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the tenth before the Fleets met; DeRuyter having, by a Master-piece ofgood Conduct, pafs’d by the Confede-rates, close under the Shoar, in theNight, and so got the Weather-gage ofthem.

The Confederate-Fleet consisted ofninety Men of War, of which theFrench made one third : The Dutch pre-tend they were no more than seventyMen of War, tho’ they own they werea Hundred and eighteen Sail. TheFrench on Account of their good Be-haviour, in the last Engagement, werenow allowed to make a separate Squa-dron again, as at the Battle of Solehay ;But they ill requited the Confidencethe English put in them ; For being at-tacked by Banckert, after a very shortDispute, they stood away to the East-ward, and remained idle Spectators,during the whole Fight. («)

While the French were retreating,the Fight between Prince Rupert andDe Ruyter was very hot, upon whichBankert, finding the French would en-gage no longer, and being De Ruytersorely prelfed, bore down with hisSqua-dron to his Assistance. Upon which,the Prince, finding himself overpoweredwith Numbers, made a retreating Fightof it towards the Westward.

Van Tromp and Spragge had, inthe mean Time, been very hotly en-gaged from nine in the Morning; Theformer, in the Golden Lion, and the lat-ter, in the Royal Prince, fought Ship toShip. Van Tromp, tho' he had the Wea-ther-Gage, did not venture to come toa close Fight, or avoided it out of Po-licy ; Because Spragge, being over-crowded with Men, and, as he had theSmoke in his Face, not being able tolevel his Cannon so truly as his Adver-sary could, had the Disadvantage, byfighting at a Distance. After threeHours sharp Engagement, the RoyalPrince was so disabled, that Spraggewas obliged to leave her, and go onBoard the St. George ; And Van Tromp,about the fame Time, quitted the Gol-den Lion, and hoisted his Flag on Boardthe Comet. The Battle was now renew-ed between these two great Rivals forGlory, with equal Fury; And their Se-conds were not behind-hand with them

( u ) Rear-Admiral Martel only continuedthe Fight, and behaved bravely, for which, at hisReturn to France , he was called to an Account,ss having exceeded his Commission ; And wasthrown into th eBaftille,- for having behaved him-self too well.

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1673.

in Bravery, among whom the LordOJfory, and Sir John Kempihom, parti-cularly, distinguished themselves. TheSt. George, after a sharp Dispute, . be-ing, likewise, disabled, by the Fall ofher Main-mast, Sir Edward Spraggewent into his Barge, with a Design tocontinue the Fight, in a third Ship ; gpBut, before he was gone six Boats Ugge "Length, a Cannon-Ball, after it hadpasted thro' the Sides of the St'.George ,funk the Barge, and he was unfortu-nately drowned, lamented not only byhis own Nation, but by his very Ene-mies, who give him the Character ofone of the bravest Sea-Officers, whoever fought under the English Flag.(G)

We left Prince Rupett making a re-treating Fight, before De Ruyter's andBanckert’s United Squadrons; But thetwo Dutch Admirals, perceiving VanTromp to be in Danger, altered theirCourse, and failed directly to his As-sistance, as did Prince Rupert , imme-diately afterwards, to second Spragge.

They all came up to their respective TheEngage „Squadrons, about theTime Spragge loft: ment conti-his Life; And now the Engagement, ^being again general, was renewed with f t [ g * en sgreater Fury than before; The Princesending in two Fire-ships, guarded byCaptain Leg, upon the Enemy, putthem into such Confusion, that had theFrench then come in, being as they thenwere, Masters of the .Wind, they mighteasily have ruined the whole DutchFleet. The Fight, however, continu-ed 'till after Sun-set, when Darknessand Smoak obliged them, on all Sides,to desist ; The Engljjh having, duringall this Time, maintained the Fight a-lone (while the French continued tolook on at a Distance, against the wholeDutch Fleet, with such Firmness andResolution, that the Dutch own, in alltheir Accounts, they shewed the utmostProofs of Valour, and fought like He-roes. And tho’ some of them, withtheir usual Vanity, pretend they chasedthe Englijh, yet neither De Ruyter norVanTr0mp3.Fu.me to themselves any suchHonour,, in their Letters to the States ,after the Fight, which, if true, theymight very well have done, withoutwounding their Modesty.

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(x) Some of the T>utcl Writers fay, that whenhe took his Leave ot the King, he promised HisMajesty to bring Him Fan Tromp, alive or dead,or to perilh in the Attempt. s