Chap.XXXVIII. from the I of James I. to the Revolution. g

*66^. as it would, on Peril of answering thecontrary with his Head. In Obedienceto this Order, he weighed Anchor therh e ji next Morning, being the third, byBreak of Day, to go in Search of the' Englijh , but they had saved him theTrouble, and, before they had been anHour at Sea, came up with them. (r)

A Sea-Fight between ^Ænglish, underthe Chief Command of the Duke ofYork, as Lord High Admiral of Eng-land, and the Dutch, under the chiefCommand of Baron Obdam de Waffe-

naer.

He

c °ntj

n M'c

This memorable Battle began, on

; mites the third of June, at three in the Morn-

inA- To give a particular Account off 1b k jff every Circumstance of it, would be asa ge. much above my Capacity, as it wouldbe too long to find Place here r Thothe Englijh had in the Beginning, theWeather-gage, and the two Fleets hadseveral Times charged thro' each other,with great Fury and Intrepidity, (whichBafnage reckons a great Mistake on theSide of the Englijh , who had nothingto do but to stop and encounter the E-nemy) there was no visible Advantage’till about one o’Clock at Noon ; Whenthe Earl of Sandwich, with his BlueSquadron, happening to fall into theCenter of the Enemy’s Fleet, separatedit into two Parts, and thereby made agreat Step towards the Victory, andputting the Enemy to that Confusion,which, in the End,brought on a general

Flight: And this perhaps it was, which 1665.gave Bafnage Occasion to fay, never Bat-tle was fought in such Confusion.

The Duke of York, in the mean^ Advan-Time, who was in the Royal Charles, fhfh!ng\ifa*a Ship of eighty Guns, was in close <yyy<?.

Fight with the Dutch Admiral Obdam,in th eEndracht of eighty-four Guns: (£)

In which Engagement the Duke was ingreat Danger, the Earl of Falmouth, theLord Muskerry, and Mr. Boyle, second great Dan-Son to the Earl of Burlington, being all^r.three, together with some of His Foot-men,killed by his Side,with oneCannon-ball, or rather Chain-Shot. They wereso near his Grace, that he was sprinkledwith their Blood and Brains; And theDutch Writers fay, the Prince himselfwas wounded in the Hand, by a Splin-ter of Mr. Boyle's Scull. But in theHeat of Action the Dutch Admiralblew up, and of five Hundred Men, a-mong which were a great Number ofVolunteers, of the best Families inHolland, only five were saved. (/)

This Accident encreafed the Confu-sion and Consternation of the Enemy; The DutchInsomuch that four of their Ships, (m) ^ eetfalling foul of each other, were burnt on f a 'by one Fire-ship. Soon after, three o-thers of their best Ships, (n) falling in-to the same Confusion, suffered thesame Fate. The Ship Orange, of Zea-land, of seventy-five Guns, and fourHundred Men, being disabled by theMary, commanded by Captain Smith,was likewise burnt j And the Captain ofher, who was taken, died soon afterof his Wounds. (0)

The

(7) If, as most Accounts agree, this Battle wasfought off of UAyftoff, the Dutch Fleet must havebeen under Sail all Night: And that the Battlewas fought on the Englijh Coast is plain, becausethe Remains of the Dutch Fleet were pursued thewhole Night and Day after, before they couldreach the Maefe and the Texel. Brandt , in hisLife of De Ruyter fays, it was about ten Leagues,N. E. and by N. of L’AyJloff: Bafnage fays, a-bout eight Leagues.

( k ) Dutch Writers fay, this Ship had actual-ly boarded the Royal Charles ; But confess,the gal-lant Resistance they met with from the Englijhobliged them to retire.

OO The Dutch say, that Captain Smith, after-wards Sir Jeremy Smith , feing the Duke’s Dan-ger, h a( j unperceivedly stolen under the Dutch■'Admiral’s Side, and set Fire to her Powder. Baf-na ge says, it was suspected that Obdam ’s Black haddone it, to be revenged for some ill Usage,

( m ) The Coeverden, of sixty Guns; theJ rinee Morrice, of fifty ; the Utrecht, of foura nd forty ; And another of forty Guns.

(n) The Marseveen , the Tergoe , and theSwanenburg. The Dutch all own the Loss ofthese three in the Manner I have related; Butfor the other four, some of theirWriters pass thatIncident by in Silence; Van Tromp in his Letterto the States , mentioning the Fate of these threeShips, adds; also some other Ships were burnt ;And then continues; The English, likewise , setFire to some other Ships besides, because , as far aswe. could fee, they were unmajied , and terriblyshattered ; And the Author of his Life mentionsthem by Name.

( 0 ) The Author of Cornelius Van Tromp’& Lifeand Bafnage fay, that the Commander of the 0*range , before Ihe was overpowered, had boardedthe Montague , and taken her, where he had theBravery, with his own Hands, to take down herBlue Flag, and put up the Prince’s Flag, in theRoom of it, and kept it up a'whole Hour: Butthat the Montague was retaken by the RoyalJames, in which were killed the Earls of Port-land and Marlborough.