Battle of Dungeness
Encyclopedia
The naval Battle of Dungeness took place on 10 December 1652 (30 November in the Julian calendar then used by England) during the First Anglo-Dutch War
near the cape of Dungeness in Kent
.
government, mistakenly believing that the United Provinces
after their defeat at the Battle of the Kentish Knock
would desist from bringing out a fleet so late in the season, sent away ships to the Mediterranean. This left the English badly outnumbered in home waters. Meanwhile the Dutch were making every effort to reinforce their fleet.
On 1 December 1652 Lieutenant-Admiral Maarten Tromp
, again (unofficial) supreme commander after his successor Vice-Admiral Witte de With had suffered a breakdown because of his defeat at the Battle of the Kentish Knock, set sail from Hellevoetsluis
with 88 men of war
and 5 fireships, escorting a vast convoy bound for the Indies. With the convoy safely delivered through the Straits of Dover, Tromp turned in search of the English, and on 9 December 1652 he encountered the English fleet of 42 ships commanded by General-at-Sea Robert Blake
. The English promptly left their anchorage in the Downs
, either because Blake did not realize how large the Dutch fleet was, or he did not want to become trapped like the Spanish had some years earlier in the Battle of the Downs
. The wind was now strong from the north-west, so the English could not return to the Downs in either case, having to settle for Dover
. Next morning, the two fleets moved south-west, with the English hugging the coast and the Dutch unable to engage until the curve of the shoreline forced the English to turn on a southerly course. At about 15:00, near the cape of Dungeness, the leading ships of both fleets met in a "bounteous rhetoric of powder and bullet" (according to a contemporary account).
The wind prevented a large part of the Dutch fleet from engaging Blake, whose fleet by nightfall had lost five ships of which the Dutch captured two, and damaged many more. The Dutch lost one ship through fire. Blake retreated under cover of darkness to his anchorage in the Downs. Tromp could not be satisfied with the result however as the Dutch had missed an opportunity to annihilate the English.
merchant vessels that retained their civilian captains. Many of them refused to participate in the battle. Some naval captains insisted on their traditional right to enter and leave the battle at times of their choosing, and to leave formation in order to secure any prize
. Blake threatened to resign if something was not done. The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty responded by:
The victory gave the Dutch temporary control of the English Channel and so control of merchant shipping. A legend says that Tromp attached a broom to his mast as a sign that he had swept the sea clean of his enemies, but in his book The Command of the Ocean, N.A.M. Roger doubts the legend as such a boasting action would have been out of character for Tromp. Additionally,
at the time, a broom attached to a mast was the way of showing that a ship was for sale.
Also Dutch contemporaneous sources make no mention of it. The battle not only showed the folly of dividing forces while the Dutch still possessed a large fleet in home waters, but exposed "much baseness of spirit, not among the merchantmen only, but many of the state's ships". It seemed that the captains of hired merchant ships were reluctant to risk their vessels in combat, while the state's ships lacked the men to sail and fight them.
Ships involved:
Victory 60 (Lionel Lane)
Vanguard 58 (John Mildmay)
Fairfax* 56 (John Lawson)
Speaker* 54 (John Gilson)
Laurel 50 (John Taylor)
Worcester 44 (Anthony Young)
44 (Robert Batten) - Captured
Entrance 43 (Edmund Chapman)
Lion 42 (Charles Saltonsall)
Convertine 42
Foresight 42
Dragon 40
Fortune 36
Hound 35
Sapphire 34
Princess Maria 33
Mary flyboat 32
Waterhound 30
Dolphin* 30 (William Badiley)
Advantage 26 (William Beck)
Swan* 22
Greyhound* 20
Hannibal* 44 (Francis Barham)
Anthony Bonaventure 36 (Walter Hoxon) - Captured
Lisbon Merchant 34
Loyalty* 34
Culpepper 30
Cullen 28
Prudent Mary 26
Samuel 26
Martha 25
Katherine* 24
Exchange 24
Acorn 22
Ships marked * are probables.
First Anglo-Dutch War
The First Anglo–Dutch War was the first of the four Anglo–Dutch Wars. It was fought entirely at sea between the navies of the Commonwealth of England and the United Provinces of the Netherlands. Caused by disputes over trade, the war began with English attacks on Dutch merchant shipping, but...
near the cape of Dungeness in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
.
Background
In October 1652 the EnglishCommonwealth of England
The Commonwealth of England was the republic which ruled first England, and then Ireland and Scotland from 1649 to 1660. Between 1653–1659 it was known as the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland...
government, mistakenly believing that the United Provinces
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
after their defeat at the Battle of the Kentish Knock
Battle of the Kentish Knock
The Battle of the Kentish Knock was a naval battle between the fleets of the Dutch Republic and England, fought on 8 October 1652 New Style, during the First Anglo-Dutch War near the shoal called the Kentish Knock in the North Sea about thirty kilometres east of the mouth of the river Thames...
would desist from bringing out a fleet so late in the season, sent away ships to the Mediterranean. This left the English badly outnumbered in home waters. Meanwhile the Dutch were making every effort to reinforce their fleet.
Battle
Maarten Tromp
Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp was an officer and later admiral in the Dutch navy. His first name is also spelled as Maerten.-Early life:...
, again (unofficial) supreme commander after his successor Vice-Admiral Witte de With had suffered a breakdown because of his defeat at the Battle of the Kentish Knock, set sail from Hellevoetsluis
Hellevoetsluis
Hellevoetsluis is a small city and municipality on Voorne-Putten Island in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland...
with 88 men of war
Man of war
The man-of-war was a Royal Navy expression for a powerful warship from the 16th to the 19th century. The term often refers to a ship armed with cannon and propelled primarily by sails, as opposed to a galley which is propelled primarily by oars...
and 5 fireships, escorting a vast convoy bound for the Indies. With the convoy safely delivered through the Straits of Dover, Tromp turned in search of the English, and on 9 December 1652 he encountered the English fleet of 42 ships commanded by General-at-Sea Robert Blake
Robert Blake (admiral)
Robert Blake was one of the most important military commanders of the Commonwealth of England and one of the most famous English admirals of the 17th century. Blake is recognised as the chief founder of England's naval supremacy, a dominance subsequently inherited by the British Royal Navy into...
. The English promptly left their anchorage in the Downs
The Downs
The Downs are a roadstead or area of sea in the southern North Sea near the English Channel off the east Kent coast, between the North and the South Foreland in southern England. In 1639 the Battle of the Downs took place here, when the Dutch navy destroyed a Spanish fleet which had sought refuge...
, either because Blake did not realize how large the Dutch fleet was, or he did not want to become trapped like the Spanish had some years earlier in the Battle of the Downs
Battle of the Downs
The naval Battle of the Downs took place on 31 October 1639 , during the Eighty Years' War, and was a decisive defeat of the Spanish, commanded by Admiral Antonio de Oquendo, by the United Provinces, commanded by Lieutenant-Admiral Maarten Tromp.- Background :The entry of France in the Thirty...
. The wind was now strong from the north-west, so the English could not return to the Downs in either case, having to settle for Dover
Dover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...
. Next morning, the two fleets moved south-west, with the English hugging the coast and the Dutch unable to engage until the curve of the shoreline forced the English to turn on a southerly course. At about 15:00, near the cape of Dungeness, the leading ships of both fleets met in a "bounteous rhetoric of powder and bullet" (according to a contemporary account).
The wind prevented a large part of the Dutch fleet from engaging Blake, whose fleet by nightfall had lost five ships of which the Dutch captured two, and damaged many more. The Dutch lost one ship through fire. Blake retreated under cover of darkness to his anchorage in the Downs. Tromp could not be satisfied with the result however as the Dutch had missed an opportunity to annihilate the English.
Aftermath
The battle resulted in several reforms in the English Fleet. Part of Blake's force consisted of impressedImpressment
Impressment, colloquially, "the Press", was the act of taking men into a navy by force and without notice. It was used by the Royal Navy, beginning in 1664 and during the 18th and early 19th centuries, in wartime, as a means of crewing warships, although legal sanction for the practice goes back to...
merchant vessels that retained their civilian captains. Many of them refused to participate in the battle. Some naval captains insisted on their traditional right to enter and leave the battle at times of their choosing, and to leave formation in order to secure any prize
Prize (law)
Prize is a term used in admiralty law to refer to equipment, vehicles, vessels, and cargo captured during armed conflict. The most common use of prize in this sense is the capture of an enemy ship and its cargo as a prize of war. In the past, it was common that the capturing force would be allotted...
. Blake threatened to resign if something was not done. The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty responded by:
- requiring all impressed vessels to be under the command of captains appointed by the navy;
- dividing the fleet into squadrons under junior flag officers for better command and control;
- issuing Sailing and Fighting InstructionsArticles of WarThe Articles of War are a set of regulations drawn up to govern the conduct of a country's military and naval forces. The phrase was first used in 1637 in Robert Monro's His expedition with the worthy Scots regiment called Mac-keyes regiment etc. and can be used to refer to military law in general...
which significantly enhanced an admiral's authority over his fleet.
The victory gave the Dutch temporary control of the English Channel and so control of merchant shipping. A legend says that Tromp attached a broom to his mast as a sign that he had swept the sea clean of his enemies, but in his book The Command of the Ocean, N.A.M. Roger doubts the legend as such a boasting action would have been out of character for Tromp. Additionally,
at the time, a broom attached to a mast was the way of showing that a ship was for sale.
Also Dutch contemporaneous sources make no mention of it. The battle not only showed the folly of dividing forces while the Dutch still possessed a large fleet in home waters, but exposed "much baseness of spirit, not among the merchantmen only, but many of the state's ships". It seemed that the captains of hired merchant ships were reluctant to risk their vessels in combat, while the state's ships lacked the men to sail and fight them.
Ships involved:
England (Blake)
Triumph 60 (flag)Victory 60 (Lionel Lane)
Vanguard 58 (John Mildmay)
Fairfax* 56 (John Lawson)
Speaker* 54 (John Gilson)
Laurel 50 (John Taylor)
Worcester 44 (Anthony Young)
44 (Robert Batten) - Captured
Entrance 43 (Edmund Chapman)
Lion 42 (Charles Saltonsall)
Convertine 42
Foresight 42
Dragon 40
Fortune 36
Hound 35
Sapphire 34
Princess Maria 33
Mary flyboat 32
Waterhound 30
Dolphin* 30 (William Badiley)
Advantage 26 (William Beck)
Swan* 22
Greyhound* 20
Hannibal* 44 (Francis Barham)
Anthony Bonaventure 36 (Walter Hoxon) - Captured
Lisbon Merchant 34
Loyalty* 34
Culpepper 30
Cullen 28
Prudent Mary 26
Samuel 26
Martha 25
Katherine* 24
Exchange 24
Acorn 22
Ships marked * are probables.