54-2 Charles II. Naval Expeditions, dec, of the English* Book III

Rut in vain :

Proceeds

Northward

1652. within a League of him; But he foundsuch Preparations made for his Recep-tion, the Militia being drawn down tothe Coasts, and a Platform (Whitlocklays 4 two Platforms) suddenly raised, be-tween Deal and Sundown Castles, thathe thought fit to abandon his Design,and fail Northward in Quest of Blake ;But first, pursuant to the Orders senthim, convoyed the Dutch BaltickFleet, which was ready to Sail, intoSafety.

This done, and receiving Advice,

. „ 7 .that Blake, having dispersed the Her-

Bhke™ ^ring Busses, and taken their Convoy,was now sailed towards the Orkney-Islands, he steered his Course that Way,and was so lucky as to fall in with thefive Eajl-India Ships, which Blake wasin Quest of. This good Fortune was,however, soon allayed, by his meetingwith so furious a Storm, as forced himto get out to Sea, and dispersed hisFleet, in such a Manner, that he re-dUbelidh turned to Holland, leaving two of thea Storm. 7 East-India Men, and half his own Shipsbehind. At Length, however, they allcame in, except six Frigats, which fellinto the Hands of Blake, who loon af-ter arrived in Tarmouth Road. (k)Dutch Writers fay, that after theStorm, in which his Fleet was terriblyshattered, he came up with Blake's,which came better off and offered himBattle, but that he declined it. How-ever I find no Mention of this in any ofour English Historians.

Sir George Ascough’s Success againstthe Dutch, and Fight with theirAdmiral de Ruyter.

In the mean Time, Sir George As- 1652*cough (being re-inforced with severalMen of War) was sent with anotherPart of the Fleet to the South, to di-sturb the Dutch Commerce, in the mosteffectual Manner. At his very Goingout, he met with thirty Sail of the j,

Dutch Merchants, between Dover and ta ^ 0 stn^Calais ; a good Part whereof he took an d depJ^or funk, and forced the Rest to run on thirtyShoar upon the French Coast. (/) Fromthence he stood Westward, and cruising **off of Plymouth, with about forty {Cla-rendon fays but thirty) Sail, for theProtection of our homeward-boundTrades, was met, the sixteenth of Au-gust t by the Dutch Admiral, De Ruy-ter, with a Fleet of Men of War, (-») Aseougkwith which he was convoying a Fleetof Merchant-Ships, outward-bound, to- c jy <?/Wwards the East. Both Admirals imme- mouth-diately prepared to engage, and theEngagement proved very smart, fromfour in the Afternoon, ’till Night part-ed them; But Historians differ as tothe Success of it. Sir George behavedhimself very bravely, and with nine ofhis head-most Ships, charged thro’ theDutch Fleet, and got the Weather-gage. Having this Advantage, he re-newed the Attack, and continued itwarmly for some Hours; But some ofthe Rest of his Ships not secondinghim, as they ought to have done, andthe Night coming on, he thought fit toretire to Plymouth; The Dutch havinglikewise enough of it, made the best oftheir Way up the Channel, having hadtwo Captains killed, two Ships funk,and most of the Men lost, besides aconsiderable Number of Men killedin other Ships, The Loss, on our Side,

was

{£) Whitlock, in his Memorandum of the thir-iy-firft of July, fays, Blake had taken threeDutch Merchant-men, richly laden, coming fromthe East-Indies.

(I) Whitlock fays, he met with forty DutchShips, took seven of them, burnt four, and for-ced about four and twenty of them to run onGround, on the French Shoar. He observes thatthis was a gallant Action, after his Sh : ps had beenso long a Voyage {viz. to the West-Indies') andwere very foul. This is according to his Memo-randum of July, the third; But in his Memoran-dum of July , the sixth, upon fresher Advice, hesays, the Dutch were forty Merchant-Ships, andfour Men of War, of winch he took seven andhurnt three, and that of those which run alhoar,few escaped being plundered by the Englijh.

(m) Authors differ, as to the Force of theDutch Fleet- Rapin lays, they were only fourand thirty Men oiWar. Clarendon, makes themsixty Ships of War and thirty Merchants ; Buthe seems to go too far. Dutch Authors, who, todo Honour to their Admiral, make our Fleet farsuperior to theirs in Force, fay, our Fleet can-listed of forty Men of War, of which twelve werefirst Rates, and eight seconds, (an apparent Mi-stake) and that theirs consisted only of three andthirty Men of War, or rather Frigats, from for-ty to four twenty Guns, (others fay thirty smallMen of War, and fix Firelhips) and sixty Mer-chant Ships. Of the latter De Ruyter took twen-ty into the Line of Battle, and-this might occa-sion the Mistake of Clarendon , and some others01 our Histoslans.