on the 28th sent in a squadron so near the shore and

harbour of the Texel that the country was exceedingly alarmed. After

remaining there a month, however, the fleet was so ruffled by a storm,

that it was found necessary to retire towards our own shore.



This opportunity the Dutch took of sending out their fleet, which, by

the latter end of May, appeared about the Dogger Sands. It was divided

into seven squadrons, the first under Admiral Opdam, consisting of

fourteen men-of-war and two fire-ships; the second under John Everts, of

the like force; the third commanded by Admiral Cortenaer, consisting of

fourteen men-of-war and one fire-ship; the fourth under Stillingwert,

composed likewise of fourteen men-of-war and a fire-ship; the fifth

conducted by Van Tromp, the son of the famous old admiral, who fought

with Blake, made up of sixteen men-of-war and two fire-ships; the sixth

under Cornelius Everts, consisting of fourteen men-of-war and a

fire-ship; the seventh commanded by Schram, comprising sixteen

men-of-war and two fire-ships--in all, a hundred and three men-of-war,

eleven fire-ships, and seven yachts. A mighty fleet indeed!



The Duke of York having retired with our navy from the Dutch coast when

they came out, afforded them the opportunity to fall upon our Hamburg

fleet, which they did not neglect; capturing the greater part of it,

whereby our merchants suffered a loss of nearly two hundred thousand

pounds. This exceedingly exasperated the English, and, at the same time,

gave great encouragement to the Dutch.



Admiral Opdam, who commanded the latter, was a prudent as well as a

truly gallant commander, but he was not allowed the liberty of action

absolutely necessary at such a crisis. No sooner was he out at sea than

he received a letter from the states directing him to fight at all

events; and this order he resolved to obey, though contrary to the

advice of most of his officers and to his own opinion. "I am," said he,

addressing the council of war, "entirely in your sentiments: but here

are my orders. To-morrow my head shall be bound with laurel or with

cypress." On June 3rd the English and Dutch navies engaged about three

in the morning off Lowestoft; when the English had the weather-gauge--an

advantage they knew how to use as well as keep.



Things went at first very equally on both sides; several squadrons

charging through and through, without any remarkable advantage. But

about noon, the Earl of Sandwich, with the blue squadron, fell into the

centre of the Dutch fleet, and divided it into two parts, thus beginning

the confusion which ended in their defeat. The Duke of York in the

Royal Charles, a ship of eighty guns, and Admiral Opdam in the

Eendracht, of eighty-four, were closely engaged. The fight continued

for some hours with great obstinacy, and the duke was often in the

utmost danger. Several persons of distinction were killed on board his

ship, particularly the Earl of Falmouth, the king's favourite, Lord

Muskerry and Mr. Boyle, son to the Earl of Corke, with one ball, and so

near the duke that he was covered with their blood and brains; nay, a

splinter from the last-mentioned gentleman's skull razed his hand. About

one, the Dutch admiral blew up, with a prodigious noise; but how the

accident occurred is not known. In this vessel, together with Admiral

Opdam, perished five hundred men, only five of the whole crew escaping;

many of those lost being volunteers, of the best families of Holland,

and not a few Frenchmen, who had taken this opportunity of being present

in a sea-fight.



A little after this unlucky blow, the Dutch received a greater. Four

fine ships, the largest of sixty, the least of forty guns, ran foul of

each other, and were burnt by one fire-ship, and soon after, three

larger vessels, by the same accident, shared the same fate. The

Orange, a ship of seventy-five guns, after a most gallant defence was

also burnt; and thus, towards four in the afternoon, all fell into

confusion. Vice-admiral Stillingwert was shot through the middle by a

cannon-ball; and Vice-admiral Cortenaer received a shot in his thigh, of

which he instantly died. Their ships bearing out of the line on the

death of their commanders, without striking their flags, drew many after

them; so that, by eight at night, Tromp, who held out bravely to the

last, and fought retreating, had not more than thirty ships left with

him.



According to English accounts, the Dutch had eighteen ships taken, and

fourteen sunk in this action, besides such as were burnt or blown up.

Yet their accounts admit of no more than nine ships taken, one, their

admiral, blown up, and eight burnt. The English lost the Charity, a

ship of forty-six guns, with most of her men, in the beginning of the

fight; about two hundred and fifty men killed, and three hundred and

forty wounded; on the other side, they lost at least six thousand men,

including two thousand three hundred taken prisoners.



There is very little room for doubt that if there had not been some

mismanagement on the side of the English, this, which was the first,

might also have been the last action in this war; for the Dutch fleet

fled in great confusion, and if the English had pressed them vigorously,

as they might have done, having the wind, so many ships might have been

either sunk, disabled, or taken as must have forced a peace; in favour

of which there was a very strong party in Holland, who did not like the

domination of the pensionary De Witte and the dependence in which he

held the states, who seldom ventured to do anything of importance when

he was absent. This great opportunity was lost through the English

fleet's slacking sail in the night, contrary, it is said, to the express

directions of His Royal Highness the duke before retiring to rest.



It is far from being an easy matter to determine how this came to pass.

But the circumstances appear to have been as follows. The duke, as lord

high-admiral, had two captains on board his ship--Sir William Penn, who

had the rank of a vice-admiral, and Captain, afterwards Sir, John

Harman. Sir William had retired as well as the duke, so that the command

remained with Captain Harman, who was himself at the helm, when one Mr.

Brounker, who was of the duke's bed-chamber, came and told him that "he

ought to consider how much His Royal Highness's person had been already

exposed in the action, and how much greater risk he might run if their

ship, which was the headmost of the fleet, should fall in single with

those of the enemy upon their own coasts." Harman heard him, but

answered like an honest brave man as he was that he could do nothing

without orders. Brounker upon this went to the duke's cabin and returned

with orders, in His Royal Highness's name, to make less sail; these

Captain Harman, without the least scruple, obeyed, though it caused some

confusion in the fleet, several ships coming very near to running foul

of each other.



In the morning the duke expressed surprise and resentment at finding the

fleet at such a distance from the Dutch, that there was no longer any

hope of coming up with them. It then appeared that either through

cowardice, or something worse, Brounker had carried Captain Harman

orders which he never received. However, this was concealed from His

Royal Highness at the time, and other excuses made, such as a brisk wind

from shore and their fire-ships being all spent. The truth, however, was

very soon whispered about, though the duke was not acquainted with it

for more than six months after; upon which he discharged Brounker his

service, and would have done more, if the celebrated Duchess of

Cleveland, then Countess of Castlemain, with whom he was a favourite,

had not by her interest with the king protected him. However, at the end

of the war when the House of Commons was out of humour, the matter was

mentioned and inquired into; upon which Brounker, who was a member, was

expelled the house and ordered to be impeached, but was never

prosecuted.





II. THE CAPTURE OF DUTCH CONVOYS BY THE EARL OF SANDWICH.



After the defeat of the Dutch off Harwich, the Duke of York returned to

England to report himself to the king; and the command of the fleet now

lying in Southwold Bay fell upon the Earl of Sandwich, who had

contributed so much to the late victory. While here news reached the

earl that two rich Dutch squadrons had put to sea; whereupon he

immediately prepared to follow them with Sir George Ayscue as

vice-admiral, and Sir Thomas Tyddiman as admiral of the rear, determined

either to intercept De Ruyter, the Dutch admiral, on his return, or to

take and burn the Turkey and East India fleets of which they had news.



Both these schemes were doomed to failure. De Ruyter returned

unexpectedly by the north of Scotland and arrived safely in Holland,

where he was immediately promoted to the chief command of the fleet. The

Turkey and India fleet--consisting of twenty sail under the command of

Commodore Bitter--took the same route; but having intelligence of the

approach of the English, took shelter in the port of Bergen in Norway.



Here the Danish governor promised them all the assistance he could give,

and to strengthen his hands the Dutch landed forty-one pieces of cannon,

which he disposed in a line in front of the port, the Dutch forming

another line of their largest ships across the bay, and then waiting the

arrival of the English fleet. Bergen, being a neutral port, ought to

have been an asylum of safety for these Dutch merchantmen, but the King

of Denmark, hoping to share the plunder, showed himself willing to treat

with the Earl of Sandwich for liberty to attack the convoy in port. The

earl, however, had no desire to share the spoil, and, impatient of

delay, ordered Sir Thomas Tyddiman with fourteen sail of men-of-war and

three fire-ships to enter the bay and cut out the Dutch squadron. This

he attempted with great courage; though the wind was against him and he

had to face a fierce fire from the castle, the line of guns, and the

Dutch ships. Eventually, he was compelled to bear out of the bay, which

he succeeded in doing without the loss of a ship; though five or six of

his squadron were very much damaged.



To relieve the Dutch squadron--now practically prisoners in the port of

Bergen--the Dutch manned a stout fleet, which put to sea under the

command of Admiral Ruyter, who was accompanied by De Witte, appointed,

with two other deputies by the states, to attend upon the admiral. After

meeting with many difficulties, the Dutch fleet succeeded in eluding

that of the English, and arrived safely before Bergen, where, in the

meantime, their friends had found a new enemy in their old defender. The

Danish governor had modestly desired a hundred thousand crowns for the

assistance he had given them in the late affair with the English, and

had threatened to sink them without ceremony if they offered to stir out

of the port before they had complied with his demand. The arrival of De

Ruyter's fleet made him change his tone, and he allowed them to sail

without paying the money, but kept the cannon they had put ashore.



Thus far, the Dutch were very successful; but on their return home the

fleet was scattered by a storm, in which they lost two fire-ships and

some of the merchantmen. The vice-admiral and rear-admiral of the East

India fleet, ships of very great value, with four men-of-war, were taken

by five English frigates, which the same storm had separated from their

fleet; and soon after four of their men-of-war, two fire-ships, and

thirty merchantmen joined our fleet instead of their own, and through

this mistake were all taken prisoners. This ended the operations of the

year 1665.





III. THE FOUR DAYS' FIGHT IN THE CHANNEL.



The year 1666 opened upon a new condition of affairs. The French having

declared in favour of the Dutch, Charles II. recalled his ambassador,

Lord Holles, from the French court, and sent the Earl of Sandwich as

ambassador to Spain; placing the fleet under the command of Prince

Rupert and the Duke of Albemarle, who had won distinction as General

Monk, the former to look after the French, who began to talk very high,

and the latter to act against the Dutch.



Prince Rupert and the Duke of Albemarle went on board the fleet on April

23rd, 1666, and sailed with it in the beginning of May. Towards the

latter end of the month a rumour reached the English court that the

French fleet, under the command of the Duke of Beaufort, was coming out

to the assistance of the Dutch; and orders were immediately despatched

to Prince Rupert to sail with the white squadron to engage it; which

order he proceeded to obey.



As Prince Rupert sailed from the Downs, the Dutch with their whole force

put to sea, the wind at north-east, and blowing a fresh gale. This

brought the Dutch fleet on to the coast of Dunkirk, and carried away His

Highness towards the Isle of Wight; but the wind suddenly shifting to

the south-west, and blowing hard, brought both the Dutch and the Duke of

Albemarle with his two squadrons to an anchor. Captain Bacon in the

Bristol first discovered the enemy, and, by firing his guns, gave

notice of it to the English fleet.



The departure of Prince Rupert had left the Duke of Albemarle with but

sixty sail; whereas the Dutch fleet consisted of ninety-one men-of-war,

carrying four thousand seven hundred and sixteen guns, and twenty-two

thousand four hundred and sixty-two men. But a council of war was

called; wherein, without much debate, it was resolved to fight the

enemy, notwithstanding their great superiority.



It was the 1st of June when the Dutch fleet was discovered, and the duke

was so warm for engaging, that he attacked the enemy without giving them

time to weigh anchor; as De Ruyter himself says in his letter,

compelling them to cut their cables to make ready for the fight. In the

same letter De Ruyter says, that to the last the English were the

aggressors, notwithstanding their inferiority of force. The English

fleet had the weather-gauge, but the wind bowed their ships so much that

they could not use their lowest tier. Sir William Berkley's squadron led

the van. The Duke of Albemarle, when he came on the coast of Dunkirk, to

avoid running full on the sand, made a sudden tack, and this brought his

top-mast by the board, which compelled him to lie by four or five hours

till another could be set up. The blue squadron, knowing nothing of

this, sailed on, charging through the Dutch fleet, though they were five

to one.



In this engagement fell the brave Sir William Berkley, and his ship, the

Swiftsure, a second-rate, was taken; so was the Essex, a third-rate;

and Sir John Harman, in the Henry, had the whole Zealand squadron to

deal with. His ship being disabled, the Dutch admiral, Cornelius Evertz,

called to Sir John, and offered him quarter, who answered, "No, sir! it

is not come to that yet," and immediately discharged a broadside, by

which Evertz was killed and several of his ships damaged. This so

discouraged their captains that they quitted the Henry, and sent three

fire-ships to burn her. The first grappled on her starboard quarters,

and there began to raise so thick a smoke that it was impossible to

perceive where the irons were fixed. At last, when the ship began to

blaze, the boatswain of the Henry threw himself on board her, and

having, by her own light, discovered and removed the grappling irons,

in the same instant jumped back on board his own ship. He had scarcely

done this before another fire-ship was fixed on the larboard, which did

its business so effectually that the sails, being quickly on fire,

frightened the chaplain and fifty men overboard. Upon this, Sir John

drew his sword, and threatened to kill any man who should attempt to

provide for his own safety by leaving the ship. This obliged them to

endeavour to put out the fire, which in a short time they did; but the

cordage being burnt, the cross-beam fell and broke Sir John's leg, at

which instant the third fire-ship bore down upon him; but four pieces of

cannon loaded with chain-shot disabled her: so that, after all, Sir John

brought his ship into Harwich, where he repaired her as well as he

could, and, notwithstanding his broken leg, put to sea again to seek the

Dutch. The battle ended on the first day about ten in the evening.



The following night was spent in repairing the damage suffered on both

sides, and next morning the attack was renewed by the English with fresh

vigour. Admiral Van Tromp, with Vice-admiral Vander Hulst, being on

board one ship, rashly engaged it among the English, and their vessel

was in the utmost danger of being either taken or burnt. The Dutch

affairs, according to their own account, were now in a desperate

condition; but Admiral De Ruyter at last disengaged them, though not

till his ship was disabled and Vice-admiral Vander Hulst killed. This

only changed the scene; for De Ruyter was now as hard pressed as Tromp

had been before. However, a reinforcement arriving preserved him also;

and so the second day's fight ended earlier than the first.



The third day the Duke of Albemarle found it necessary to retreat; and

he performed it with wonderful courage and skill. He first burnt three

ships that were absolutely disabled; he next caused such as were most

torn to sail before, and, with twenty-eight men-of-war that were in a

pretty good condition, brought up the rear. Sir John Harman, indeed,

says he had but sixteen ships that were able to fight. Yet, in the

evening, his grace, discovering the white squadron coming to his

assistance, resolved to engage the enemy again. In joining Prince Rupert

a very unlucky accident happened; for Sir George Ayscue, who was on

board the Royal Prince, the largest and heaviest ship in the whole

fleet, ran upon the Galloper, and being there in danger of burning,

and past all hope of relief, was forced to surrender; and then night

falling ended this day's engagement.



On June the 4th, the Dutch, who were still considerably stronger than

the English, were almost out of sight; but the Duke of Albemarle, having

prevailed upon the prince to follow them, about eight in the morning

they engaged again, and the English fleet charged five times through the

Dutch; till Prince Rupert's ship being disabled, and that of the Duke of

Albemarle very roughly handled, about seven in the evening the fleets

separated, each side being willing enough to retire. In this day's

engagement fell that gallant admiral, Sir Christopher Myngs, who, having

a shot in the neck, remained upon deck and gave orders, keeping the

blood from flowing with his fingers for above an hour, till another shot

pierced his throat and put an end to his pain.



This was the most terrible battle fought in this war. De Witte said

roundly upon this occasion, "If the English were beaten, their defeat

did them more honour than all their former victories; and all the Dutch

had discovered was that Englishmen might be killed and English ships

burnt, but that English courage was invincible."



After all, it is by no means easy to say who were victors upon the

whole, or what was the loss of the vanquished. Some Dutch writers talk

of thirty-five ships, and between five and six thousand men lost by the

English; which is more than half their fleet, and very little less than

all their seamen. Other authorities, however, compute our loss at

sixteen men-of-war, of which ten were sunk and six taken. Our writers

say the Dutch lost fifteen men-of-war, twenty-one captains, and five

thousand men, and they themselves own to the loss of nine ships and a

prodigious slaughter of their seamen.





IV. THE DEFENCE OF THE THAMES.



After the four days' fight the Dutch had once more the credit of

appearing at sea before the English, their ships having suffered less in

that protracted conflict. It was not long, however, before the English

fleet appeared. It consisted of eighty men-of-war, great and small, and

nineteen fire-ships, divided into three squadrons: the red, under Prince

Rupert and the Duke of Albemarle, who were on board the same ship with

Sir Joseph Jordan for their vice-admiral and Sir Robert Holmes for their

rear-admiral. Sir Thomas Allen was admiral of the white, and had under

him Sir Thomas Tyddiman and Rear-admiral Utburt. Sir Jeremiah Smith

carried the blue flag, and his officers were Sir Edward Spragge and

Rear-admiral Kempthorne. The Dutch, according to their own accounts, had

eighty-eight men-of-war and twenty fire-ships, divided also into three

squadrons, under Lieutenant-admiral De Ruyter, John Evertz, brother to

the admiral who was killed in the former engagement, and Van Tromp.



On July the 25th, about noon, the English came up with the enemy off the

North Foreland. Sir Thomas Allen, with the white squadron, began the

battle by attacking Evertz. Prince Rupert and the duke, about one in the

afternoon, made a desperate attack upon De Ruyter, whose squadron was in

the centre of the Dutch fleet; but, after fighting about three hours,

were obliged to go on board another ship. In this interim the white

squadron had entirely defeated their enemies; Admiral John Evertz, his

vice-admiral, De Vries, and his rear-admiral, Koenders, being all

killed, the vice-admiral of Zealand taken, and another ship of fifty

guns burnt. The prince and duke fought De Ruyter ship to ship, disabled

the Guelderland, of sixty-six guns, which was one of his seconds,

killed the captain of another, and mortally wounded two more; upon which

some of the Dutch ships began to retreat. However, Vice-admiral Van Nes

stood bravely by De Ruyter, and his ship received great damage; yet,

being at last deserted by all but seven ships, they yielded to

necessity, and followed the rest of their fleet to sea.



This was the clearest victory gained during the whole war; the Dutch

lost twenty ships; four admirals were killed and a great many captains;

as to private men, there might be about four thousand slain and three

thousand wounded. The English had only the Resolution burnt, three

captains killed, and about three hundred private men.



By the end of the year 1666, however, both nations had become weary of

the war, and the King of Sweden having offered his mediation, it was

readily accepted by both sides. Negotiations were immediately set on

foot which ultimately resulted in the treaty of Breda; but in the

meantime the Dutch rather increased than relaxed their efforts to

strengthen their navy, hoping thereby to influence the terms of the

treaty in process of negotiation. Having previously sounded the mouth of

the Thames to ascertain how far it might be practicable to attempt to

enter it with large ships, and having thereby discovered the facility

with which such a project could be carried out, De Witte determined to

make the attempt without delay.



The Dutch fleet being ready, sailed over to the English coast, where it

was joined by Van Ghent, and formed a fleet of seventy men-of-war,

besides fire-ships. On June 7th they attacked Sheerness, which was at

that time unfinished and in no state of defence, and captured fifteen

iron guns and a considerable quantity of naval stores. The Duke of

Albemarle, Sir Edward Spragge, and other officers had made all

imaginable provision for the defence of the River Medway, by sinking

ships in the passage, throwing a chain across it, and placing three

large vessels, which had been taken from the Dutch, behind the chain.

The Dutch, however, had the advantage of a strong easterly wind, which

encouraged them to make an attempt upon our ships at Chatham, in spite

of the precautions taken to preserve them. It was on June the 12th that

they executed this design; which, however, would have miscarried at

last, if one Captain Brakell, who was a prisoner on board their fleet

for some misdemeanour, had not offered to wipe out the memory of his

former mistake by breaking the chain, a service which he gallantly

performed. Captain Brakell also with great bravery boarded and took one

of the English frigates which guarded the passage; and soon after, the

Matthias, the Unity, and the Charles the Fifth, the ships which

had been taken from the Dutch, were set on fire. The next day, the

advantage of wind and tide continuing, the Dutch advanced with six

men-of-war and five fire-ships as high as Upnore Castle; but were so

warmly received that they were obliged to return. However, as they came

back, they burnt the Royal Oak, a very fine ship, and in her Captain

Douglas, who chose to be burnt with her rather than live to be

reproached with having deserted his command. On the 14th they carried

off the hull of the Royal Charles, notwithstanding all the English

could do to prevent it; a project which they had dearly at heart. On

their return, two Dutch men-of-war ran ashore in the Medway and were

burnt, which, with eight fire-ships consumed in the action and one

hundred and fifty men killed, is all the loss acknowledged by the Dutch

writers; though it is not improbable that they really suffered much

more.



De Ruyter, highly pleased with what he had performed, left Admiral Van

Nes with part of his fleet in the mouth of the Thames, and sailed with

the rest to Portsmouth, in the hope of burning the ships there. Failing

in this design, he sailed westward to Torbay, where he was likewise

repulsed. Then he returned back again to the mouth of the Thames and

with twenty-five sail came as high as the Hope, where our squadron lay

under the command of Sir Edward Spragge. This consisted of eighteen

sail; yet, the admiral not being on board when the enemy began the

attack, the English fleet suffered at first from their fire-ships; but

Sir Edward repairing to his command, and being joined by Sir Joseph

Jordan with a few small ships, quickly forced the Dutch to retire. The

like success attended their attack on Landguard Fort, which was

performed by sixteen hundred men, commanded by Colonel Doleman, a

republican, under the fire of their whole fleet: but Governor Darrel, an

old cavalier, beat them off with great loss. On the 23rd Van Nes sailed

again up the river as far as the Hope, where he engaged Sir Edward

Spragge, who had with him five frigates and seventeen fire-ships. This

proved a very sharp action, at least between the fire-ships, of which

the Dutch writers themselves confess they spent eleven to our eight.



The next day the English attacked the Dutch in their turn, and,

notwithstanding their superiority, forced them to retire and to burn the

only fire-ship they had left, to prevent her being taken. On the 25th

they bore out of the river with all the sail they could make, followed

at a distance by Sir Edward Spragge and his remaining fire-ships. On the

26th, in the mouth of the river, they were met by another English

squadron from Harwich, consisting of five men-of-war and fourteen

fire-ships. These boldly attacked the Dutch, and grappled the

vice-admiral of Zealand and another large ship; but were not able to

fire them, though they frightened a hundred of their men into the sea.

In this struggle the rear-admiral of Zealand was forced on shore, and so

much damaged thereby as to be obliged to return home.



While the whole Dutch fleet was employed in alarming our coasts, Sir

Jeremiah Smith was sent with a small squadron northwards; with which,

and the assistance of a numerous fleet of privateers, already abroad for

their own profit, the Dutch commerce to the Baltic was in a manner

ruined, and multitudes of rich prizes were daily brought into English

ports. Thus it may be truly said that the nations at this time changed

characters. The Dutch preferred the insult at Chatham, which, all things

considered, was of little or no consequence to them, to the preservation

of their trade; and the English endeavoured to make themselves amends

for this unexpected loss of a few men-of-war by taking numbers of

merchantmen.



The English, in the West Indies, took the island of St. Eustatia, Saba,

St. Martin, Buen Ayre, the island of Tobago, and other places from the

Dutch. On the contrary, the Dutch, under the conduct of Commodore

Krynsen, made themselves masters of Surinam; and the French, assisted by

the Dutch, almost deprived the English of their half of the island of

St. Christopher, after several obstinate disputes and the death of their

commander Le Salles. Six frigates and some other small vessels from

Barbadoes, sailing from thence to repair this loss, were so ill-treated

by a violent storm that they were put out of a condition to execute

their design, and two or three of the most disabled ships fell into the

hands of the enemy; though, before their misfortune, they had burnt two

Dutch ships richly laden in the harbour of Los Santos.



There were three distinct treaties of peace signed at Breda

respectively, with the Dutch, the French, and the Danes, and these were

ratified on August 24th, 1667. The terms upon which this peace was made

were safe and honourable at least, though not so glorious and beneficial

as might have been expected after such a war. By it the honour of the

flag was secured; and the island of Poleron, to prevent further

disputes, was yielded to the Dutch. In the West Indies we kept all that

we had taken, except Surinam; and the French were obliged to restore

what they had taken from us.