$84 Charles II. Naval Expeditions , &c of the Englilh, Book Ilk

1666. stronger than the Englijh, were (accord-ing to Prince Rupert 's Letter) almostout of Sight: But, being pursued,wereovertaken about eight o'Clock, and theFight begun anew, in a terrible Man-ner. Both Parties, impatient to bringthis long Dispute to a Decision, gavethe utmost Proofs of Courage and Con-duct. The Ship of the Dutch CaptainXJytenhoff was burnt. Those of VanIromp and Sweers, being quite disabled,were obliged to leave the Fight. TheShip, Dora van TJytrecht, yielded to theDuke, but was afterwards relieved. Se-veral of the Englijh suffered considerableDamage, and two or three, much dis-abled, were taken. The Fight lasted'till about seven in the Evening, whena sudden Mist drew a Curtain beforethe bloody Scene j And so 'thisTragedy,tho' one of the longest that ever wasacted on the Sea, concluded with thefourth Act. (e)

An Engagement between the Dutch and

English Fleets, and a CompleatViclory

obtained by the latter.

Notwithstanding the great Losssustained in these last Actions, on both

Sides, it was not many Weeks before 1666both Fleets were at Sea again, prepared Fhe D etchfor farther Action. The Dutch , being %f 0 rethe earliest, appeared before the Thames thelfhsaA’Mouth, thinking to insult the Englijh ,whom they did not believe to have beenin such Forwardness. But they had notbeen long there, before they saw theEnglijh Fleet bearing down upon them,to engage them upon more equal Termsthan in the last right, upon which they att ], e sigdimmediately retired towards the Coast of of the &S'Holland. Use.

The Englijh Fleet consisted of about Feighty Men of War and Frigats/ and Commandeighteen or nineteen Fire- 1 ships, divided, of theEA)as usual, into the Red, White and Blue lisll ^ 'Squadrons, the first of which was com-manded in chief, by Prince Rupert , andthe Duke of Alhermarl, who were bothin one Ship, the second by Sir ThomasAllen, and the third by Sir Jeremy \

Smith ; Under whom Sir Joseph Jordan, ?

Sir Robert Holms, Sir Thomas Tiddeman,

Sir Edward Spragge, Captain Utburt, ,

and Captain Kempthorn, commanded asFlag-Officers. J

The Dutch were (according to their And of d e jown Accounts) eighty-eight Men of Dutch * IWar, and about twenty Fire-ships, di-vided, likewise, into three Main Squa-drons,

Rapin.

Burnt.

(e) Rapin (Ipeaking of the lame Engagement)fays, the Englijh were no more successful in thisfourth Engagement than they had been in the for-mer. They lost four of their best Ships, andwere obliged to retreat with Precipitation. AMist happily conveyed them from the Pursuit ofDe Ruyter. In these four Days (fays the fameAuthor) the Englijh lost three and twenty greatShips, besides several others of less Note, (tho'the Dutch themselves, who at first made them fiveand thirty, afterwards pretended to no more thansixteen) six Thousand Men killed, and twoThou-land, fix Hundred made Prisoners; (which, by theBy, were as many or more than were actually en-gaged.) Among the Slain, were Sir WilliamBerkley , Vice-Admiral of the White Squadron ,and Sir Christopher Mings. The Dutch (fays he)lost six Ships, ( Burchett fays twenty) two Thou-sand eight Hundred Soldiers, (according to Bur-chett five Thousand) besides the Admirals E-vert-zen , Vander Hulst, and Staghomuer , with someother Officers. Tho' the Victory (continues he)was so evidently on the Side of the Dutch, Bon-fires and Rejoicings were made at London , as ifthe Englijh had been victorious.

■Bishop Butnet (who was, likewise, no greatEnemy to the Dutch , no more than Rapin) fays:" De Wit was on Board of the Dutch Fleet," w ; 10 is said to have invented Chain-lhot, on“ this Occasion,which did incredible Damage tothe

Rigging of the Englip , and was a great Means“ of the Dutch getting the Advantage. And, it is" thought, if Prince Rupert had not come up-- when he did, the Englip Fleet was so unrig-" ged, that they would all have been taken and.

« sunk, or burnt: And yet a Day. of Thanksgiv-" ing was appointed."

Highly probable it is, that neither Side hadany great Reason to brag of Advantage; . Andperhaps no Action might more properly be calleda Drawn-Battle; But, in Point of Valour and Con-duct, it is most certain (and the Dutch themselvesallow it, in a great Measure) the Englp hadvastly the Advantage ; And this is proved, in ge-neral, by their being so greatly inferiour in Forcethan the Dutch , and yet coming off with so muchHonour. Besides, the Dutch, when they attri-.bute to themselves the Honour of the Victory,are obliged to own, at the lame Time, it was thehardest won of any they ever obtained, and theAction the most cruel and desperate they everwere engaged in. But to descend to a Particularor two, which that I may not be suspected of Par-tiality, I will take from th eDutch Writers.

To be admired, fay they, was the Resolution Lesoet nof Vice-Admiral Berkley , who, tho' cut off from Corn- 'the Line, surrounded by his Enemies, great Num- iroiv?'hers of his Men killed, his Ship disabled andboarded, on all Sides, yet continued fighting al-most alone, killed several with his own Hand, andwould accept of no Quarter, 'till, at Length, be-ing shot in the Throat with a Musket-ball, heretired into the Captain's Cabbin, where he wasfound dead, extended at his full Length, on aTable, and almost covered with his own Blood. $

Rear-Admiral Mings having received a ~f v r, e l A*Musket-ball in his Throat, would not be per-^ 11 gf .loaded to be bound, or to leave the Quarter- BWDeck, but held his Fingers in the Wound, to stopthe flowing Blood, for above half an Hour ; 'Till

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