582 Charles II. Naval Expeditions, &c. of the English, Book Ift
1666. Gallies and Fire-ssiips, under the Com-The French mand of the Duke de Beaufort . (a)joyn with The Dutch, in Hopes of this Assistance,the Dutch. used tIieir utmost diligence to get early
to Sea this Spring, and, on our Side, allPreparations were made for doing thelike.
The King proclaimed War againstFrance, theBeginning of February, andthe Fleet, being now ready, consistingof feventy-eight Ships of the Line, be-sides Frigats and Firelhips, was put un-der the Command of Prince 1 Rupert, andthe Duke of Albermarle. They, ar-riving in the Downs the nine and twen-tieth of May, received Advice that theFrench Fleet was come out to Sea, inOrder to join the Dutch. Upon thisNews, tho’ it proved a false Alarm,Prince Rupert received express Ordersfrom the King, to make the best of hisWay, with the whole White Squadron,excepting the Admirals, to the IJle ofWight, (b) in Order to intercept themas they came up the Chanel. With thefame Wind which carried the Prince toSt. Helen’s, the Dutch put to Sea, andfinding the Englijh Fleet divided, wouldnot lose so favourable an Opportunity.The Dutch They, therefore, resolved to engageattach Al- the Duke of Albermarle, with a vastkf rn P r j : tn Superiority. The Duke, far from de-cs* Prince 6 Liming the Battle, tho’ the Blue andRupert. Red Squadron, which remained under
his Command, did not amount to more 1666.than between fifty and sixty Sail, en-counters! them with singular Bravery,tho’ so much inferior in Strength ; Andnotwithstanding the Wind, blowinghard at Southwest, made his Ships stoopso, that they could not use their lowerTire of Guns. This Disadvantage theDutch themselves allow, andBasnage, tothe Honour of General Monk, fays, hechose rather, as he had the Wind, tofight at this Disadvantage, than to de-fer the Battle.
The Dutch Fleet, which was com-manded by De Ruyter, consisted of se-venty one Ships of the Line, twelveFrigats, thirteen Firefhips, and eightYachts; Carrying four Thousand, sevenHundred and sixteen Guns, and abovetwo and twenty Thousand Men. DeRuyter commanded, in particular, theSquadron of the Maese ; That of North -Holland and Frizeland was commandedby Evertzen, and that of Zealand byVan Tramp . (c) With this vast Disad-vantage the Engagement begun, andthe Battle was fought four Days succes-sively. The Battle beginning the firstof June, and not ending quite, ’till thefourth at Night.
In the Beginning of the first Day’s The 0Engagement (which was very fierce on Day’s Wboth S'\des)VanFromp’s Ship was so much S a & emendisabled, that he was obliged to go on
Board
" English Ships. Thus was this Squadron almost" entirely ruined, and obliged to return to the" Fleet, without having succeeded in the At-" tempt. The Day after, being the fourteenth£c of Aug. N.S. theGovernour odBerghen received" his Orders, but it was then too late. The« King (continues he) was dissatisfied with the<c Earl of Sandwich’s Conduct, and, instead of" continuing him in the Command of the Fleet,tt sent him on an Ambassy to Spain.” Rapin like-wise lessens the Credit of the Action which en-sued, by saying : " That the Ships, which the“ Englijh took, were separated from the French« Fleet in a Storm, and were but twenty in all.
[a) Rapin says, the King of France enteredinto thisWar, for no other Reason but to buoy upthe Pensioner {De Wit) who was entirely in hisInterest, and could no longer support himselfwithout this Declaration. But there was anotherMotive, which perhaps weighed as much or morewith him than this, and that was, to have a fairOpportunity of encreasing his Naval Forces, andto become more considerable at Sea, in Order toperpetrate other Views, in the Sequel. He gotPermiffion of the States , by Means of the (andperhaps his) Pensioner De Wit , to build twelveMen of War in Holland , (besides others he wasallowed to build in Denmark) and to purchase asmany more stout Merchant-lhips, together withvast Quantities of Ammunition : Some of whichShips were afterwards employed against them-selves : And how little of thele Naval Prepara-
tions he now made Use of, for the Service of theDutch , we shall see below.
The Fleet under the Duke de Beaufort , whichthe King of France had promised should joyn withwith that of the States , was in the Mediterranean ,and by several Accidents, either real or feigned,did not come to Belle-Ife , where he was to be atHand, to join theDutch Fleet in the Channel, tillthe latter End of September.
{b) Rapin fays, these Orders were to fail withtwenty great Ships, and join with ten more a tPly-mouth , in Order to go in Search of the Duke ofBeaufort’s Squadron, and to engage him.
The States found Means, the Beginning ofthis Year, to draw the King of Denmark intotheir Interest, and he engaged to furnish thirtyMen of War for their Service: But as they ne-ver acted against the Englijh , it is enough, that Ihave mentioned this Alliance.
(c) Notwithstanding this great Superiori-ty of the Enemy, Be Ruyter confesses, in a Letterto the States , that the Englijh were continuallythe Aggressors in this remarkable Fight, whichlasted so many Days. It was they, likewise, whobegun the Battle, by attacking th e Dutch, as theylay at Anchor, between Dunkirk and the Nor th -Foreland ; And with such Impetuosity, that (asDe Ruyter confesses, in the fame Letter) theywere obliged to cut their Cables, to put them-selves into a Posture to receive them.
Basnage to conceal, as much as he could,the Superiority of the Dutch , pretends, that tho'they had more Ships, the Englijh had more Men.
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