554 Charles II. Naval Expeditions y &c. of the English, Boor III.
-6§z.
A Sea-fight between the English, underthe Admirals, Monk, Penne andLawson, and the Dutch, under theCommand of Van Tromp and DeWitte, with the Death o/WanTromp.
They had not been long at Sea, be-fore one of the most fierce and bloodyActions ensued, that had been foughtduring this War. (p) I shall give theReaders an Account (q) of it, fromPVhitlock, which is the most particularI find, adding such Notes from otherAuthors as I shall think proper.
The nine and twentieth of July , a-bout nine in the Morning, having weigh-ed Anchor the Night before, th eDutchFleet was discovered by our Scouts a-head, coming from the Wielings, con-sisting of niaefy-seven Ships, or there-abouts, whereof ninety were Men ofWar; Whereupon the Englijh madeSail after them, fitting their Ships, inthe mean Time, for an Engagement.The Enemy tacked about, and stoodoff from the Englijh, as soon as theyperceived what they were; So that itwas five o’Clock in the Evening, beforeany of our Frigats could come up withthem, to engage them, which they thendid.
The first This forced the Dutch to make aDay’s Fight. Halt, upon which, about seven o’Clockin the Evening, the Resolution, (onBoard of which was Admiral Monk )with as many Ships and Frigats, as madeup thirty Sail, engaged them, the Restbeing a-stern could not get up; How-ever, they fell to work, and continuedfighting, ’till Night parted them, whichwas about nine o’Clock. (In this Fight,the Mizzen-Shrouds of the Resolutionwere fired, but were quickly put outagain by the Courage and Activity ofCaptain Joseph Taylor.)
After which, it being dark, allHands were at Work, to bring some
new Sails to the Yards, and mend the 1653-Rigging, in which the Englijh had suf- j
fered very much, in so short a Time. I
Sixteen were killed out-right, and five f
and twenty wounded, of whom four-teen dangerously.
The next Day, little was done, asto any Engagement, both Fleets findingW ork enough to get off from a Lee-shoar, the Wind blowing hard, with j
thick and dirty Weather. j
The next Morning, being fair, andlittle Wind, both Fleets prepared for a yss/Jfnew Engagement. The Dutch bore in Jupon the Englijh, having the Wind ofthem. About seven in the Morning,their great Ships from the Texel, be-ing five and twenty in Number, join- \
ed them, and then the Fight began to .
be very hot, and continued so ’till These#*one, in the Afternoon; The Enemyhaving the Wind all the while, where-by they had the Opportunity of takingall Advantages.
Yet, by thisTime,they began to hear !
away, making all the Sail they could,with the Remainder of the Fleet, beingnot above sixty left of all their Fleet.
As far as can be discerned, there can- Success snot be less than thirty or forty funk, Englifktaken and destroy’d: The Pursuit is j
continued, some of the best-sailing En- I
glijh Frigats being almost up withthem.
The Enemy had nine Flag-Ships, :
when the Fight began, of which but uaone is left; Some are known to befunk.
In this Engagement, the Englijh hadbut two Ships fired by the Dutch ; TheOak, one of them, had most of herMen saved ; But of the other none es-caped. The Worcejler took the Gar-land, a Ship taken by the Dutch in a for-mer Engagement, but they were oblig-ed to set Fire to her. Trump's Flag wasshot down in the Morning, and couldnot be made to stand all the Day after. !
sc During
The little Falcon brought in three Prizes toLeith.
THREE Englist Frigats took two great Mer-chant-ships off of Zealand , richly laden, withfine Goods.
The Pboenix-Fvigat brought in a Dutch Manof War into Harwich.
Two Englist Ships fought with two DutchShips near Leghorn , and after a sharp Fight tookthem.
Two Dutch Ships taken from the Vly •
(p) Mr. Secretary Burchett fays, that Monk
having observed the War was very tedious and r< u rcl^‘burdensome to the Nation, and that the taking of aShips in a Fight, always weakened the Fleet, bysending of other Ships with them, he, to makeshort Work of it, gave Orders, that his Captainsshould neither give nor take Quarter. So that, inf ew ’ Hours, the Air was filled with the Fragmentsof Ships blown up,and humanBodies, and the Seadyed with the Blood of the Slain and Wounded. , . A,. (q) Tins Account, according to IVhttlock , Jl r hid cwas sent to the Parliament , by the AdmiralsMonk j Penne and others.