i 1. te) ST! BURE. 1 | a) d= =-— 4h qe -— If Gornell Wniversity Library Ithaca, Nem York BERNARD ALBERT SINN COLLECTION NAVAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY THE GIFT OF BERNARD A. SINN,'97 1919 yer ” ‘ . a || ¥ aif J pars a > 2 . ® ™ date shows ' ven this volume was taken. ae : be at a aa ar EEG SEEN BSS Ae: A A iA, ee 4. Sd A fT en a A. AR. 4 4. af. Va AY 4 4c a URES LIFE OF LIEUT.-ADMIRAL DE RUYTER LIFE OF LIEUT-ADMIRAL DE RUYTER BY G. GRINNELL-MILNE LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH) TRUBNER & CO., Lm PATERNOSTER HOUSE,| CHARING CROSS ROAD 3: we. oaiaveedveee RS 2s Paws A45b0b617 ya Av , a OME (The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved.) PREFACE. THERE is no popular life of de Ruyter in English, for the brief notices of him in the “ Encyclopedia Britannica” and “ Chambers’s Encyclopedia ” can hardly be so described. This is all the more strange, as, during part of his career, Holland was the greatest seafaring nation in Europe, and de Ruyter was the greatest ~ of the Dutch Admirals.* © So much were Englishmen of that day im- pressed by his great abilities, and his simple and manly character, that an English biography appeared soon after he died, published by Dorman Newman, “for J. B.,” in 1677.F * There is a general agreement that de Ruyter is the foremost figure, not only in the Dutch service, but among all the naval officers of that age. Mahan’s “Influence of Sea Power upon History,” p. 116. ft In 1676 there was published in Amsterdam “ Leeven en Daden Der Doorluchtighste Zee-Helden,” by V. D. B. (Lambert van den Bos), dedicated to de Ruyter’s son. This contains his first biography. vi PREFACE. It is now almost unknown outside of the British Museum, but the Dutch “Life of de Ruyter,” by Gerard Brandt, which was published in Amsterdam in 1687, remains the chief authority on the subject. Two other Dutch biographies of importance, by Belinfante, 1852, and Looman, 1860, are well known in Holland.* . The following pages, representing with some additions a Lecture prepared for the working- men of Sydenham, are therefore offered, not as the work of an expert in naval warfare, but as a simple story of the life of a very great man. The lessons of such a life and of that portion of the histories of his own and of this country, in which he played a part, tell themselves. The importance of the command of the sea to the greatest maritime community, and the necessity of maintaining an efficient guard over the commerce of a State whose dominions lie in both hemispheres, are self-evident in any clear view of the life of de Ruyter. * De Liefde’s “ Famous Dutch Admirals,” of which an English translation was published by Strahan & Co., pre- supposes a general knowledge of incidents and dates in the reader which he occasionally does not possess, and is sadly wanting in dates and figures. It is now out of print. PREFACE. vil Every care has been taken to give a fair ' picture of the great contest between the Dutch and English, and evidence on both sides has been duly sifted before an opinion has been given. Where doubt still exists, both stories are told. To the writer's English and Dutch friends, he is much indebted for their kindly help in this and other matters relating to the work. The name Holland, when used in these pages without the prefix or limitation of State, or Province, means the Seven United Provinces. When qualified as State, or Province, it refers only to the Province from which the whole country was eventually to take its name. CONTENTS. APPRENTICESHIP IN NAVIGATION APPRENTICESHIP IN NAVAL. WARFARE A Necessary Leap o.... ae ArT THE Summit ae es ane “Tae Goop Farazr” or THE FLEET * ApieU For EVER” ... APPENDICES ess eee PAGE 18 61 115 163 202 251 -~— LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. —o- Laevt.-ApMiraL DE Ruyter, after Bol Frontispiece Mar or THE Norra Sea, from the Admiralty Chart Diagrams :— Priymouta, Aucust 20, 1652 ... Portianp, Fesruary 28, 1653 See Four Days’ Ficut, June 11, 1666 Norta Foreiranp, Aucust 4, 1666 Kuyxpvuin, Aucust 21, 1673 StrromBoil, January 8, 1676 To face page 1 82 42 122 142 196 226 Sr le Me, \ LL COT escent LUT ee LULLED I3? P"Tiiinl Mn i TT iy 3 Cc tatt T d2° iy ee UY D. Potter, 31, Poultry. 4! LIFE OF LIEUT. ADMIRAL DE RUYTER. 1 APPRENTICESHIP IN NAVIGATION. YOUTH—ARMED TRADING-——MATRIMONY, MicuieL ADRIAANSZOON DE RuyYTER sprang from the very poorest of the people. There is a story told by “J. B.” in Dorman Newman’s book, to the effect that he was de- scended from a Scotch trooper serving in Holland, but this is not countenanced by the Dutch writers. His grandfather was certainly a man called Michiel, who had no surname, and therefore styled himself from his own father’s name, the son of Adriaan, or in full, Michiel Adriaanszoon. This Michiel Adriaanszoon served his time in the army, and did his share of fighting against the Spaniards through that most heroic of all struggles, in which Holland made herself a great 4 B 2 LIFE OF DE RUYTER. nation. He had settled on a very small farm at Bergen op Zoom, in the province of Brabant. One incident of his life is preserved. Besides his wife, he had one servant to help him; two horses formed his principal stock in trade. These were stolen from him, so violent were the manners of the time, by men of his own regiment, which seemed to be short of horses; but when he had discovered their whereabouts, he promptly stole them back, and hid them ata distance from his own buildings. The military robbers, suspecting Michiel, and unable to get the animals again, now set fire to his house. In the excitement of the moment the little household forgot the baby, but the wife, rushing through the flames, found the child and threw him out of the window to Michiel, who, with the servant, stood below, and caught him in the blanket. The mother jumped out afterwards, and was also saved. The kindness of the townsmen of Bergen op Zoom alone helped Michiel through his troubles. The child was named Adriaan Michielszoon, and he, after commencing life as a sailor, in time became a beer carrier in Flushing. He had married in 1598 Alida Jans, who died with her first child, and, if we may credit Brandt, he APPRENTICESHIP IN. NAVIGATION. 3 married again (in 1601) another Alida Jans. By this last marriage he had cleven ‘children, of whom the fourth Michiel Adriaanszoon de Ruyter, born at eight in the morning on the 24th of March, 1607, alone concerns us. The boy got the surname of de Ruyter from his mother, whose father was a trooper, and was therefore called de Ruyter, 7.e. the rider. No spot could have been chosen fitter to nurse the spirit of a future admiral than Flushing. Looking out morning or evening across the yellow sands of the Isle of Walcheren, on which the town is built, his eye could catch sight of the Dutch Argosies returning laden with the wealth of the Indies, or passing down channel with the output of Dutch markets. The province of Zealand had produced its full share of the famous “ Zee helden” (sea heroes), who carried the guardian flag of Holland to protect her commercial fleets. In the streets of the old town the solid burgers, whose traffic was across sea, would impress the young mind with the wonders of the world beyond the water, and encourage that business energy so firmly rooted in the Dutch, and because associated with a character so simple and so 4 LIFE OF DE RUYTER. open, often misread by the more complex English nature, which constantly clothes the idea of a Dutchman in a short square body seated on a barrel, and eternally engaged in the study of a clay pipe of abnormal dimensions. Never was there a lazier, more inattentive schoolboy than young de Ruyter, but was a trick to be played on the master or a boy to be fought, none more ready for the fun that he. At ten years of age, when workmen were repair- ing the principal steeple of Flushing, he climbs the scaffolding, and then mounts the ladder to the cross on the dizzy pinnacle above. Honest burgers of the good town see a little figure there, calling out some boyish impertinence, while he waves his cap without the slightest indication of fear. Now, tired of his fun, he prepares to descend. The upturned faces of the crowd afford no encouragement, for it can be seen that the workmen have removed the ladder, and the boy must slide down the steeple as best he can. With his nail-shod boot he kicks away a slate, and his foot rests on the wooden bar that was under it, then his other foot is lowered, and again a slate crashes into the street, while he still finds footing on the thin supports beneath, and so as slate by APPRENTICESHIP IN NAVIGATION. 5 slate falls, de Ruyter slowly moves down the . steeple, reaches the scaffolding, and from thence the street, where his father takes possession of him. Little did the stolid townsmen realize that a great admiral had signalled his good morrow to the world, and if they had known so much, they would wrongly have argued an overweening ambition in the boy, the very thing which was not to be a feature in the character of the man. ‘ Courage and cool-headed, unerring resource in the presence of great danger, then and always were the characteristics of de Ruyter. Soon after. the incident of the steeple, the boy was put to work in the rope-making business of the Lampens, at a stuiver (a penny) a day; but as he was still longing for the sea, and.as the ropemakers were quite willing to let him go, he went in his eleventh year, as boatswain’s mate’s boy.* ‘At once the restless ne’er-do-well is converted into a hard-working, willing, intelli- gent sailor. He has found his path in life—a tempestuous one—but. he is content to follow it. His companion in the first voyage is said .to * The old rope-making establishment, now disused, still stands, and the wheel de Ruyter worked, long known as “het Ruitertje,” the little Ruyter, has been preserved, and is the property of the Zeeuwsche Genootschap, in Middelburgh. 6 LIFE OF DE RUYTER. have been a little negro, baptized Jan Company (John Company), in accordance with the custom of the Dutch East India Company, of whom we - shall hear more, forty years later on. In his fifteenth year, 1622, de Ruyter, with some other sailors, is called upon to do some fighting on shore. He first figured as a gunner’ and was sent into Cleves, and then to Bergen op Zoom, which the Spanish General. Spinola was besieging. The full pay which he received, though so young, proves, if proof were wanted, his courage and activity. He managed to buy @ horse, and distinguished himself in the sorties. which the garrison made. About this time he beeame a boatswain on a man of war, and again his courage marks him out from among his comrades. In boarding a Spanish vessel he was wounded in the head by a pike, the only wound, it has been said, that he received from an enemy, till his death. Shortly after this he was taken prisoner and landed on the Biscay coast, whence, with two companions, he made his way home on foot through Spain, France, and Belgium. Each of them took his turn at begging during their weary march. APPRENTICESHIP IN NAVIGATION. 7 His old: friends the Lampsens, Cornelis, and Adriaan, now gave de Ruyter a post on one of their vessels. He remained with them for some years, in which, we are told, he applied himself carefully to the study of navigation. The attention which he gave to all matters bearing on seamanship during these years of his life, of which we have barely notes enough to furnish the headings of chapters, was to bear fruit in his consummate handling of the fleets committed to his care at a later date. We now get a glimmering of what appears clearly in- subsequent years, namely, the fact that de Ruyter was beginning to reconcile himself to the idea of home life, for we find him marry- ing Marie Velters of Grijpskerk, on the 16th of March, 1631. Marie’s death left him a childless widower ten months later. De Ruyter now became a pilot for a time, but in 1633 he went to Greenland _ (as steersman, says Looman) on the Green Lion (G. Brandt, p. 6). As captain, in 1635, he sailed for the Straits of Magellan, where he narrowly escaped ship- wreck among the icebergs. From the icebergs to matrimony was a natural transition. 8 LIFE OF DE RUYTER. Our hero for a second time braved the holy state in 1636 with Cornelie Engels of Flushing. For fourteen years their mutual happiness was complete, and only terminated with Cornelie’s death. The year after this marriage de Ruyter was again on the sea, commanding one of two vessels fitted out by the merchants of Flushing to cruise in the Channel, which was infested by French pirates from Dunkirk. A mutiny soon stopped his cruising, after he had taken one vessel says Brandt, and he was chased home by thirteen Dunkirk privateers. His biographers know nothing about the years 1638 and 1639, but in 1640 and 1641, commanding one of the Lampsens vessels, he went out to Brazil twice. His careful nautical observations corrected several errors in the maps at that time in use in Holland, and the Dutch maps were then the best in the world. Among other things he proved that the Antilles were about 130 leagues nearer the east than the geographers had said. Hardly was de Ruyter a month at home, when he was appointed captain of the Haas (the hare) and rear-admiral* of a squadron sent to assist * More correctly described in Dutch as “ Schout-by- nacht.” APPRENTICESHIP IN NAVIGATION. 9 the Portuguese (now independent of Spain) in their struggle with that power. Holland sent fifteen ‘warships, and Portugal was to provide as many more. The Portuguese fleet not being at Lisbon, the Dutch cruised along the coast to meet it. Be- tween Ayamonte and Cape St. Vincent, their vessels in three divisions swept a line of about twelve leagues of sea. When near Cape St. Vin- cent, about midnight on the 3rd of November, the fires of the Spanish fleet were seen. There were with the Spaniards some ships from Dun- kirk, making their numbers up to twenty-four sail. By eight next morning the Dutch had brought on the action, and one of their vessels being wedged in between two of the enemy, immedi- ately lost her foremast. De Ruyter came to her rescue, but his vessel was speedily pierced in six places under water, and he was obliged to retire to'stop the leaks; when this was accom- plished, he again passed through the Spanish fleet in his endeavour to assist another Dutch vessel, which had replaced him and had been sunk soon after by the enemy. Although, / Some of the Dutch captains had kept disgracefully. aloof 10 LIFE OF DE RUYTER. from the fight, those who engaged, after a hard struggle and the loss of two ships, compelled the Spaniards to retire. The Spanish loss was said to be two ships and 1100 men. De Ruyter, whose vessel was so full of water as to spoil his powder, was the most conspicuous figure in the fight. The Dutch did not pursue the Spaniards, but went north to Lisbon, where de Ruyter’s vessel was beached and found to be even more damaged than had been suspected. Nothing but his care had saved her. The King of Portugal showered honours upon his Dutch protector. Early in January, 1642, the fleet sailed for Flushing, where it arrived after a stormy voyage in thirteen days. De Ruyter again entered the service of the Lampsens in 1643, and remained with them till 1651, making a great number of voyages in that time to the Mediterranean and the West Indies, etc., but owing to his modesty in destroying all his notes of these busy years, when he became more famous, for fear that historians should spin long stories out of them, we know very little of his adventures in this period. In 1648 the seal was affixed to the independence of the United Provinces by the treaty of Munster, APPRENTICESHIP IN NAVIGATION. 11 by which. Spain, after eighty years of almost continuous war, recognized them as free and sovereign States. At the beginning of that war, Spain held the highest position among the nations of the world. At the end of it, Holland had almost driven her flag from the seas, and was for the moment the greatest power on the ocean. De Ruyter lost his much-loved second wife, September 25, 1650 (Brandt, p. 14). He had already decided to give up the sea, and it may well have been his intense grief which drove him forth to the last of his trading voyages in the following year, to the Barbary coast and the Antilles. Among the anecdotes relating to the Barbary voyages which reach us without dates, but attach to the period ending with the year 1651, are the following. - Returning from Salee—then a very important port of Barbary—he was stopped by a fleet of French pirates. Going on board the captain’s vessel to inquire the reason, de Ruyter was asked significantly whether he felt thirsty. He replied that he would drink willingly. “Wine or water?” inquired his captor. “If I'm a prisoner,” said de Ruyter, “give me water; 12 LIFE OF DE RUYTER. but if I’m free, give me wine,” and the pirate, struck with his ready confidence, gave him wine and his freedom. Some years after de Ruyter himself captured the pirate. It was de Ruyter’s custom on his voyages to trade for his employers, and on one occasion the chief of a town in Barbary offered him very much less than value for a piece of English cloth which he had with him, and an angry discussion was the result. De Ruyter continued to refuse to take the price named, and said he would prefer to give the cloth away. This added to the heat of the interview, and de Ruyter was threatened with imprisonment, but in vain. ‘“ Were I on my ship,” he said, “ you would not threaten me thus.” He would not accept the terms, and the chief was forced to retire to another room, gnashing his teeth and stamping his feet with rage. Some time after he returned, and finding de Ruyter still firm, he turned to his friends and said, “See how generous and faithful this Christian is to his masters; would any of you do as much for me if occasion offered?” He entered into the most solemn vows of friendship with de Ruyter, who was henceforth treated with the greatest consideration by the Moors, APPRENTICESHIP IN NAVIGATION. 13 Another occasion was to render him famous on. the Barbary coast, when he drove before him on the Salamander five Algerian privateers who had attacked him off the town of Salee (in full sight of the Moors, who thronged the shores), and triumphantly entered the harbour. Then the enthusiastic populace insisted on conducting him on horseback through the town: When, at another time, he was shipwrecked near Salee, the Moors proved their real admiration for him by collecting all the fragments of his ship and all the cargo, so that he lost nothing but the vessel, Having bought an old boat and repaired her, he managed to reach home with a good profit. The dangers of navigation at this period were increased for the Dutch by the privateers with which the French from Dunkirk, though in alliance with the Seven Provinces, attacked their trade, and it required every artifice of trading captains to escape them. Provided with the: flags. of the principal Huropean nations, a Dutch trader would be seen flying the English flag at one moment, or the French at the next, or would alter her sails to resemble a man-of-war (the merchant ship carried guns), as occasion suited. 14 LIFE OF DE RUYTER. Returning with a cargo of butter from Ireland, de Ruyter was being caught by a well-armed privateer, when as quickly as possible he smeared his entire deck with butter, and ordered all hands below. The pirates boarded, but not a man could keep his feet on the buttery deck, and they were glad to get back to their own vessel, leaving de Ruyter’s mysterious craft, with deck as slippery as ice and not a man visible, to sail away unmolested. In a modern account of this occurrence—de Liefde’s “Famous Dutch Admirals” (Eng. ed. out of print)—it is said that the superstitious fear of the Dunkirk sailors was the cause of their leaving so quickly the deck on which they could not stand. When de Ruyter returned from the last of his trading voyages in 1651, his innate fond- ness for the simple home life, the sight of the motherless children, the vacant place in the home, and perhaps the thought of the entire happiness of his two former marriages, drew him again into thoughts of matrimony. Anne van Gelder, the widow of Jan Pauluszoon, one of the Lampsen’s captains, of the same brave, poor hardworking class as de Ruyter, became APPRENTICESHIP IN NAVIGATION. 15 his third wife early in 1652. Now, for the third time, the marriage vow was to go hand in hand with the happiness of the gallant. sailor. Two daughters were the fruit of this union. It was customary at this time for Dutch parents, shortly after the birth of a child, to receive their friends during several days, when a certain drink called “‘ kandeel” was provided, among the in- gredients of which were egg, brandy, and nutmeg. The happy father, arrayed in a cap trimmed with lace, and known as a “ kraam- heerenmuts,” or gentleman’s confinement cap, stirred and served the beverage himself.* The reception and the “ kandeel” are still institutions in Holland, though the father’s part in the ceremony has lapsed. De Ruyter was now in his forty-fifth year; his naturally sound con- stitution had resisted all the strains to which it had been subjected. Brandt’s description of his. general appearance agrees with, amplifies, and strengthens the presentment of the portraits.¢ Of * Dr. Schotel, Oude Zeden in Gebruiken, quoting from “ The Ten Delights of Matrimony,” a Dutch work dated 1678. + The principal portrait of de Ruyter, is the large picture by Ferdinand Bol in the Mauritshuis, at the Hague. In the same collection there is another less important one, by the ‘same master, two pictures dealing with the “four days” 16 LIFE OF DE RUYTER. medium height, the robustness of his well-made frame withdrew nothing from his natural agility, while his large square forehead dominating the piercing brown eyes which looked forth from a rather high-coloured face, accentuated the expression of power in the forcible lower lip and chin. The short, thick moustache, turned up at the ends (as Brandt says, in the manner of the earlier mariners), allowed the genial curves fight,” by Wm. van de Velde de Jonge, who was present on that occasion, and a picture of the burning of the English fleet at Chatham, by Jan Peeters (1624 to 1677). The van der Hoop collection contains another de Ruyter picture by Bol. At the de Ruyter Exhibition in Flushing in 1894, which was initiated by the energy of the well-known and popular Burgomaster, Mr. Tutein Nolthenius, the following portraits were lent by the owners :— De Ruyter in his 48th year, Berchmans, the property of Jhr mr. van Riemsdyk. De Ruyter, by unknown, the property of Koninklyk In- stituut voor de Marine te Willemsoord. De Ruyter, copy of Bol’s portrait, the PHOperhy of the province of Zealand. A representation of the principal admirals, de Ruyter in the middle, the property of the Douair, Jhr. de Jonge née Kock, at the Hague, 1669. Action at Chatham, 1667, Jan van Leyden, the property of the Zeeuwsch Gen. te Middelburg. Sea fight at Messina, the Property of the de Ruyter de Wildt family, Flushing. APPRENTICESHIP IN NAVIGATION. 17 of the upper lip, almost amounting to a smile, to bear their full value in the impression con- _ veyed by his eminently striking physiognomy. A slight tremor was noticeable at times in his. limbs, the result of having eaten a poisonous fish in his youth, but his constitution was * powerful to the end of his life, and enabled him to sustain any fatigue and exposure. At last, in 1652, de Ruyter expects to give up his old life. He will renounce the sea for ever. But hardly has he settled down at home, when a cause more powerful than himself cancels all his resolutions. His country, at war with England, calls him to command an important section of the fleet, and duty—not ambition—always more powerful than personal comfort with him, compels him to go. 18 LIFE OF DE RUYTER. APPRENTICESHIP IN NAVAL WARFARE. THE ENGLISH QUARREL-——PROTECTION OF TRADE—COMMAND OF THE SEA—VAN TROMP KILLED—-DEFEAT—-PEACE, To understand the causes of England’s quarrel with Holland, we must look back some years from 1652. No nation had ever evolved from smaller beginnings such a commercial and political as- cendancy as that which the Dutch had now attained. They had to create a large part of the very land on which they existed—and by unceasing efforts alone could they keep the sea from again submerging it. Neither the climate nor the soil, however carefully studied, enabled the inhabitants to produce enough food to support the growth of the population. Happily the im- portant streams of the Rhine, the Maas, and the Scheldt, at an early date, put the inhabitants of the Netherlands in touch with the arts and trade of Eastern and Southern Europe. Thus the APPRENTICESHIP IN NAVAL WARFARE. 19 Levant, Venice, Nuremberg, Cologne, with many another busy and ancient centre of trade or learning, exchanged their products for those of Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, Dordrecht, Delft, Ley- den, or Haarlem, while further north, what was called the “ Eastern trade” in corn, timber, furs, etc., with the people of the Baltic sea, from Bremen, Hamburg, Lubeck, and Dantzic, all passed through Holland, whose energetic citizens purchased their wools in England in the Middle Ages, and sent us their fruits, their fish, or their manufactures, in return. One of the greatest of the Dutch industries (probably the greatest), the herring fishery, carried on by them off the Shetland Islands, was rapidly preparing a race of hardy seamen, and when the intolerable despotism of their Spanish rulers had goaded them into war, they found their true defence lay on the sea. Later on, when Antwerp fell into the hands of Spain, her merchants emigrated to Amsterdam, taking their wealth and their business with them. The same thing happened with the Portuguese Jews, who were expelled by the cruelties of the Inquisition from Portugal. They brought the trade of the Medi- terranean to swell the commerce of Amsterdam, 20 LIFE OF DE RUYTER. which became the business centre of the world. As the eighty years’ war for liberty progressed with Spain, the Dutch Navy and Merchant Marine grew in importance. Before 1616, Sir Walter Raleigh, in his “ Ob- servations touching Trade and Commerce with Holland,” dedicated to James I., had said, that while England sent only 100 ships annually to. the Baltic, the Dutch sent 3000 there, and then with the Baltic commodities they filled 2000 other vessels yearly and sent them to France and Spain, Portugal and Italy. Raleigh had also said that they built nearly 1000 ships every year. If there was a pardonable exaggeration in these figures, we must still admit that the entire carrying trade of the world had passed into Dutch hands. A distinguished modern writer (A Lefevre Pontalis, “Vie de Jean de Witt,” vol. i. p. 141) estimates the value of the merchandize thus placed in their hands at 1,000,000,000 frs. (say £40,000,000 circa). Nor was this trade confined to Europe. In 1596 the Dutch landed in Java, and in 1602 their East India Co. was founded in Amsterdam,* followed in 1607 by their West India Oo., which * Dr. J. A. Wynne, “ Algemeene Geschiedenis Derde Deel,” p. 53. APPRENTICESHIP IN NAVAL WARFARE, 21 established their trade with Brazil. They dis- covered and named such widely distant places as Vancouver’s Island and Van Dieman’s Land. ‘They had preceded England in nearly every quarter of the globe, and they had shown us the way in nearly every art and industry, in religious toleration, in good government, and in law. They had, however, established insupport- able monopolies in trade with the Spice Islands and other places, and had thereby thrown down a challenge we were not slow to pick up, but it must be admitted that our own East India Com- pany was apparently based on the principle of excluding not only foreigners but Englishmen from profitable trade in the Hast. The Dutch, freed from the Spanish yoke, had formed themselves into a Republic or combina- tion of Republics, under a Stadholder or Viceroy, the name which had formerly been given to the ruler appointed by Spain to govern them. The new State was called the United Provinces, and the assembly of their deputies, called the States General, was referred to as their High Mighti- nesses.* The provinces were seven in number, * This body contained at first over 800 members, but afterwards it was agreed that some 30 to 40 deputies from 22 ‘ LIFE OF DE RUYTER. viz. Holland, Zealand, Gueldreland, Utrecht, Groningen, Overyssel, and Friesland. The continued successes of their navy against Spain, and. the growth of their commerce, had gone hand in hand, till they now stood at the highest pinnacle of their power. The “Beggars of the Sea,” as they had been called, were now the lords of that element, and the very waves which daily threatened to over- whelm their country, had been converted by energy, business capacity, and courage, into their workshop and their home. The Stadholder William had died in 1650, a few days before the birth of his son, and the aristocratic party at the time favoured a more republican form of government. The people, however, were anxious to have a member of the House of Orange ruling. In these circumstances, the supreme authority was vested in the Grand Pensionary of the State of Holland, the most powerful of the seven states, and the richest. The post was of the greatest importance, but the salary was of the least, being £200 a year. the provinces should meet as the States General and sit continuously. The votes on a division only counted as one for each of the Seven Provinces. APPRENTICESHIP IN NAVAL WARFARE. 23 The holder of the office, Johan de Witt, was in every way 2 distinguished man. Endowed with such mental powers as would have ensured for him the leading official posts in any country, Johan de Witt, as Grand Pensionary, was practically, at one and the same time, Home Secretary, Finance Minister, Secretary of the Navy, War Minister, and Foreign Secretary, during a period of some twenty-two years. . He had to contend with the antagonism of the greatest powers in Europe from without, and with the plots of the Orange party at home, and had to harmonize the interests of the various provinces, who, though they sent their delegates to form the States General at the Hague, were yet in themselves Sovereign States, and frequently exercised their very extended State rights. With a ceaseless grip of public affairs, de Witt was still able to combine such various projects as financial reforms, the elaboration of a system of State life annuities, and the invention and intro- duction of chain shot into naval warfare. The trade of England was much smaller than that of Holland, and her shipping was still less able to bear comparison with the Dutch ‘marine, so much the better from the brigand’s point of. 24 LIFE OF DE RUYTER. view, for she at least had nothing to lose. The English navy, consisting of about 80 to 90 warships, in readiness for war,* as against the Dutch somewhat doubtful fleet of 150 sail of all sorts,t contained many more large vessels. At the outset of a war Holland would have a marked advantage in her trained leaders, van Tromp, de With, and others, whose names were then best known to the people of either country, and in a larger number of hardened sailors. England, on the other hand (like Germany to- day), possessed a triumphant army of acknow- ledged excellence—and with a larger population and more ancient national traditions, she had already acquired important colonies in the west, which only served to whet her growing colonial and commercial instincts, and had begun to turn her thoughts to expansion in the Hast. She, too, had defeated the Spaniards on the sea, and was not unnaturally jealous of the commercial supre- * See Appendix I. ¢ Burchett, see quoted below: ‘“Charnock’s History of Marine Architecture” (1801), vol. ii, says, “Dutch fleet 150, including all carrying more than 20 guns. English he says, except in the instance of the Royal Sovereign with two others, were equally diminutive and contained a number of very inferior vessels.” APPRENTICESHIP IN NAVAL WARFARE, 25 macy of the young Republic. Though England sought an alliance with Holland, she intended to be the predominant partner. In the end, neither the kinship of the two nations nor their common Protestantism prevented war. In the early months of the present year (1896) we have seen that a strong navy has gone farther to prevent English interests being attacked by Germany, than any community of kinship or creed. The English demands on the United Provinces were that they should pay the annual charge of £30,000 claimed in Charles I.’s time for the right to carry on the herring fishery in English waters—that they should acknowledge the sovereignty of England in the British seas, especially as regards rights of fishery, traffic, and anchorage, and should salute our ships by lowering the flag. The Government also earnestly pressed for an alliance between the two nations. The first embassy was sent in 1649, but one of the two ambassadors, Doreslaus, was murdered by the English Royalists at the Hague, and the negotiations ended inauspiciously. A second embassy was sent in March, 1651, consisting of 26 LIFE OF DE RUYTER. St. John and W. Strickland, but though officially received with great ceremony, they were insulted by the Orange and Royalist faction, and had to be guarded in their hotel. Among the proposals on this occasion was one for the exile of Charles IT. and his party from the United Provinces. In an evil moment for Holland, the Orange party, whose head (the infant William III.) was Charles the Second’s nephew, prevailed, and the envoys of the Commonwealth returned to England infuriated by their bad treatment. There is no doubt that the Puritan Government, without a single ally on the Continent at that moment, had strenuously worked for an amicable alliance between the two countries. Their failure to achieve it facilitated the policy of Vane, who by the introduction of the Navigation Act, August 5th, 1651, was able to bring the navy into a foremost position in England, and thereby hoped to minimize for the moment the overweening influence of the army, now wholly under the control of Cromwell. The Act, which was passed in October, enjoined that foreign vessels should only bring into England products of their own country. This was a staggering blow to the carrying APPRENTICESHIP IN NAVAL WARFARE. 27 trade of the United Provinces, but it gave a very marked impetus to English shipping. The idea of action for the expansion of our shipping trade had not originated with Vane, but with Sir Walter Raleigh, who was always busying himself with England’s maritime preponderance while he lay a close prisoner in the Tower of London, thirty-six years before this date.* Parliament issued letters authorizing English vessels to make reprisals on the Dutch. The envoys whom de Witt had sent to conciliate Cromwell found their. task hopeless. England was at last anxious for war, and Admiral Van _ Tromp, who was cruising in the Channel, with * Sir Walter Raleigh. In a volume of Tracts on Wool, 1669, British Museum, “Some collections of Sir Walter Rawleys, presented to King James, taken out of his Remains, discus England’s los for want of due Informa- tions of its Native Commodities.” Among other recom- mendations (page 24) is, “Multiply your Navy, increase your Traffick.” { J. Burchett, “Complete History of the most Remark- able Transactions,” etc. Edition 1720, Book III. p. 293. “Despatched an Extraordinary Envoy to England... fitted out fleet of 150 with a ‘view to secure peace.’ Eng- lish some months before taken all Dutch ships they could meet with, the number of which, say the Dutch writers, amounted to near 200.” 28 LIFE OF DE RUYTER. orders to act peacefully unless provoked, came into collision with Admiral Blake’s force off Dover, May 18, 1652 (Brandt, p. 15).* Hach commander blamed his adversary for beginning the fight. Van Tromp had 42 ships, and English accounts give Blake 15, which were joined by eight under Bourne. The battle raged from four p.m. till after eight o’clock. The James, Blake’s flag-ship, alone suffered severely. Six men were killed in her and 35 severely wounded. There were only nine further men killed in the English fleet, which took 250 prisoners. Two Dutch vessels were taken, but set adrift. The fight was drawn somewhat in our favour. The Dutch envoys now leave London in haste, and reveal a portion of the English plan of operations under which Sir George Ayscue, newly returned from attacking Barbadoes, is to threaten Dutch shipping in the Channel, with his 21 ships, * Lediard gives same date. + “Columna Rostrata,” Samuel Colliber, 1727, page 95, says, “The James had 80 guns and 500 to 600 men. She received 700 great shots. . . . The fight ended to the advantage of the English, who took two Dutch men of war without loss of any ship, Tromp drawing his shattered fleet back to the Goodwin Sands.” The Dutch accounts relied on here are Brandt, Belinfante, Looman, and de Liefde. \ APPRENTICESHIP IN NAVAL WARFARE. 29 and at the same time protect the small English commerce there. Blake meanwhile is to take 66 or 68 vessels to the Shetland Isles to destroy the Dutch herring fleet. This of course weakens the English force in the Downs, and leaves it at the mercy of van Tromp, who with 70 ships (Col. Rostrata) was cruising in search of Ayscue. Van Tromp, missing Ayscue, and hearing that Blake, after capturing a large number of Dutch boats, had gone north—follows Blake. He arrives too late to save the valuable fleet of 100 large herring buizen, or “busses,” as we call them. Blake, after taking out a large number of fish, had generously sent the men home. A terrific storm breaks over the two fleets as they are preparing for fight, August 5, 1652. Blake, sheltered by the Scotch coast, was comparatively secure, but van Tromp’s fleet suffered so severely, that on his return to Holland, his command was taken away from him. This, however, was only an incident in the career of a “Zee-held” in the period when the hardy mothers of the little villages of Zealand and South Holland, sending their boys out to the sea fights, might well expect to welcome them as captains or even admirals, on their return; and again, in an equally short 30 LIFE OF DE RUYTER. space of time, see them condemned for some misadventure over which they probably had no control. The career of Marten Harpertszoon van ‘Tromp is so typical, and so important, that it demands more than a passing notice. Born in 1597, at Brielle, in South Holland, the son of a sailor, he accompanied his father to sea at eight years of age. On his father’s frigate, he took part in Heemskerk’s glorious victory over the Spaniards at Gibraltar. Thus he joined the traditions of the earlier school of Dutch seamen and explorers, William Barentz, the discoverer of Spitzbergen, and Linschoten, the great ex- plorer of the north, to the exploits of the con- temporaries of de Ruyter. Shortly after the battle of Gibraltar, his father was killed by the fire from an English cruiser, when the boy van Tromp called out to his comrades, “ Won’t you avenge my father’s death?” He was, however, taken prisoner by the English, and it was two years before he regained his freedom. Therefore ‘it was with no love for this country that he had cruised along our coasts. After rising to high rank in the navy (the famous Piet Heyn had been killed on his ship), he had retired dissatisfied, and was leading the APPRENTICESHIP IN NAVAL WARFARE. 31 life of a good burgess at Brielle, where he also connected himself with the Church,* when in 1637, Prince Henry obtained for him the post of lieut.-admiral, and he put to sea to distinguish himself by the annihilation of a great Spanish fleet under Oquendo, near Dunkirk, and the defeat of the united Spanish-Portuguese fleet off the coast of England. As his last promotion had proceeded from the House of Orange, he was looked upon as a supporter of that party. De Ruyter had been sent as vice-commander, to protect his country from the English fleets, which now commanded the sea. With great difficulty his modesty had been overcome, and on the l0th of August, 1652, he hoists his flag on the little Neptunus, carrying only 28 guns and 134 men, and passing down the Channel gradually increases his fleet to 30 other vessels and six fireships. With these he convoys 60 merchant vessels outward bound through the Channel, where he is to remain to protect other ships returning from the west. On the afternoon of August 26th,t de Ruyter, * “Teeven en Daden Der Doorluchtigste Zee-helden,” etc. 1676. Tweede deel, p. 87, etc. { Lediard says August 16th (0.S.). 32 LIFE OF DE RUYTER. when off Plymouth, sighted Sir George Ayscue, whose fleet is now increased to 40 vessels, of which 12 were, the Dutch say, of the largest size.* The wind is blowing from the N.E., and the English fleet being due north of de Ruyter, have an additional advantage in the weather gage. De Ruyter immediately divides his ships into three squadrons of ten each, van den Broek leads the van, de Ruyter has the centre, and Verhaaf the rear. Behind each squadron is a squadron of 20 merchant vessels, which carries guns, and is of some service. To each of the squadrons in the fighting line are attached two fireships. At four o'clock the fight begins, and lasts till eight, being marked by fierce tenacity on both sides; de Ruyter, who passes through the Eng- lish lines twice, is for some time the centre of a furious cannonade. One of his captains, Dowe Aukes, of the Vogel Struis, is so punished by two English vessels, that his crew try to compel him * “TLooman ” (p. 24) says “De Ruyter had 20 very badly equipped men-of-war and six fireships, and Ayscue. had among his 40 vessels, two ships of 60 guns, and eight of from 36 to 40.” He states that de Ruyter’s largest vessels, two converted merchantmen, “had 40 guns each, and the next in size had only 30.” “suospenbg us umoys ase ya3ng ay] "S/98SaA G 4Noqe szuasaudas sdiyg anjq ay3 yo yoez Se2 "43,4 S COR ny, 8 g Yao, “ap we A ec oe eSueu O “HOLAA enig 66006066 6.6 @ cHsiions 2G91 «02 “ONV HLNOWA1d APPRENTICESHIP IN NAVAL WARFARE. 33 to surrender, when he seizes a flaming piece of wood and standing over the powder magazine swears that he would sooner blow up his ship, which so encourages his men that, returning to the guns, they sink two of our vessels and disable a third. . Night closed the contest, and Ayscue drew off his fleet. The English accounts claim that the .battle was indecisive, but the Dutch accounts say they won—that 1300 men went down in the English ships, while the Dutch loss was 50 or 60 dead, including their vice-admiral, and 40 to 50 ‘wounded, among these the rear-admiral. It is evident that Ayscue, who was a brave man, and had several times passed through the Dutch line, was so damaged in sails and masts as not to be able to follow the enemy. The late famous Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford (Mark Pattison) is reported to have said that we “ Englishmen lie as much as foreigners ; but Englishmen have a dim consciousness that they are lying, while foreigners believe all the while that they are telling the truth ” (“ Recol- lections of Pattison,” by Tollemache, p. 52). In the stories of nearly every battle in these Dutch wars, there is always a little difference of opinion, D 34 LIFE OF DE RUYTER. and it is often hard to say which side is wilfully deceiving. De Ruyter humbly gave thanks to God for his success, and took no credit whatever to himself. He now sent on his merchant ships, which were to pass the Straits of Gibraltar with two warships, and cruised in search of English merchants in the Channel. His ships were many of them badly damaged, and had to be sent home for repairs (Dutch “Life of van Tromp,” quoted by “ Col. Rostrata,” p.101).* His flagship was among those. De Ruyter was afraid of meeting the combined fleets of Blake (now returned from the Shetlands) and Ayscue. Blake had indeed returned and taken 12 or 14 merchant ships which had come from Rochelle, etc. De Ruyter escapes unseen, and between Grave- lines and Nieuwport, joins the main Dutch Fleet under Vice-Admiral Witte Corneliszoon de With, recently appointed to replace van Tromp. * “Col. Rostrata,” pp. 100, 101, says Ayscue had 88 ships, two of between 50 and 60 guns, the rest light frigates and fireships; and de Ruyter had a like number of boats of 20 to 40 guns, and 20 merchant vessels which fought, besides 30 to 40 merchant ships which were not suitable for fighting. APPRENTICESHIP IN NAVAL WARFARE. 35 The new commander was in a certain sense quite as representative of another type of Dutch seamen as van Tromp. He also was born in South Holland, and also, despite his ponderous names, was of very humble origin. He had served as vice-admiral under van Tromp, when, in 1639, the fleet had been fitted out and got to sea in less than five weeks, and he had dis- tinguished himself in the subsequent brilliant victories in the Channel. He was a man of hot temper and rigorous discipline, and was not a favourite in the fleet where van Tromp was the idol of the Dutch sailor. A rough surly manner distinguished the mariners of Holland from the less aggressive boors. Their officers’ manners were possibly not much better than their own, for they were generally of the same class as themselves. The dangers of the sea were so real that the official Dutch were disinclined to give the command of ships to their near relatives. An incident which occurred a few years later than the date we have now reached, shows something of the rough nature of these gallant seamen. The Comte de Guiche, escaping from the flames of one Dutch vessel, was rescued by another whose captain was a 36 LIFE OF DE RUYTER. brother-in-law of de Ruyter, the admiral in command. De Quiche, who had an invitation to go on board de Ruyter’s flagship, was not allowed by the captain referred to, to leave his vessel until he had given the captain a note of hand for 200 livres! The fiercest and roughest of the sailors were those from Zealand, their frequent encounters with the Dunkirk pirates and their own privateer- ing reprisals had inured them to all hardships and accustomed them to any dangers. The privateer was quite common in the Netherlands navy. Of her prizes one-fifth went to the Admiralty, one-tenth to the admiral, and the rest to the merchants who had fitted her out. Among their other charities, the Dutch did not forget the old and destitute sailor, and Temple, who visited the home at Enkhuysen, pronounced it the most perfect establishment of the kind he had ever seen. The united Dutch forces amounted to about 64 ships (Brandt, p. 22, Looman, etc.), and they put to sea in search of the English fleet in the Downs, but the weather being bad, the council of war recommended de With not to fight. He decided that he would fight, irrespective APPRENTICESHIP IN NAVAL WARFARE. 37 of weather. He had put to sea not with the object of protecting or capturing any fleet of merchant vessels, as in the former battles, but simply and solely to meet and fight the best fleet England could send against him. “I will take the fleet joyfully to the English,” he said, “but the Devil only can get her away again.” * Blake was waiting for him with a similar object, the greatest of all objects to a sailor—the command of the sea. The English fleet consisted of about 68 ships (that is four more than de With’s) and the Dutch say they contained more fighting men. At three o'clock on the 8th of October, 1652,f: Blake bore down on the wings of a storm which had been raging since the previous day, and assailed the Dutch fleet with such fury that it was at once thrown into confusion. No time was allowed for a fresh council of war, and failing to signal his orders, de With had to send a galiot from ship to ship with instructions. De Ruyter, commanding the van, bore the brunt of the attack. De With was in the centre, and * Tt was afterwards said that de With had saved the devil that trouble.—‘‘ Leeven en Daden Der Doorluchtighste Zee- Helden.” Tweede deel, p. 100. + Lediard says September 28th (0.8.). 38 LIFE OF DE RUYTER. de Wildt led the rear. A tremendous cannonade at close quarters, with the English ships now in their midst, mingled with the roaring of the wind, which served 20 captains of the Dutch fleet to carry their ships out of action. Un- exampled in the previous history of their glorious navy, this disgrace only served to raise the courage of the men in the 44 ships now left to struggle with Blake’s fleet. De With and de Ruyter, above all distinguished themselves. At the first onset de Ruyter lost a part of his large yardarm, the great topsail was soon full of holes, the mainsail broken, and nearly all the rigging im the same condition. Finally the large yard- arm swung round to the port side, and with four shot below water-mark, and a large part of his men killed or wounded, he could hardly steer his vessel, and yet he managed to keep in the thickest of the fight. The next day there was a dead calm, but the English having received reinforcements (16 ships), de Ruyter’s influence prevented his leader renewing the fight, and the Dutch continued their retreat to Helvoet- sluys, pursued leisurely by the English. They lost at least two boats by this engagement, and probably four, though this is disputed, but APPRENTICESHIP IN NAVAL WARFARE. 39 they had lost beyond all doubt, for the time being, the coveted command of the sea. De Ruyter would now have retired from the navy, but his friend de With became (owing to his deep grief at the result of the fight) too ill to command. De Ruyter returned to the fleet from Flushing. The influence of the 20 captains enabled them to escape the punishment they merited. Van Tromp was now entrusted with the chief command in the navy, and de Ruyter was placed at the head of de With’s squadron. The greatest exertions were made to fit a new fleet for the sea. The winter season had set in, but van Tromp put to sea with 85 warships,-or the English account says over 100, with frigates, etc., con- veying a fleet of 300 outward bound vessels through the Channel, when on December the 10th, 1652,* he sighted Blake, whose warships were only 37 in number, or as the Dutch say, 52, which included tenders, etc. Blake had sent a convoy of 20 ships to Newcastle, 12 to Plymouth, and 15 up the Thames; of the 37 which remained, it is said only 20 had their full complement of * Lediard says November 29th (0.8.). 40 LIFE OF DE RUYTER. men. The council of war decided to wait van Tromp’s attack, and the fight which began at one in the afternoon raged without intermission till dark. Blake, in a letter to the Government, quoted by Colliber, said that his flagship, the Triumph, with the Victory and Vanguard, were for a con- siderable time engaged with nearly 20 of the enemy. Ayscue rescued them, but the Dutch took the Garland and Bonadventure frigates, and two prizes of some value. Blake was beaten, and took his crippled fleet up the Thames next day. Ayscue, who was not in command, and therefore not responsible, laid down his commis- sion. Had Blake not retired, his fleet would probably have been entirely destroyed. Van Tromp landed some troops on the Kentish coast, but was repulsed with a loss of 100 men. He was, however, for the moment supreme in the Channel. ‘But command of the sea,” says a great naval authority (Admiral Colomb), “is not gained in a single battle, where strategical failure has been the cause of defeat.” The Dutch took their merchant vessels through the Channel and as far as the Ile de Rhé. There van Tromp met a fleet of 250 Dutch merchantmen homeward APPRENTICESHIP IN NAVAL WARFARE, 41 bound. These he escorted with his warships— English say 80, Dutch 70 or 76—up the Channel. Meanwhile Blake and the Parliament had been busy offering rewards to all sailors joining the fleet in 40 days, and adding further inducements for future service. Blake’s. vigorous efforts pro- duced a fleet of 66 war-vessels with which he awaited Tromp off Portland. On the morning of the 28th February, 1653 (or 18th February, 1652, old style),* van Tromp was near Port- land, with a favourable wind blowing from about W.N.W., when he sighted Blake’s fleet lying to the east of him, and about five leagues from the coast. The English vessels were very much spread out, many of them being far to leeward. Van Tromp immediately decided to attack, and leaving his merchant vessels to windward of him, bore down with his full force on Blake, who was unable at once to bring up his scattered fleet against the wind, and for some time bore the attack of the Dutch with about 12 vessels only. Of these the Speaker, commanded by Penn, was the first to engage on her starboard, but quickly tacking gave the Dutch at closer quarters the fire of her port guns, at about ten o'clock. * Lediard says February 8th (0.8.). 42 LIFE OF DE RUYTER. Blake, in the Triumph, was soon hotly engaged. De Ruyter’s ship being very severely punished by the Prosperous—a frigate of 40 guns and 170 men—he brought his ship nearer in order to board the English vessel. He had dreamt the night before that a bird alighted on his hand, but when he tried to catch it the bird had escaped him. As he drew nearer the English vessel, de Ruyter said, “See! there is the bird I dreamt of —we must catch him.” The Dutch boarded the Prosperous, but so fiercely were they received, that the English succeeded in driving them back and entering de Ruyter’s vessel. “ Friends!” shouted de Ruyter, “what are you doing ?—it’s the other ship! Courage!—go back! Once in, always in.” By these and other ejaculations, and his heroic example, he so aroused their fury, that they swept the crew of the Prosperous back on to her decks, and took that vessel—the only one the Dutch were to take that day; then, as the bird in the dream, it was lost again, for Blake now coming up, recaptured the Prosperous with the prize crew of Dutchmen on board. But so telling was the fire which van Tromp, and the other surrounding Dutch ships poured on the Triumph, that Blake was wounded severely in the thigh, Q Zz < — - o Oo oO 1653 FEB. 28u erchant fessels Orange DUTCH: Blue ENGLISH: yo i 4 aoe , tt pe fo gf fo 8h ys s , sf of # tthe fF OB