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欧洲风帆时代海战史-缓慢整理中

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 楼主| 发表于 2012-2-16 18:46:12 | 显示全部楼层
2) 1665, Battle of Lowestoft



The naval Battle of Lowestoft took place on 13 June (New Style) 1665 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War.

A fleet of more than a hundred ships of the United Provinces commanded by Lieutenant-Admiral Jacob van Wassenaer Obdam attacked an English fleet of equal size commanded by James Stuart, Duke of York forty miles east of the port of Lowestoft in Suffolk, England.

The Dutch were desperate to prevent a second English blockade of their ports after the first was broken off by the English only for lack of supplies. The leading Dutch politician, Johan de Witt, ordered Van Wassenaer to attack the English aggressively during a period of stable eastern winds which would have given the Dutch the weather gage. Van Wassenaer however, perhaps feeling that his fleet was still too inferior in training and firepower to really challenge the English in full battle, postponed the fight till the wind turned in order to seek a minor confrontation in a defensive leeward position from which he could disengage quickly and return without openly disobeying orders. His attitude would cost him a sixth of his fleet and his life.

On 11 June Van Wassenaer sighted the English fleet of 109 ships carrying 4,542 guns and 22,055 men; it consisted of three squadrons.

James himself commanded the van, the squadron of the red flag;
Prince Rupert of the Rhine commanded the centre, the squadron of the white flag and
Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich commanded the rearguard, the squadron of the blue flag.
The Dutch fleet of 103 ships carrying 4,869 guns and 21,613 men had no less than seven squadrons:

the first (from the Admiralty of Amsterdam) commanded by Van Wassenaer himself in Eendracht;
the second commanded by Lieutenant-Admiral Johan Evertsen on Hof van Zeeland;
the third (from the Admiralty of de Maze) commanded by Lieutenant-Admiral Egbert Bartholomeusz Kortenaer on Groot Hollandia;
the fourth (the Frisian fleet) commanded by Lieutenant-Admiral Auke Stellingwerf on Sevenwolden;
the fifth (from the Admiralty of the Northern Quarter) commanded by Vice-Admiral Cornelis Tromp on Liefde;
the sixth (the Zealandic fleet) commanded by Vice-Admiral Cornelis Evertsen the Elder on Vlissingen and
the seventh commanded by Vice-Admiral Volckert Schram on Wapen van Nassau.
The reason for the large number of squadrons was that the smaller Dutch admiralties — and the many new flag officers recently appointed by them — insisted on having their own squadron; the Admiralties of Amsterdam and the Maas (i.e. Rotterdam) then split their fleets to make squadrons of equal size to those of the smaller fleets.

Both national fleets could only be so large by employing armed merchants: the English used 24 of these; the Dutch twelve, some of them enormous Dutch East India Company warships, specially brought over from the Indies. The Dutch also had activated eighteen laid up warships from the previous war.

On 11 June there was a calm and no battle could take place. On 12 June the wind again started to blow - and from the east, giving Van Wassenaer the weather gage. However, he simply didn't attack, despite clear orders to do so under these conditions. Next morning the wind had turned to the west and now he approached the enemy fleet.


Belligerents
England/Dutch Republic
Commanders and leaders
James Stuart, Duke of York/Jacob van Wassenaer Obdam
Strength
109 ships/103 ships
Casualties and losses
1 English ship lost, 300–500 killed/17 Dutch ships lost, 2000–2500 killed, c. 2000 taken prisoner

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 楼主| 发表于 2012-2-16 21:16:53 | 显示全部楼层
本帖最后由 MFL140 于 2012-2-17 13:51 编辑

4) 1666, Four Days Battle

1st Day
On the first day Monck, sailing in the van with George Ayscue's white squadron behind him and Thomas Teddiman's blue squadron forming the rear, surprised the Dutch fleet at anchor near Dunkirk. Despite disadvantageous weather conditions Monck decided to attack the Dutch rear under Lieutenant-Admiral Cornelis Tromp hoping to cripple it before the Dutch centre and van could intervene. After sending a message to Rupert to join him if possible, Monck aggressively attacked Tromp who fled over the Flemish shoals. Monck then wore to the northwest, to meet the Dutch centre (under De Ruyter) and van (commanded by Lieutenant-Admiral Cornelis Evertsen the Elder). Tromp again turned, but his ship Liefde collided with Groot Hollandia. Vice-Admiral Sir William Berkeley saw this and closed in with HMS Swiftsure. Immediately Callantsoog and Reiger came to the rescue of their commander, destroying the rigging of the English ship with chain shot; the Reiger then managed to board the Swiftsure. Berkeley challenged the Dutch sea soldiers, shouting: You dogs, you rogues, have you the heart, so press on board! but was fatally wounded in the throat by a musket ball, after which the Swiftsure was captured. In the powder room the constable was found with his throat cut; he had tried to blow up the ship but his own crew killed him first and drenched the powder, claiming afterwards the man had cut his own throat from pure frustration. The damaged HMS Seven Oaks (the former Sevenwolden) was captured by the Beschermer while HMS Loyal George tried to assist the Swiftsure but this only resulted in the capture of both ships. The embalmed body of Berkeley, after being displayed in The Hague, was later returned to England under a truce, accompanied by a letter of the States-General praising the Admiral for his courage. HMS Rainbow, one of the two scouts who had first spotted the Dutch fleet, got isolated and fled to neutral Ostend, chased by twelve ships from Tromp's squadron while the other, the Kent, left the battlefield in search of Rupert's squadron.

Both fleets bombarded each other in a line of battle. The Hof van Zeeland and the Duivenvoorde were hit by fire shot and burnt. The Dutch didn't know of the existence of this type of ammunition, consisting of hollow brass balls filled with a flammable substance, so they were greatly surprised. Luckily for them the English had only a small supply because of the high cost of production.

Monck retreated for the night, but the ship of Rear-Admiral Harman, HMS Henry, drifted to the Dutch lines and was set aflame by two fireships. The parson asked Harman what could save them; when the latter sarcastically replied that the good parson could always jump overboard, to his horror the panicked clergyman at once followed his advice together with a third of the crew. All drowned. Harman made an end to the panic by threatening with a drawn sword to run through anyone showing the slightest inclination to abandon ship. Evertsen now closed in and inquired whether Harman would perhaps like to surrender; it came as no surprise to him the renowned fighter respectfully declined, yelling "I'm not up to it yet!". Despite repeated Dutch attacks and the loss of two masts, one in its fall crushing Harman's leg, the fire was put out and the Henry escaped, with its last shot shooting Evertsen in two.



Second Day

On the morning of the second day Monck decided to destroy the Dutch by a direct attack and sailed to them from the southwest; but De Ruyter in the De Zeven Provinciën crossed his line sailing to the southeast, heavily damaging the English fleet and gaining the weather gauge. HMS Anne, HMS Bristol and HMS Baltimore had to return to the Thames. After a calm used for repairs he turned to attack the English from the south with the red flag raised, the sign for an all-out attack, but just when he approached the enemy line he noticed to his dismay that part of the rear squadron under Tromp had got separated and now was positioned to the other side of the English line who had surrounded Tromp and were giving him his belly full. Often this is explained by assuming Tromp had not followed orders, but although he is indeed infamous for his usual insubordination, this time he simply had not seen the sign flags and the look-out of the centre mistakenly reported a confirmation sign. De Ruyter took in the red flag and broke through the enemy line with Vice Admiral Johan de Liefde, while the rest of the Dutch fleet under Aert van Nes headed south. He secured all of Tromp's ships except the burnt Liefde and the sinking Spieghel on which Vice-Admiral Abraham van der Hulst had just been killed by a musket shot in the breast and returned to join van Nes and the main force by again breaking through, noticing somewhat smugly that the second time the English ships at once gave way.

Tromp, switching to his fourth ship already, then visited De Ruyter to thank him for the rescue. Both men were in a dark mood. Rear-Admiral Frederick Stachouwer had also been killed. The previous day the damaged Hollandia had been sent home together with the Gelderland, Delft, Reiger, Asperen and Beschermer to guard the three captured English vessels; now also the damaged Pacificatie, Vrijheid, Provincie Utrecht and Calantsoog had to return and only a handful of the rear squadron remained. Besides, the enemy had again gained the weather gauge, the dangers of which became immediately clear as George Ayscue, seeing the two Admirals together in a vulnerable position, tried to isolate them; with great difficulty they managed to return to their main force.

Both fleets now passed three times in opposite tack; on the second pass De Zeven Provinciën got damaged and De Ruyter retreated from the fight to repair his ship. Later some historians would accuse him of cowardice, but he had strict detailed written orders from the States-General to act exactly so, to prevent a repeat of the events of the Battle of Lowestoft when the loss of the supreme commander had wrecked the Dutch command structure. Lieutenant-Admiral Aert van Nes led the third pass.

As the Dutch were in a leeward position their guns had a superior range and some English ships now took dreadful damage. HMS Loyal Subject turned for the home port and had to be written off on arrival. HMS Black Eagle (the former Groningen) raised the distress flag but simply disintegrated before any ships could assist.

Then, at three in the afternoon, a Dutch flotilla of twelve ships appeared on the horizon. Monck was shocked, not because the event was totally unexpected but because his worst fear seemed to come true. The English had learned from their excellent intelligence network that the Dutch planned to keep a strong fourth squadron behind as a tactical reserve. Surely these new ships must be the avantguard of a fresh force. Monck ordered to check for the number of operational English ships. When only 29 ships reported to have any fight left in them, and Rupert was still nowhere to be seen, he decided to withdraw. In fact De Ruyter had just before the battle been convinced by the other admirals to use only three squadrons. Monck had never noticed that the Rainbow had disappeared - indeed he couldn't understand where Berkeley had gone either. The dozen ships were those of Tromp's squadron giving chase and now rejoining the fight after the intended prey had escaped to Ostend. The entire English fleet tacked to the southwest at four. The straggling St Paul (the former Sint Paulus) was captured in the evening.


Third Day
On the third day the English continued to retreat to the west. The Dutch advanced on a broad front, Van Nes still in command, both to catch any more stragglers and to avoid the enormous 32-pounder stern cannons of the big ships. In the evening Rupert, having already on the first day been ordered to join Monck, at last appeared with twenty ships. He had been unable to reach Monck earlier because he had sailed as far as Wight in search of the imaginary French fleet. Monck ordered his fleet to set a straight course for the green squadron despite warnings that this would take them over the infamous Galloper Shoal at low tide. HMS Royal Charles and HMS Royal Katherine indeed were grounded but managed to get free in time, HMS Prince Royal got stuck however. Vice-Admiral George Ayscue, commander of the white squadron, pleaded with his men to stay calm until flood would lift the ship; but when two fire ships approached the crew panicked. A certain Lambeth struck the flag and Ayscue had to surrender to Tromp on the Gouda, the first and last time in history an English admiral of so high a rank would be captured at sea. De Ruyter had clear orders to destroy any prize; as the English fleet was still close he couldn't disobey in the matter of such a capital vessel and ordered the Prince burnt. Tromp didn't dare to make any objections because he had already sent home some prizes against orders; but later he would freely express his discontent, in 1681 still trying to get compensation from the admiralty of Amsterdam for this perceived wrong.

Van Nes now tried to prevent both English fleets from joining. But when they both sailed behind the back of his blocking squadron, De Ruyter took over operational command and ordered to wait. This way he regained the weather gauge.
  • TA的每日心情
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  • 发表于 2012-2-17 07:40:02 | 显示全部楼层
    {:soso_e179:}{:soso_e179:}

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    发表于 2012-2-17 08:18:26 | 显示全部楼层
    哥们英语好没有这么没秀的。
  • TA的每日心情
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    2024-3-6 15:53
  • 发表于 2012-2-17 08:29:20 | 显示全部楼层
    {:soso_e183:}大工程
    {:soso_e113:}等你发完英文版的,说一下,所有插楼都给干掉,包括我这楼。{:soso_e113:}

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    发表于 2012-2-17 09:56:49 | 显示全部楼层
    {:soso_e183:}大工程
    {:soso_e113:}等你发完英文版的,说一下,所以差楼都给干掉,包括我这楼。{:soso_e113:}
    奥比王 发表于 2012-2-17 08:29

    支持楼主!支持坛主!
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    2014-4-18 18:41
  • 发表于 2012-2-17 13:34:49 | 显示全部楼层
    看不懂啊~这个

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     楼主| 发表于 2012-2-17 13:49:44 | 显示全部楼层
    本帖最后由 MFL140 于 2012-2-17 13:53 编辑

    {:soso_e113:} 谢各位朋友支持~今天完成了时间轴,晚些时候会编辑1L做目录。
    继续四日战争

    Fourth Day


    Willem van de Velde: The surrender of the Prince Royal
    Early next morning the English fleet was joined by five more ships (the Convertine, Sancta Maria, Centurion, Kent and Hampshire) and another fireship (Happy Entrance); as against these, six of the most damaged ships were sent home for repair. Thus enforced with 23 'fresh' ships and so numbering in between 60 to 65 men-of-war and 6 fireships, the English attacked in line on the fourth day with Sir Christopher Myngs now in charge of the van, Rupert of the center and Monk of the rear squadron. But the Dutch, now to the southwest of him and reduced to 68 ships (and some 6 or 7 fireships), had the weather gauge and attacked themselves aggressively. De Ruyter had tried to impress on his flag officers that the fight of that day would be decisive for the entire war. The English attack, vulnerable from a leeward position, faltered. De Ruyter had planned to disrupt the English line by breaking it in three places cutting off parts of the English fleet before dealing with the rest. Vice admiral Johan de Liefde on the Ridderschap and Myngs on the Victory began a close quarters duel; Myngs was hit by two musket balls and fatally wounded, dying on his return to London. The English regrouped trying to break free to the south by executing four passes in opposite tack, but Tromp and Van Nes surrounded them. Monck then wore to the north. Tromp's squadron was routed, the Landman burnt by a fireship. Van Nes was forced to withdraw. De Ruyter, more anxious than at any other moment in the battle and fearing the fight lost, raised the red flag and sailed past Rupert to attack Monck from behind. When Rupert tried to do the same to him, three shots in quick succession dismasted his HMS Royal James and the entire squadron of the green withdrew from the battle to the south, protecting and towing the flagship. Nothing now prevented De Ruyter from attacking Monck and the English main force was routed. Many of the English ships were short on powder after three days of fighting while most of the Dutch ships still had a sufficient supply as they had a relatively larger cargo room, smaller guns and a less well-trained, and therefore slower firing, crew. Four stragglers were boarded and captured by the Dutch: HMS Clove Tree (the former VOC-ship Nagelboom), captured by the Wassenaar, HMS Convertine and the entangled HMS Essex and HMS Black Bull; both were captured by the Frisian Rear-Admiral Hendrik Brunsvelt; the Black Bull later sank. De Ruyter seeing the English fleet escape in a dense fog decided to break off the pursuit. His own fleet was heavily damaged too; his logbook only speaks of a fear for the English shoals. The deeply religious De Ruyter interpreted the sudden unseasonly fog bank as a sign of God, showing "that He merely wanted the enemy humbled for his pride but preserved from utter destruction".

    Abraham Storck: "The Four Days' Battle" Greenwich, National Maritime Museum

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     楼主| 发表于 2012-2-17 13:57:00 | 显示全部楼层
    5) 25 July (Julian calendar) or 4 August (Gregorian calendar), 1666
    St. James's Day Battle

    First dayIn the early morning of 25 July, the Dutch fleet of 88 ships discovered the English fleet of 89 ships near North Foreland, sailing to the north, and pursued it from the southeast in a leeward position, as the wind blew from the northwest. Suddenly, the wind turned to the northeast. The commander of the English fleet, Prince Rupert of the Rhine, then turned sharply east to regain the weather gauge and De Ruyter followed to keep it. This proved to be a fatal manoeuvre for the Dutch. They now sailed right into the core of a high-pressure area. The Dutch van, commanded by Lieutenant-Admiral Johan Evertsen, lost all speed and couldn't maintain a line of battle. This awkward situation lasted for hours; then, again, a soft breeze began to blow from the northeast. Immediately, the English van, commanded by Thomas Allin, and part of the centre formed a line of battle and sailed right to the Dutch van, still in disarray and basically defenseless. Ship after ship of the Frisian fleet was mauled by the combined firepower of the English line. Vice-Admiral Rudolf Coenders was killed. Lieutenant-Admiral Tjerk Hiddes de Vries had an arm and a leg shot off, yet still tried to bring cohesion to his forces, but to no avail. Unable to reach them with his centre, the horrified De Ruyter saw the Frisian ships drifting to the south, now no more than floating wrecks full of dead, the moans of the dying clearly audible above the other sounds of battle.

    Now Rupert combined his full van and centre to deliver the coup-de-grâce to the Dutch centre. George Monck, accompanying Rupert, predicted that De Ruyter would give two broadsides and run, but the latter put up a furious fight on the Dutch flagship De Zeven Provinciën. He withstood a combined attack by Sovereign of the Seas and Royal Charles and forced Rupert to leave the damaged Royal Charles for Royal James. This way, De Ruyter managed to cover the retreat of the Dutch van.

    Meanwhile, Lieutenant-Admiral Cornelis Tromp, commanding the Dutch rear, had seen the sad events evolve from a great distance. Annoyed by the lack of competence shown, he decided to give the correct example. He turned sharply to the west, crossed the line of the English rear, commanded by Jeremiah Smith, separating it from the rest of the English fleet and then, having the weather gauge, kept on attacking it rabidly until, at last, the English were routed and fled to the west. He pursued well into the night, destroying Resolution with a fireship. After Tromp thrice shot the entire crew from its rigging, Smith's flagship Loyal London had to be towed home. The vice commander of the English rear was Edward Spragge, who felt so humiliated by the course of events that he became a personal enemy of Tromp, dying himself while trying to kill his foe in the Battle of Texel.

    Second dayOn the morning of 26 July, Tromp broke off pursuit, well-pleased with his first real victory as a squadron commander. During the night, a ship had brought him the message that De Ruyter had likewise been victorious, so Tromp was in a euphoric mood. That abruptly changed upon the discovery of the drifting flagship of the dying Tjerk Hiddes de Vries. Suddenly he feared that his ship was now the only remnant of the Dutch fleet and that he was in mortal peril. Behind him, those ships of the English rear still operational had again turned to the east. In front, the other enemy squadrons surely awaited him. On the horizon only English flags were to be seen. Manoeuvring wildly, Tromp, drinking a lot of gin to restore his nerve, dodged any attempt to trap him and brought his squadron safely home in the port of Flushing on the morning of 26 July. There, to great mutual relief, he discovered the rest of the Dutch fleet.

    It took Tromp six hours to gather enough courage to face De Ruyter. It was obvious to him that he should never have allowed himself to get completely separated from the main force. Indeed De Ruyter, not being his usual charitable self, immediately blamed him for the defeat and ordered Tromp and his subcommanders Isaac Sweers and Willem van der Zaan from his sight, and told them to never again set foot on De Zeven Provinciën. The commander of the Dutch fleet still hadn't mentally recovered from the events of the previous day.

    On the morning of 5 August, after a short summer's night, De Ruyter discovered that his position had become hopeless. Lieutenant-Admiral Johan Evertsen had died after losing a leg, De Ruyter's force was now reduced to about forty ships, crowding together and most of these were inoperational, being survivors of the van. Some fifteen good ships had apparently deserted during the night. A strong gale from the east prevented an easy retreat to the continental coast, and to the west the British van and centre (about fifty ships) surrounded him in a half-circle, safely bombarding him from a leeward position.

    De Ruyter was desperate. When his second-in-command of the centre, Lieutenant-Admiral Aert Jansse van Nes visited him for a council of war, he exclaimed "With seven or eight against the mass!" He then sagged, mumbling: "What's wrong with us? I wish I were dead." His close personal friend Van Nes tried to cheer him up, joking: "Me too. But you never die when you want to!" No sooner had both men left the cabin than the table they had been sitting at was smashed by a cannonball.

    The English, however, had their own problems. The strong gale prevented them from closing with the Dutch. They tried to use fire ships, but these, too, had trouble reaching the enemy. Only the sloop Fan-Fan, Rupert's personal pleasure yacht, rowed to the Dutch flagship De Zeven Provinciën to harass it with its two little guns, much to the hilarious laughter of the Dutch crews.

    When his ship had again warded off an attack by a fire ship (the Land of Promise) and Tromp still didn't show up, for De Ruyter tension became unbearable. He sought death, exposing himself deliberately on the deck. When he failed to be hit, he exclaimed: "Oh, God, how unfortunate I am! Amongst so many thousands of cannonballs, is there not one that would take me?" His son-in-law, Captain of the Marines Johann de Witte, heard him and said: "Father, what desperate words! If you merely want to die, let us then turn, sail in the midst of our enemies and fight ourselves to death!". This brave but foolish proposal brought the Admiral back to his senses, for he discovered that he wasn't so desperate and answered: "You don't know what you are talking about! If I did that, all would be lost. But if I can bring myself and these ships safely home, we'll finish the job later."

    Then the wind, that had brought so much misfortune to the Dutch, saved them by turning to the west. They formed a line of battle and brought their fleet to safety through the Flemish shoals, Vice-Admiral Adriaen Banckert of the Zealandic fleet covering the retreat of all damaged ships with the operational vessels, the number of the latter slowly growing as it turned out that only very few ships had actually deserted in the night; most had merely drifted away, and now, one after the other, they rejoined the battle.

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     楼主| 发表于 2012-2-17 17:45:35 | 显示全部楼层
    6) 9 June–14 June 1667  Raid on the Medway


    Attack on the Medway, June 1667 by Pieter Cornelisz van Soest, painted c. 1667. The captured ship HMS Royal Charles is right of centre

    The Raid
    The Dutch approach
    On 17 May the squadron of the Admiralty of Rotterdam with De Ruyter sailed to Texel to join those of Amsterdam and the Northern Quarter. Hearing that the squadron of Frisia was not yet ready because of recruiting problems (impressment being forbidden in the Republic), he left for the Schooneveld off the Dutch coast to join the squadron of Zealand, that however suffered from similar problems. De Ruyter then departed for the Thames on 4 June (Old Style) with 62 frigates or ships-of-the-line, about fifteen lighter ships and twelve fireships, when the wind turned to the east. The fleet was reorganised into three squadrons: the first was commanded by De Ruyter himself, with as Vice-Admiral Johan de Liefde and Rear-Admiral Jan Jansse van Nes; the second was commanded by Lieutenant-Admiral Aert Jansse van Nes with as Vice-Admiral Enno Doedes Star and Rear-Admiral Willem van der Zaan; the third was commanded by Lieutenant-Admiral Baron Willem Joseph van Ghent with Lieutenant-Admiral Jan van Meppel in subcommand and as Vice-Admirals Isaac Sweers and Volckert Schram and as Rear-Admirals David Vlugh and Jan Gideonsz Verburgh.[8] The third squadron thus effectively had a second set of commanders; this was done to use these as flag officers of a special frigate landing force, to be formed on arrival and to be headed by Colonel and Lieutenant-Admiral Van Ghent, on the frigate Agatha. Baron Van Ghent was in fact the real commander of the expedition and had done all the operational planning, as he had been the former commander of the Dutch Marine Corps, the first in history to be specialised in amphibious operations, that now was headed by the Englishman Colonel Thomas Dolman.

    On 6 June a fog bank was blown away and revealed the Dutch task force, sailing into the mouth of the Thames. On 7 June Cornelis de Witt revealed his secret instructions from the States-General, written on 20 May, in the presence of all commanders. There were so many objections, while De Ruyter's only substantial contribution to the discussion was "bevelen zijn bevelen "("orders are orders"), that Cornelis, after retiring to his cabin late in the night, wrote in his daily report he didn't feel at all sure that he would be obeyed. The next day it transpired however that most officers were in for a bit of adventure; they had just given their professional opinion for the record so they could blame the politicians should the whole enterprise end in disaster. That day an attempt was made to capture a fleet of twenty English merchantmen seen higher up the Thames in the direction of London, but this failed as these fled to the west, beyond Gravesend.

    The attack caught the English unawares. No serious preparations had been made for such an eventuality, although there had been ample warning from the extensive English spy network. Most frigates were assembled in squadrons at Harwich and in Scotland, leaving the London area to be protected by only a small number of active ships, most of them prizes taken earlier in the war from the Dutch. As a further economy measure on 24 March the Duke of York had ordered to discharge most of the crews of the prize vessels, leaving only three guard ships at the Medway; in compensation the crew of one of them, the frigate Unity (former Dutch Eendracht, the first ship to be captured in 1665, from the privateer Cornelis Evertsen the Youngest) was raised from forty to sixty; also the number of fireships was increased from one to three. Additionally thirty large sloops were to be prepared to row any ship to safety in case of an emergency.[9] Sir William Coventry declared that a Dutch landing near London was very unlikely; at most the Dutch, to bolster their morale, would launch a token attack at some medium sized and exposed target like Harwich, which place therefore had been strongly fortified in the spring. There was no clear line of command with most responsible authorities giving hasty orders without bothering to coordinate them first. As a result there was much confusion. Charles didn't take matters into his own hands, deferring mostly to the opinion of others. English morale was low. Not having been paid for months or even years, most sailors and soldiers were less than enthusiastic to risk their lives. England had only a small army and the few available units were dispersed as Dutch intentions were unclear. This explains why no effective countermeasures were taken though it took the Dutch about five days to reach Chatham, slowly manoeuvring through the shoals, leaving the heavier vessels behind as a covering force. They could only advance in jumps when the tide was favourable.

    After raising the alarm on 6 June at Chatham Dockyard, Commissioner Peter Pett seems not to have taken any further action until 9 June when, late in the afternoon, a fleet of about thirty Dutch ships were sighted in the Thames off Sheerness. At this point the Commissioner immediately sought assistance from the Admiralty sending a pessimistic message to the Navy Board, lamenting the absence of Navy senior officials whose help and advice he believed he needed. The thirty ships were those of Van Ghent's squadron of frigates. The Dutch fleet carried about a thousand marines and landing parties were dispatched on Canvey Island in Essex and opposite on the Kent side at Sheerness. These men had strict orders by Cornelis de Witt not to plunder, as the Dutch wanted to shame the English whose troops had sacked Terschelling during Holmes's Bonfire in August 1666. Nevertheless the crew of captain Jan van Brakel couldn't control themselves. They were driven off by English militia and under threat of severe punishment when returning to the Dutch fleet. Van Brakel offered to lead the attack the next day to avoid the penalty.



    The king ordered the Earl of Oxford on 8 June to mobilise the militia of all counties around London; also all available barges should be used to lay a ship bridge across the Lower Thames, so that the English cavalry could quickly switch positions from one bank to the other. Sir Edward Spragge, the famous Vice-Admiral, learned on 9 June that a Dutch raiding party had come ashore on the Isle of Grain (a peninsula where the river Medway in Kent, meets the River Thames). Musketeers from the Sheerness garrison opposite were sent to investigate.

    The King only in the afternoon of 10 June instructed Admiral George Monck, Duke of Albemarle to go to Chatham to take charge of matters and ordered Admiral Prince Rupert to organise the defences at Woolwich a full three days later. Albermarle first went to Gravesend where he noted to his dismay that there and at Tilbury only a few guns were present, too few to halt a possible Dutch advance upon the Thames. To prevent such a disaster, he ordered all available artillery from the capital to be positioned at Gravesend. On 11 June (Old Style) he went to Chatham, expecting the place to be well prepared for an attack. Two members of the Navy Board, Sir John Mennes and Lord Henry Brouncker, had already travelled there on the same day. When Albemarle arrived, however, he found only twelve of the eight hundred dockyard men expected and these in a state of panic; of the thirty sloops only ten were present, the other twenty having been used to bring the personal possessions of several officials to safety, such as the ship models of Pett. No munition or powder was available and the chain that blocked the Medway had not been protected by batteries. He immediately ordered to move the artillery from Gravesend to Chatham, which would take a day to effect.
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