History, Wonder Tales, Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends The Flemish | Page 156

excellent commanders such as Blake and Penn, while the English ships were larger
and better manned than the Dutch.
Hostilities commenced with an irregular fight off Dover between Blake and Van Tromp.
In 1652 open war was declared, and the year was marked by a number of severe
actions. Ayscue destroyed a fleet of Dutch merchantmen off Calais; Blake fell upon
the fishing fleet off the Orkneys and captured the Dutch warships protecting it; Van
Tromp blockaded Ayscue in the Downs, but had his fleet shattered by a storm; De
Ruyter repulsed Ayscue's attack on a convoy near Plymouth; De Witt was beaten by
Blake in the Downs, who in turn was severely defeated by Van Tromp off Dungeness.
In 1653 Blake attacked Van Tromp whilst he was convoying merchantmen up the
Channel, and after a three days' running fight the Dutch were worsted, but Van
Tromp's magnificent tactics saved the fleet. Another battle was fought off Nieuwpoort,
when Van Tromp, De Ruyter, and De Witt were driven to take cover behind the shoals
with heavy losses. The English now blockaded the whole Dutch coast, and Van Tromp
was killed in a fight off Ter Herde; but the Dutch so damaged the English fleet that the
blockade had to be given up. Peace was made in 1654.
Immediately after Cromwell's death the fleet had been much neglected, but it was
notably improved after the Restoration under the direction of the Duke of York and the
administration of such men as Pepys. There was still much hostility to the Dutch, and
a certain amount of desultory fighting, directed mostly against enemy commerce, had
taken place before the actual declaration of war in March 1665. The first notable
engagement of the war was the bloody battle off Lowestoft, in which the Dutch were
beaten. In the next year a great Dutch fleet under De Ruyter and Cornelis attacked
Monk off the North Foreland, and in the murderous four days' fight which followed
Monk's fleet was reduced to 28 vessels, but he executed a masterly retreat. Prince
Rupert reinforced Monk up to 60 ships and a fresh attack was made; the English fleet
would have been annihilated but that a dense fog came down, stopping the pursuit, so
that only 6 ships were captured. Two months later, however, De Ruyter was beaten,
and the English gained command of the sea. Holmes pushed into the Vlie and burned
2 convoy ships and 140 merchantmen; next day he landed at Terschelling and a large
part of the island was pillaged and laid waste.
In 1667 an expeditio