Chap. XL. from the I. of James I, to the Revolution,

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^672. Sum from Lewis XIV. in Order to be-gin the War with Advantage, tho’ notwith the greatest Honour ; And beforeany Declaration was made, Sir RobertHolmes was ordered to ly off the Ifle ofWight, to intercept the Dutch home-ward-bound Smyrna Fleet. .

,/« Before this, however, could be ef-effected, the King was again in Want ofMony, and signified to his Creatures,that he could not begin the War with-out fifteen Hundred Thousand Pounds,osiering the Treasurer’s Staff to whom-ever should furnisti him the Means forraising this Sum. Then it was Sir ‘Eho-U P the mas Clifford advised him to the perni-* che her. clous Project of shutting up the Exche-quer : For which Perfidy to the Nation,he was accordingly advanced to thePostof Lord High Treasurer.

The Dutch Smyrna- and Lisbon -Fleetattacked by Sir Robert Holmes.

The King, being now supplied withMony ordered, the Fleet, under Sir Ro-bert Holmes, consisting of six and thirtyMen of War to Sea, upon the Projectabovementioned. Sir Robert meeting^ the Dutch Smyrna Fleet, at the Back of

*«c£ l,es at- the Ifle of Wight, on the thirteentn of. March, shot at them, to make them

<ty S ' strike their Flags, and lower theirTop-fails, which they neglecting to do, heagain fired upon them, when they low-ered their Topsails, but still refused tostrike their Flags; upon which he im-mediately engaged them. The DutchFleet consisted, of feventy-two Sail ofMerchant-fhips, and were under theConvoy of six Men of War command-ed by experienced Officers, (b)

The Approach of the Dutch Fleetwas so sudden, that tho’ Sir Robert hadreceived his Orders to put to Sea, hehad no more than seven or eight Fri-gats in a Condition : A Force not su-periourto the Dutch Convoy : Yet withthese he was resolved to begin the At-tack, in Order to disorder, and therebydetain them, ’till aRe-infbrcemerit couldcome up. (c)

The Dutch, who had previous No-tice that they were to be way-laid,having thrown great Quantities of Goods

{b) According to the Accounts the Dutchgive of this Transaction, their Fleet consisted of

and theirBafnage ,

give of this Transaction, their fleet c<but four and forty Merchant-ihips,Convoy of five or fix Men of War:

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over Board, to clear theirDecks, divid- 1672.ed themselves into three Squadrons,each guarded by two Men of War, andtogether forming a Half-moon.

In the Beginning of the Engagement, ParticularsSir Robert coming up with Ærian deHaes, a Zealand Captain, who wasCcmmadore of the Dutch Convoy, cal-led to him to come on Board: Whichhe refusing, and sending one of his Un-der-Oificers, Sir Robert i aluted him with,a Broad-Side. Upon this, a sharp En-gagement ensued. • The Lord Offory en-gaged another Dutch Captain, calledDu Rois ; And the Rest fell on wherethey saw the best Advantage, striving,with their utmostForce and Skill, to dis-order the Dutch Squadrons. The Con-voys, on the contrary,did their best, andthe Merchant-Ships, (among whichwere above twenty, that carried fromtwenty to forty Cannons, and were asfit for Battery as most of the EnglijhFrigats) encouraged by the Weakness ofthe Englijh, were not backward to se-cond their Convoys. The Combat last-ed, with great Fury, about two Hours,

’till about an Hour past Sunset, whenthe Darkness put an End to it, after theDutch Commadore De Haes had beenkilled by Sir Robert.

The following Day, the Englijh be-ing re-inforced by four other Frigats, Ej?8 lislland a Ketch or two, renewed the Fight. J uCce h s J u *

Sir Robert again attack’d the Ship ofDe Haes, which was then commandedby the second Captain ; And the LordOjsory boarded Du Bois, who upon thatOccasion lost his left Hand: But the En-glijh having to do with such Multitudes,could gain no considerable Advantage,the whole Morning. Sir Robert, how-ever, not being easily discouraged, andresolving, tho’ wounded, not to losealtogether his Labour, made a thirdand more desperate Attack, in the Af-ternoon, with eight Ships, which werethen his whole Force, the Rest havingbeen sent home disabled. This lastAttack succeeded so well, that he cutoff a Man of War from the Lint;, offour and fifty Guns, (commanded byCaptain John Van Nes, the elder, whowas killed in the Action) which heboarded and took, after a stout Resist-ance ; But the Prize having received se-7 M vera!

however, allows there were sixty Merchant-ships.

(c) The Dutch fay he had eight large Ships,and three Ketches, when he begun the Attack.