Holmes's Bonfire
Encyclopedia
Holmes's Bonfire was a raid
on the Vlie
estuary in the Netherlands, executed by the Royal Navy
during the Second Anglo-Dutch War
on 19 and 20 August 1666 (New Style, 9 and 10 August Old Style). The attack, named after the commander of the landing force, Rear-Admiral Robert Holmes
, was successful in destroying by fire a large merchant fleet of 140 ships. During the same action the town of West-Terschelling
was burnt down, causing an outrage in the Dutch Republic
.
, 25 and 26 July Julian Calendar
), the Royal Navy controlled the North Sea
. The Dutch fleet, though having lost only two ships, was severely damaged and would for some weeks be unable to challenge the English fleet. The joint fleet commanders, George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle
and Prince Rupert of the Rhine
, on 7 August discussed how best to exploit this situation. The most advantageous course of action, initiating a permanent blockade of the Dutch coast and thus preventing the Dutch fleet from leaving port, was precluded by the fact that the supply situation of the English fleet was very poor, due to the structural lack of sufficient funding. It was to be expected that the English fleet would be forced to return to the home ports, even before the Dutch fleet was repaired. To accomplish anything of import during the limited time period available, a much more aggressive undertaking than a mere blockade was indicated: to attack one of the Dutch ports.
The most attractive Dutch targets were however also the most dangerous. In the south, the port of Rotterdam
was too far inland and the naval ports of Flushing
and Hellevoetsluis
too heavily defended. More to the north, the vast wealth of the city of Amsterdam
could only be reached by recklessly entering the Zuyderzee
past most of the still active vessels of the Dutch fleet, lying in wait in the Texel
. Because of these dangers, there would be no English attempts on these ports until Napoleonic times. But one lesser target was more exposed. The naval port of the Admiralty of Friesland
, Harlingen
, lies at the southern edge of the Waddenzee, the vast stretch of mudflat
s between the Frisian Isles
and the continental coast. Harlingen's exit to the North Sea, located 20 miles (32.2 km) to the northwest, is the Vlie
, the ancient estuary of the IJssel
river, between the islands of Vlieland
and Terschelling
. The channel was often used as moorage and it was, correctly, assumed that a large number of merchantmen were at anchor here, sheltering from the English fleet and waiting to resume their voyage to the Baltic
, each year the destination of thousands of Dutch vessels.
The shoal
s, at this point even more dangerous than usual at the Dutch coast, were generally considered sufficient protection against any enemy attack. However, the English had the advantage of being aided by a Dutch captain, Laurens Heemskerck, known to the English as "Lauris van Hamskirck", who in 1665 had fled to England after having been condemned to death for cowardice shown during the Battle of Lowestoft
. Trying to ingratiate himself with his new masters, he had for some time been promoting a possible raid on this location. On the 7th Heemskerck was sent out on the Little Mary, a sixth-rate vessel of 12 cannon, to reconnoitre the coast together with Rupert's private yacht, the Fan Fan, returning the evening of the next day. A sweep along the coast by a frigate squadron during the following week brought only few prizes. When the English fleet, sailing along the Dutch coast from the south, anchored in front of the Texel on 16 August, during a council of war
Heemskerck convinced Rupert and Monck that an attack was feasible as "(...) the islands of Vlie and Schelling were very ill guarded, notwithstanding there were Store-houses both for the States, and the East-India Fleet, and Riches to a good value".
As the English had no special marine units, for the landing a makeshift force was assembled, consisting of 300 men from each of the three squadrons of the fleet, two thirds of them sailors, one third sea soldiers. Eight frigates were dedicated: the Advice
(of 46 cannon), Hampshire
(40), Tyger (40), Dragon
(40), (36), Sweepstake (36), Garland (28) and Pembroke (28). To this force were added five fireships and seven ketch
es. Rear-Admiral of the Red Robert Holmes was given command of the expedition; the landing force was divided into nine companies of a hundred men, each consisting of seventy musketeers and thirty pikemen and headed by a captain; Sir Phillip Howard would command an additional 120 volunteers, mostly noblemen who, due to their station, could not honourably serve under a commoner. Holmes kept some men apart for personal protection and thus speaks of eleven companies.
Holmes's orders were to put the main emphasis on plundering the islands. He himself was to land on Vlieland with a force of five hundred men; if possible a simultaneous attack by the remaining four hundred men under Sir William Jennings
should be carried out on Terschelling. Dutch shipping was but a secondary target: "You are to seize what vessels you finde in the Harbour, which you are to make use of in bringing away the Booty: what are not servicable you are to sink or Burn". The common people among the local population should be spared: "(...) that no violence be done to women or children, nor the inferior sort of people, unless in case of resistance (...)".
While the main fleet remained at anchor along the coast of Texel island, Holmes on 18 August (8 August Old Style) sailed towards the Vlie, being joined that day by the Fan Fan that had reconnoitred the channel and reported that a large merchant fleet was indeed present, estimated at fifty vessels. Because he was unable to immediately enter the Vlie anyway because of a contrary southeasterly wind, he sent a ketch to sound the Westerboomsgat, in that period the main Vlie channel, running from west to east towards the land head of Terschelling. Today the situation has changed considerably: the channel has shifted four miles to the southwest, eroding the north coast of Vlieland and causing Terschelling to grow in the same direction.
Holmes on Thursday 19 August, the adverse southeasterly having eased to a breeze, around 8:00 AM entered the Vlie, using Tyger as his flagship and leaving Hampshire and Advice behind as a covering force. Normally the shifting shoals would have made an approach very difficult but Holmes had a stroke of luck. On the 17th the Dragon had taken a Danish merchantman with a Dutch pilot on board that Holmes considered more capable than Heemskerck; also it transpired that part of the buoyage
had not been removed; this had been ordered by the Admiralty of Amsterdam
but on the 18th the English were already so close that the official 'buoy man' had not dared to complete the job. Also the admiralty had some days before ordered all ships to return to the home port, at a penalty of six guilders per day, but almost none had complied; most ship-owners had explicitly given orders to stay, to be able to sail immediately at the end of the English blockade. As a result Holmes found a fleet of about 140 merchantmen or smaller vessels at anchor — by himself estimated at about 150 to 160 —, guarded by two frigates, the Adelaar and Tol. The crews of the ships were very confident of their ability to repulse an attack and many villagers from the islands had even brought their possessions aboard, assuming these to be more safe there than on land, where they expected the brunt of the English attack would be directed.
Indeed Holmes had been ordered to give priority to the shore installations on Vlieland. However, when his Tyger as first ship arrived at the Reede van Speckhoeck anchorage (Whalers' Moorage or Schelling Road), west of the Hobbesandt shoal, to his puzzlement he saw only a tiny village, Oost-Vlieland
, on this island and interrogation of some prisoners confirmed that no important buildings were present there. Meanwhile behind him the Garland and Dragon, with difficulty beating up the wind on a tacking course through the Westerboomsgat, had grounded; the Dragon would only be able to free herself by throwing eight of her cannon overboard and the beer supply. In these circumstances Holmes considered it unwise to commit his landing force, covered by only a handful of frigates, to an attack on what basically was an empty dune area, while expecting the enormous merchant fleet with thousands of sailors to remain passive to his south in the Vlieree (Vlie Road) while this was going on. Therefore he decided to attack this fleet first. According to some, Holmes was also specially inspired by the opportunity to damage the Dutch economy. He would later justify his initiative by claiming that he lacked the landing capacity to attack Vlieland because all ketches had grounded.
Holmes didn't dare to venture any further with his frigates — he was at his position almost enclosed by shoals — so, with the exception of the shallow-draughted Pembroke the assault was carried out around 13:00 by the five fireships, sailing somewhat to the north into the Robbegat channel, the entrance of the Vliestroom, where most of the merchant fleet stretched out from north to south over a distance of ten miles. Their success was complete. On their approach three large armed merchantmen, commanded to assist the guard ships, lost courage and fled. The first fireship managed to set the attacking Dutch frigate Adelaar alight, most of the Dutch crew drowning when their fleeing sloop
capsized; when the next approached the Tol, the crew of the latter abandoned ship, rowing away in some sloops. This second fireship grounded however; seeing this the Dutch crew of a sloop turned; then the English fireship crew also entered a sloop, both sloops racing to be the first to reach the Tol. The English won and set the Dutch warship on fire. The other three fireships now attached themselves to an equal number of large Dutch merchantmen on the northern edge of the fleet and burnt them, causing a mass panic on the other vessels, the sailors of which mostly abandoned their ships, escaping to the south in the boats.
Seeing the confusion on the Dutch side, Holmes decided to immediately exploit this opportunity. Every available sloop — Dutch sources indicate a number of 22 — was manned with demolition teams of a dozen men each to set fire to any vessel they could reach, not wasting any time plundering. Soon even the Dutch ships of which the crews held firm, were surrounded by burning vessels and forced to leave their position. Fleeing ships entangled and became easy victims, as the southeasterly wind drove them towards their attackers. During the following hours one after another the ships became victim of the fire until the last remaining nine were saved when a large Guineaman and some armed ketches stood and fought and thus managed to protect some other vessels behind them in a cul-de-sac formed by the Inschot creek. The action ended around 20:00. About 130 ships were destroyed; according to Holmes himself, eleven ships in total escaped. Not all of these 130 were major vessels; the destruction of only 114 merchantmen and warships can be accounted for in the Dutch archives. Almost all sailors saved themselves; most rowing in sloops to Harlingen; some walking or wading over the Kracksant shoal to Vlieland. The English were not keen on taking many prisoners as — to their great embarrassment — they lacked the funds to even feed those they had taken in previous battles.
Meanwhile the civil militia of Vlieland, standing on its eastern land head, had at first deterred, assisted by a thunderstorm, any attempts by small English landing parties but, seeing the conflagration, they lost courage and fled with most of the population, some using small vessels, others walking towards Texel. On their way south they encountered two deputies of the States of Holland
, Gerard Hasselaer and Baerding, who had been committed to supervise the fleet at the Texel and hearing of the English threat had travelled to the more northern island to investigate. They managed to encourage the men and reassemble a force on the land head and then returned to the Texel, promising to send a company of soldiers as reinforcement.
The smoke and flames were clearly visible to the English fleet before the Texel, twenty miles to the south, and interpreted as a sure sign that Holmes had succeeded in burning the warehouses. Accordingly Rupert and Albemarle sent him a congratulatory letter ordering his immediate retreat as the enemy had likely been alerted too.
Holmes in the evening of the 19th became aware he had been misinformed; the main shore installations were on the opposite island, Terschelling, in this period called simply Schelling. On its western point was a town, then bearing the prosaic name of 'ter Schelling' ("at Schelling"), that today is called West-Terschelling
and which the English then knew as Brandaris
after the tall mediaeval lighthouse
of the same name, a very distinctive landmark. Terschelling was the main home base of the Dutch whaling
industry and there were warehouses, some connected to this trade, others belonging to the Dutch East India Company
. The town was wealthy, consisting of about 400 stone houses, but unwalled. Much of the population consisted of pacifist Mennonites, also many retired whalers had settled there.
At 05:00 AM on 20 August, Holmes ordered to attack the town, himself taking the lead in Fan-Fan. A few armed men opposed the landing with musket
fire but were soon scared away when six English companies came ashore — though Holmes's personal report gives the impression all of his troops were committed. Holmes left one company to guard the landing site and let the other five march in close formation to the edge of the town. Scouts, spreading out in all directions, soon reported the population had fled, some to more eastern villages, others on any vessel they could find; three companies now entered to plunder and burn the town, while Holmes with two hundred men remained on the outside to the south. Some very old inhabitants had not fled and were, according to the English accounts, treated with all possible respect.
At that moment a high tide
occurred, which would greatly facilitate the exit of his frigates from the Vlie. Holmes therefore decided not to burn the eastern villages, to remove his troops from Terschelling, quickly execute a short landing at Vlieland in conformation with his original orders, and retreat before any Dutch counterattack could materialise. After the warehouses had been burnt and perceiving that the troops were more interested in looting than destroying the town, he ordered to set fire also to a few houses on the east side. This way he could force his men to stop plundering, preventing them from lingering too long and missing the favourable tide. It had been a very dry summer and within hours almost the entire town burnt down: only about thirty houses, the townhall, the Dutch Reformed church and the Brandaris lighthouse were spared by the flames. The English troops mostly retreated in good order; to urge them to greater haste Holmes even ordered to fire upon them. One ketch was left behind to pick up possible stragglers; late in the afternoon it indeed saw some men carrying loot; while the ketch sent a sloop, suddenly six (according to English sources; Dutch accounts speak of three) pursuing Schellingers appeared who beat one plunderer to death and took the other, severely wounded, prisoner, sending him to Harlingen. A third, belonging to the same group, had earlier been stabbed to death by them with a pitchfork
.
When arriving on the Tyger Holmes learned that Rupert had ordered an immediate retreat, so he decided to forego a last attack on Vlieland; unknown to him the first Dutch reinforcements had already arrived preparing to place two gun batteries, so his decision prevented a contested landing. Accompanying the Dutch troops was the famous naval painter Willem van de Velde the Elder
, who would make sketches of the site, that he and his son Willem van de Velde the Younger
would develop into some dramatic paintings.
(with twelve cannon) at the south shore of Vlieland and had destroyed ter Schelling, all of this at a cost of half a dozen dead, an equal number wounded, and a single sloop — and despite being rather ill throughout the operation, perhaps from a malaria
attack. A day earlier, James Hayes
, using the Julian calendar
, had already written to England: "On the 9th, at noon, smoke was seen rising from several places in the island of Vlie, and the 10th brought news that Sir Robert had burned in the enemy's harbour 160 outward bound valuable merchantmen and three men-of-war, and taken a little pleasure boat and eight guns in four hours. The loss is computed at a million sterling, and will make great confusion when the people see themselves in the power of the English at their very doors. Sir Robert then landed his forces, and is burning the houses in Vlie and Schelling as bonfires for his good success at sea", thus being the first to use the word "bonfire" for this event, which soon became very common. Charles II of England
ordered bonfire
s to be lit in celebration of the victory, as was usual. A poem thus expressed the boisterous elation felt by the English, that their victory in the naval fight was so soon followed by this success:
Much of the credit however, was given to Heemskerck.
After the defeat in the St James's Day Fight political tensions in the Dutch Republic
had strongly increased, with the loyal servant of the States regime, Lieutenant-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter
, accusing the champion of the rivaling Orangist faction, Lieutenant-Admiral Cornelis Tromp
, to have abandoned the main body of the Dutch fleet to seek his personal glory. On 21 August the news of a second catastrophe at the Vlie caused rioting in Amsterdam, where the stock market collapsed; an angry Orangist mob tried to plunder the house of De Ruyter. Commentators in England predicted the fall of the leader of the States faction, Grand Pensionary
Johan de Witt
, expecting him to flee to France.
De Witt however, deftly exploited the situation to his advantage. Having arrested on 19 August the main English contact with the Orangists, Henri Buat
, he soon produced convincing evidence that the Orangists had collaborated with the enemy. The outrage this caused was then directed by him to the humanitarian aspects of the raid and away from the fact that a fleet worth two million guilders had been lost. In this he was aided by the reaction of the Dutch population to the destruction of Terschelling. Whereas in the English Channel
and the Irish Sea
it would well into the 18th century remain common to raid villages of other nations, even in peacetime, the English and Dutch had gradually stopped attacking each other's coastal settlements around the middle of the 16th century, reaching a situation in the North Sea of what the Dutch liked to call 'good neighbourship' between Protestant brother nations. Everybody understood that in wartime soldiers would plunder, but laying waste to an entire town, as Holmes had done, was seen as a betrayal of mutual trust and thus caused a storm of indignation. Many pamphlets were written dedicated to the "Sack of ter Schelling", highlighting the presumed atrocities committed by the English. Such accusations had only a limited factual basis; the number of civilian casualties had been low. After the English had left, the operator of the northern fire beacon of Schelling was found slain and the remains of two invalid elderly women were discovered in the charred ruins of their houses; they had apparently been unable to escape the fire when it reached their homes. In some pamphlets these tragic facts were translated into a brutal massacre of the population, with English soldiers callously burning alive decrepit grandmothers. Charles's ordering of bonfires in these circumstances was condemned as a show of particularly poor taste.
Three weeks later, the Great Fire of London
occurred. This led to a new wave of Dutch pamphlets and poems linking these events, often showing two engravings, the Destruction of ter Schelling at the left mirrored by that of London on the right. To the Dutch mind the connection was obvious: London had been destroyed as a Divine retribution, the Lord punishing Charles for having dared to rejoice at the calamity of his fellow Christians, "the sparks of the fire of Schelling crossing the sea, blown by the same easterly that would relentlessly burn London".
The English accounts of the raid that were published later that year did not make this connection. However, while self-congratulatory when covering the burning of the fleet, their tone turned apologetic as the destruction of ter Schelling was described. They emphasized how neat and well-laid out the town was and that it was burnt more by accident than intent, Holmes, according to them, not intending to terrorize the population. This reflected a changed mood in England. After the first feeling of satisfaction had subsided, a more sober analysis brought many to the conclusion that the raid had done the Dutch much harm, but the English little good. Although it was to be the largest single loss of shipping ever to be afflicted to the Dutch merchant fleet, 130 ships represented only a minor fraction of the total number of merchantmen, so the blow was hardly fatal. Nothing constructive had been accomplished; no major prizes taken, nor goods, no permanent base established on the islands. The destruction of ter Schelling was seen as a foolish act that could lead to a dangerous escalation. Nobody relished the prospect of the Dutch taking revenge on the largely defenceless towns of the English east coast.
In the Dutch Republic also a change of mood took place. The initial dismay was replaced by a dogged determination to continue the war and repair the damage done. The Republic had for the time a strongly institutionalised system of poor relief; as ter Schelling was unable to help its poor, aid was offered by several municipalities, including Harlingen. Also most churches in the province of Holland held special collections of donations; as the rivalling denominations
tried to outdo each other in the amount of money given, soon enough funds were available to shelter the poor for the coming winter and make a start with rebuilding the town. The Great Fire of London brought most to the conclusion that God had already avenged the destruction of ter Schelling, so no special retaliation on English coastal towns was necessary. However, when the following year Charles deliberately procrastinated the peace talks held in Breda
, De Witt used the lingering resentment caused by Holmes's Bonfire to convince the States of Holland
that it was justified to end the war by a devastating raid on Chatham Dockyard
where the larger vessels of the English fleet were laid up. During this Raid on the Medway
the Dutch marines had strict orders not to plunder or destroy any civilian property, in order to shame the English. That at least some of the English understood this, is shown by Samuel Pepys
' diary entry of 30 June 1667: "It seems very remarkable to me, and of great honour to the Dutch, that those of them that did go on shore to Gillingham, though they went in fear of their lives, and were some of them killed; and, notwithstanding their provocation at Schelling, yet killed none of our people nor plundered their houses, but did take some things of easy carriage, and left the rest, and not a house burned; and, which is to our eternal disgrace, that what my Lord Douglas's men, who come after them, found there, they plundered and took all away".
When after the successful raid it seemed that Charles was still trying to prolong the talks, De Witt suggested some "light spoiling" to be carried out on the English east coast, but Lieutenant-Admiral De Ruyter protested vehemently against such a change of policy after which the Grand Pensionary had to admit such actions would be "counterproductive and even somewhat unchristian".
In later Dutch accounts of the raid the burning of ter Schelling would be much emphasized. It was kept alive in memory by a famous legend, that of the Stryper Wyfke, the "Little Wife of Stryp". According to the, probably apocryphal, story, those people having escaped massacre by fleeing to the east side of the island were saved from the encroaching English troops by an old crone near the hamlet of Stryp, where an ancient abandoned graveyard laid on a dune. Peering through the fog, some soldiers mistook the standing headstones for a line of Dutch troops and asked the old woman how many there were. She answered, in some versions of the legend in order to deceive, in others through a misunderstanding of the question: "Hundreds of them are standing, but thousands are lying" — referring to the buried corpses — after which the English would have become so frightened that they abandoned their approach. Many accounts of English naval historians however, only mention the burning of the fleet, glossing over the destruction of the town.
Today, the legend of the Stryper Wyfke is commemorated by a bronze statue west of Midsland
that shows her pointing to the graveyard, facing an easterly breeze.
Raid (military)
Raid, also known as depredation, is a military tactic or operational warfare mission which has a specific purpose and is not normally intended to capture and hold terrain, but instead finish with the raiding force quickly retreating to a previous defended position prior to the enemy forces being...
on the Vlie
Vlie
The Vlie or Vliestroom is the seaway between the Dutch islands of Vlieland, to its southwest, and Terschelling, to its northeast. The Vlie was the estuary of the river IJssel in medieval times...
estuary in the Netherlands, executed by the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
during the Second Anglo-Dutch War
Second Anglo-Dutch War
The Second Anglo–Dutch War was part of a series of four Anglo–Dutch Wars fought between the English and the Dutch in the 17th and 18th centuries for control over the seas and trade routes....
on 19 and 20 August 1666 (New Style, 9 and 10 August Old Style). The attack, named after the commander of the landing force, Rear-Admiral Robert Holmes
Robert Holmes (admiral)
Sir Robert Holmes was an English Admiral of the Restoration Navy. He took part in the second and third Anglo-Dutch wars, both of which he is, by some, credited with having started. He was made governor of the Isle of Wight, where he is buried in Yarmouth parish church...
, was successful in destroying by fire a large merchant fleet of 140 ships. During the same action the town of West-Terschelling
West-Terschelling
West-Terschelling is a village on Terschelling in the province Friesland of the Netherlands and has about 2580 citizens.The town was burned by the English Navy in 1666, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War, in an event referred to as "Holmes's Bonfire"....
was burnt down, causing an outrage in the Dutch Republic
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...
.
Background
After its victory in the St James's Day Fight on 4 and 5 August 1666 (Gregorian calendarGregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter...
, 25 and 26 July Julian Calendar
Julian calendar
The Julian calendar began in 45 BC as a reform of the Roman calendar by Julius Caesar. It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year .The Julian calendar has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months...
), the Royal Navy controlled the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
. The Dutch fleet, though having lost only two ships, was severely damaged and would for some weeks be unable to challenge the English fleet. The joint fleet commanders, George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle
George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle
George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, KG was an English soldier and politician and a key figure in the restoration of Charles II.-Early life and career:...
and Prince Rupert of the Rhine
Prince Rupert of the Rhine
Rupert, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria, 1st Duke of Cumberland, 1st Earl of Holderness , commonly called Prince Rupert of the Rhine, KG, FRS was a noted soldier, admiral, scientist, sportsman, colonial governor and amateur artist during the 17th century...
, on 7 August discussed how best to exploit this situation. The most advantageous course of action, initiating a permanent blockade of the Dutch coast and thus preventing the Dutch fleet from leaving port, was precluded by the fact that the supply situation of the English fleet was very poor, due to the structural lack of sufficient funding. It was to be expected that the English fleet would be forced to return to the home ports, even before the Dutch fleet was repaired. To accomplish anything of import during the limited time period available, a much more aggressive undertaking than a mere blockade was indicated: to attack one of the Dutch ports.
The most attractive Dutch targets were however also the most dangerous. In the south, the port of Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
was too far inland and the naval ports of Flushing
Flushing, Netherlands
Vlissingen is a municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the former island of Walcheren. With its strategic location between the Scheldt river and the North Sea, Vlissingen has been an important harbour for centuries. It was granted city rights in 1315. In the 17th century...
and Hellevoetsluis
Hellevoetsluis
Hellevoetsluis is a small city and municipality on Voorne-Putten Island in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland...
too heavily defended. More to the north, the vast wealth of the city of Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
could only be reached by recklessly entering the Zuyderzee
Zuyderzée
Zuyderzée is the name of a département of the First French Empire in the present Netherlands. It is named after the Zuider Zee sea inlet. It was formed in 1810, when the Kingdom of Holland was annexed by France. Its territory corresponds more or less with the present Dutch provinces North Holland...
past most of the still active vessels of the Dutch fleet, lying in wait in the Texel
Marsdiep
The Marsdiep is a deep tide-race between Den Helder and Texel in the Netherlands, and running southwards between sandbanks. That gap connects the North Sea and the Waddenzee....
. Because of these dangers, there would be no English attempts on these ports until Napoleonic times. But one lesser target was more exposed. The naval port of the Admiralty of Friesland
Admiralty of Friesland
The Admiralty of Friesland or Frisian Admiralty was one of the five admiralties of the Dutch Republic...
, Harlingen
Harlingen, Netherlands
Harlingen is a municipality and a city in the northern Netherlands, in the province of Friesland at the Wadden Sea. Harlingen is an old town with a long history of fishing and shipping....
, lies at the southern edge of the Waddenzee, the vast stretch of mudflat
Mudflat
Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats, are coastal wetlands that form when mud is deposited by tides or rivers. They are found in sheltered areas such as bays, bayous, lagoons, and estuaries. Mudflats may be viewed geologically as exposed layers of bay mud, resulting from deposition of...
s between the Frisian Isles
Frisian Islands
The Frisian Islands, also known as the Wadden Islands or Wadden Sea Islands, form an archipelago at the eastern edge of the North Sea in northwestern Europe, stretching from the north-west of the Netherlands through Germany to the west of Denmark...
and the continental coast. Harlingen's exit to the North Sea, located 20 miles (32.2 km) to the northwest, is the Vlie
Vlie
The Vlie or Vliestroom is the seaway between the Dutch islands of Vlieland, to its southwest, and Terschelling, to its northeast. The Vlie was the estuary of the river IJssel in medieval times...
, the ancient estuary of the IJssel
IJssel
River IJssel , sometimes called Gelderse IJssel to avoid confusion with its Hollandse IJssel namesake in the west of the Netherlands, is a branch of the Rhine in the Dutch provinces of Gelderland and Overijssel...
river, between the islands of Vlieland
Vlieland
Vlieland is a municipality in the northern Netherlands. The municipality of Vlieland has only one major town: Oost-Vlieland . It is the second-least densely populated municipality in the Netherlands ....
and Terschelling
Terschelling
Terschelling is a municipality and an island in the northern Netherlands, one of the West Frisian Islands.Waddenislanders are known for their resourcefulness in using anything and everything that washes ashore. With few trees to use for timber, most of the farms and barns are built with masts...
. The channel was often used as moorage and it was, correctly, assumed that a large number of merchantmen were at anchor here, sheltering from the English fleet and waiting to resume their voyage to the Baltic
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
, each year the destination of thousands of Dutch vessels.
The shoal
Shoal
Shoal, shoals or shoaling may mean:* Shoal, a sandbank or reef creating shallow water, especially where it forms a hazard to shipping* Shoal draught , of a boat with shallow draught which can pass over some shoals: see Draft...
s, at this point even more dangerous than usual at the Dutch coast, were generally considered sufficient protection against any enemy attack. However, the English had the advantage of being aided by a Dutch captain, Laurens Heemskerck, known to the English as "Lauris van Hamskirck", who in 1665 had fled to England after having been condemned to death for cowardice shown during the Battle of Lowestoft
Battle of Lowestoft
The naval Battle of Lowestoft took place on 13 June 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...
. Trying to ingratiate himself with his new masters, he had for some time been promoting a possible raid on this location. On the 7th Heemskerck was sent out on the Little Mary, a sixth-rate vessel of 12 cannon, to reconnoitre the coast together with Rupert's private yacht, the Fan Fan, returning the evening of the next day. A sweep along the coast by a frigate squadron during the following week brought only few prizes. When the English fleet, sailing along the Dutch coast from the south, anchored in front of the Texel on 16 August, during a council of war
Council of war
A council of war is a term in military science that describes a meeting held to decide on a course of action, usually in the midst of a battle. Under normal circumstances, decisions are made by a commanding officer, optionally communicated and coordinated by staff officers, and then implemented by...
Heemskerck convinced Rupert and Monck that an attack was feasible as "(...) the islands of Vlie and Schelling were very ill guarded, notwithstanding there were Store-houses both for the States, and the East-India Fleet, and Riches to a good value".
As the English had no special marine units, for the landing a makeshift force was assembled, consisting of 300 men from each of the three squadrons of the fleet, two thirds of them sailors, one third sea soldiers. Eight frigates were dedicated: the Advice
HMS Advice (1650)
HMS Advice was a 40-gun fourth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. It was originally built for the navy of the Commonwealth of England by Peter Pett II at Woodbrige, and was launched in 1650. By 1677 her armament had been increased to 48 guns....
(of 46 cannon), Hampshire
HMS Hampshire (1653)
HMS Hampshire was a 38-gun fourth-rate frigate of the English Royal Navy, originally built for the navy of the Commonwealth of England by Phineas Pett II at Deptford, and launched in 1653. By 1677 her armament had been increased to 46 guns....
(40), Tyger (40), Dragon
HMS Dragon (1647)
HMS Dragon was a 38-gun fourth rate frigate of the Royal Navy, built at Chatham and launched in 1647. The term 'frigate' during the period of this ship referred to a method of construction, rather than a role which did not develop until the following century.Her first commission was in the Irish...
(40), (36), Sweepstake (36), Garland (28) and Pembroke (28). To this force were added five fireships and seven ketch
Ketch
A ketch is a sailing craft with two masts: a main mast, and a shorter mizzen mast abaft of the main mast, but forward of the rudder post. Both masts are rigged mainly fore-and-aft. From one to three jibs may be carried forward of the main mast when going to windward...
es. Rear-Admiral of the Red Robert Holmes was given command of the expedition; the landing force was divided into nine companies of a hundred men, each consisting of seventy musketeers and thirty pikemen and headed by a captain; Sir Phillip Howard would command an additional 120 volunteers, mostly noblemen who, due to their station, could not honourably serve under a commoner. Holmes kept some men apart for personal protection and thus speaks of eleven companies.
Holmes's orders were to put the main emphasis on plundering the islands. He himself was to land on Vlieland with a force of five hundred men; if possible a simultaneous attack by the remaining four hundred men under Sir William Jennings
William Jennings
William Jennings may refer to:*William Jennings , mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah, USA*William Dale Jennings, American author of The Cowboys, The Ronin, and The Sinking of the Sarah Diamond*William M...
should be carried out on Terschelling. Dutch shipping was but a secondary target: "You are to seize what vessels you finde in the Harbour, which you are to make use of in bringing away the Booty: what are not servicable you are to sink or Burn". The common people among the local population should be spared: "(...) that no violence be done to women or children, nor the inferior sort of people, unless in case of resistance (...)".
While the main fleet remained at anchor along the coast of Texel island, Holmes on 18 August (8 August Old Style) sailed towards the Vlie, being joined that day by the Fan Fan that had reconnoitred the channel and reported that a large merchant fleet was indeed present, estimated at fifty vessels. Because he was unable to immediately enter the Vlie anyway because of a contrary southeasterly wind, he sent a ketch to sound the Westerboomsgat, in that period the main Vlie channel, running from west to east towards the land head of Terschelling. Today the situation has changed considerably: the channel has shifted four miles to the southwest, eroding the north coast of Vlieland and causing Terschelling to grow in the same direction.
First day of the raid
Sea mark
A sea mark, also seamark and navigation mark, is a form of aid to navigation and pilotage aid which identifies the approximate position of a maritime channel, hazard and administrative area to allow boats, ships and seaplanes to navigate safely....
had not been removed; this had been ordered by the Admiralty of Amsterdam
Admiralty of Amsterdam
The Admiralty of Amsterdam was the largest of the five Dutch admiralties at the time of the Dutch Republic. The administration of the various Admiralties was strongly influenced by provincial interests...
but on the 18th the English were already so close that the official 'buoy man' had not dared to complete the job. Also the admiralty had some days before ordered all ships to return to the home port, at a penalty of six guilders per day, but almost none had complied; most ship-owners had explicitly given orders to stay, to be able to sail immediately at the end of the English blockade. As a result Holmes found a fleet of about 140 merchantmen or smaller vessels at anchor — by himself estimated at about 150 to 160 —, guarded by two frigates, the Adelaar and Tol. The crews of the ships were very confident of their ability to repulse an attack and many villagers from the islands had even brought their possessions aboard, assuming these to be more safe there than on land, where they expected the brunt of the English attack would be directed.
Indeed Holmes had been ordered to give priority to the shore installations on Vlieland. However, when his Tyger as first ship arrived at the Reede van Speckhoeck anchorage (Whalers' Moorage or Schelling Road), west of the Hobbesandt shoal, to his puzzlement he saw only a tiny village, Oost-Vlieland
Oost-Vlieland
Oost-Vlieland is a small — and the only —village on the island of Vlieland in the province Friesland of the Netherlands and has about 1150 citizens. It is situated on the east end of the island as its name indicates: Oost means "east" in Dutch....
, on this island and interrogation of some prisoners confirmed that no important buildings were present there. Meanwhile behind him the Garland and Dragon, with difficulty beating up the wind on a tacking course through the Westerboomsgat, had grounded; the Dragon would only be able to free herself by throwing eight of her cannon overboard and the beer supply. In these circumstances Holmes considered it unwise to commit his landing force, covered by only a handful of frigates, to an attack on what basically was an empty dune area, while expecting the enormous merchant fleet with thousands of sailors to remain passive to his south in the Vlieree (Vlie Road) while this was going on. Therefore he decided to attack this fleet first. According to some, Holmes was also specially inspired by the opportunity to damage the Dutch economy. He would later justify his initiative by claiming that he lacked the landing capacity to attack Vlieland because all ketches had grounded.
Holmes didn't dare to venture any further with his frigates — he was at his position almost enclosed by shoals — so, with the exception of the shallow-draughted Pembroke the assault was carried out around 13:00 by the five fireships, sailing somewhat to the north into the Robbegat channel, the entrance of the Vliestroom, where most of the merchant fleet stretched out from north to south over a distance of ten miles. Their success was complete. On their approach three large armed merchantmen, commanded to assist the guard ships, lost courage and fled. The first fireship managed to set the attacking Dutch frigate Adelaar alight, most of the Dutch crew drowning when their fleeing sloop
Sloop
A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....
capsized; when the next approached the Tol, the crew of the latter abandoned ship, rowing away in some sloops. This second fireship grounded however; seeing this the Dutch crew of a sloop turned; then the English fireship crew also entered a sloop, both sloops racing to be the first to reach the Tol. The English won and set the Dutch warship on fire. The other three fireships now attached themselves to an equal number of large Dutch merchantmen on the northern edge of the fleet and burnt them, causing a mass panic on the other vessels, the sailors of which mostly abandoned their ships, escaping to the south in the boats.
Seeing the confusion on the Dutch side, Holmes decided to immediately exploit this opportunity. Every available sloop — Dutch sources indicate a number of 22 — was manned with demolition teams of a dozen men each to set fire to any vessel they could reach, not wasting any time plundering. Soon even the Dutch ships of which the crews held firm, were surrounded by burning vessels and forced to leave their position. Fleeing ships entangled and became easy victims, as the southeasterly wind drove them towards their attackers. During the following hours one after another the ships became victim of the fire until the last remaining nine were saved when a large Guineaman and some armed ketches stood and fought and thus managed to protect some other vessels behind them in a cul-de-sac formed by the Inschot creek. The action ended around 20:00. About 130 ships were destroyed; according to Holmes himself, eleven ships in total escaped. Not all of these 130 were major vessels; the destruction of only 114 merchantmen and warships can be accounted for in the Dutch archives. Almost all sailors saved themselves; most rowing in sloops to Harlingen; some walking or wading over the Kracksant shoal to Vlieland. The English were not keen on taking many prisoners as — to their great embarrassment — they lacked the funds to even feed those they had taken in previous battles.
Meanwhile the civil militia of Vlieland, standing on its eastern land head, had at first deterred, assisted by a thunderstorm, any attempts by small English landing parties but, seeing the conflagration, they lost courage and fled with most of the population, some using small vessels, others walking towards Texel. On their way south they encountered two deputies of the States of Holland
States of Holland
The States of Holland and West Frisia were the representation of the two Estates to the court of the Count of Holland...
, Gerard Hasselaer and Baerding, who had been committed to supervise the fleet at the Texel and hearing of the English threat had travelled to the more northern island to investigate. They managed to encourage the men and reassemble a force on the land head and then returned to the Texel, promising to send a company of soldiers as reinforcement.
The smoke and flames were clearly visible to the English fleet before the Texel, twenty miles to the south, and interpreted as a sure sign that Holmes had succeeded in burning the warehouses. Accordingly Rupert and Albemarle sent him a congratulatory letter ordering his immediate retreat as the enemy had likely been alerted too.
Second day of the raid
West-Terschelling
West-Terschelling is a village on Terschelling in the province Friesland of the Netherlands and has about 2580 citizens.The town was burned by the English Navy in 1666, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War, in an event referred to as "Holmes's Bonfire"....
and which the English then knew as Brandaris
Brandaris
The Brandaris is a lighthouse on the Dutch Wadden Sea island Terschelling, in Friesland. The first Brandaris was built in 1323, but it was destroyed in 1570. The current tower was built in 1594 and is listed as a Rijksmonument, number 35032 and is rated with a very high historical value.-External...
after the tall mediaeval lighthouse
Lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....
of the same name, a very distinctive landmark. Terschelling was the main home base of the Dutch whaling
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
industry and there were warehouses, some connected to this trade, others belonging to the Dutch East India Company
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
. The town was wealthy, consisting of about 400 stone houses, but unwalled. Much of the population consisted of pacifist Mennonites, also many retired whalers had settled there.
At 05:00 AM on 20 August, Holmes ordered to attack the town, himself taking the lead in Fan-Fan. A few armed men opposed the landing with musket
Musket
A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smooth bore long gun, fired from the shoulder. Muskets were designed for use by infantry. A soldier armed with a musket had the designation musketman or musketeer....
fire but were soon scared away when six English companies came ashore — though Holmes's personal report gives the impression all of his troops were committed. Holmes left one company to guard the landing site and let the other five march in close formation to the edge of the town. Scouts, spreading out in all directions, soon reported the population had fled, some to more eastern villages, others on any vessel they could find; three companies now entered to plunder and burn the town, while Holmes with two hundred men remained on the outside to the south. Some very old inhabitants had not fled and were, according to the English accounts, treated with all possible respect.
At that moment a high tide
High Tide
High Tide was a band formed in 1969 by Tony Hill , Simon House , Peter Pavli and Roger Hadden .-History:...
occurred, which would greatly facilitate the exit of his frigates from the Vlie. Holmes therefore decided not to burn the eastern villages, to remove his troops from Terschelling, quickly execute a short landing at Vlieland in conformation with his original orders, and retreat before any Dutch counterattack could materialise. After the warehouses had been burnt and perceiving that the troops were more interested in looting than destroying the town, he ordered to set fire also to a few houses on the east side. This way he could force his men to stop plundering, preventing them from lingering too long and missing the favourable tide. It had been a very dry summer and within hours almost the entire town burnt down: only about thirty houses, the townhall, the Dutch Reformed church and the Brandaris lighthouse were spared by the flames. The English troops mostly retreated in good order; to urge them to greater haste Holmes even ordered to fire upon them. One ketch was left behind to pick up possible stragglers; late in the afternoon it indeed saw some men carrying loot; while the ketch sent a sloop, suddenly six (according to English sources; Dutch accounts speak of three) pursuing Schellingers appeared who beat one plunderer to death and took the other, severely wounded, prisoner, sending him to Harlingen. A third, belonging to the same group, had earlier been stabbed to death by them with a pitchfork
Pitchfork
A pitchfork is an agricultural tool with a long handle and long, thin, widely separated pointed tines used to lift and pitch loose material, such as hay, leaves, grapes, dung or other agricultural materials. Pitchforks typically have two or three tines...
.
When arriving on the Tyger Holmes learned that Rupert had ordered an immediate retreat, so he decided to forego a last attack on Vlieland; unknown to him the first Dutch reinforcements had already arrived preparing to place two gun batteries, so his decision prevented a contested landing. Accompanying the Dutch troops was the famous naval painter Willem van de Velde the Elder
Willem van de Velde the Elder
Willem van de Velde the Elder was a Dutch Golden Age seascape painter.-Biographical Outline:Willem van de Velde, known as the Elder, a marine draughtsman and painter, was born in Leiden, the son of a Flemish skipper, Willem Willemsz. van de Velde, and is commonly said to have been bred to the sea...
, who would make sketches of the site, that he and his son Willem van de Velde the Younger
Willem van de Velde the Younger
Willem van de Velde the Younger was a Dutch marine painter.-Biography:Willem van de Velde was baptised on 18 December 1633 in Leiden, Holland, Dutch Republic....
would develop into some dramatic paintings.
Aftermath
On 21 August (11 August Old Style), Holmes returned to the main fleet and could report, using Howard as messenger, to Monck that he had destroyed "about 150 ships", captured an old flyboatFlyboat
The flyboat was a European light vessel of between 70 to 200 tons, used in the late 16th and early 17th century; the name was subsequently applied to a number of disparate vessels.The name "flyboat" is derived from Dutch vlieboot, a boat with a shallow enough draught to be...
(with twelve cannon) at the south shore of Vlieland and had destroyed ter Schelling, all of this at a cost of half a dozen dead, an equal number wounded, and a single sloop — and despite being rather ill throughout the operation, perhaps from a malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
attack. A day earlier, James Hayes
James Hayes
James Hayes or Jim Hayes may refer to:* James Hayes , Prince Rupert's secretary and first Deputy Governor Hudson Bay Company* James Hayes James Hayes or Jim Hayes may refer to:* James Hayes (Prince Rupert's secretary) (1637–1694), Prince Rupert's secretary and first Deputy Governor Hudson Bay...
, using the Julian calendar
Julian calendar
The Julian calendar began in 45 BC as a reform of the Roman calendar by Julius Caesar. It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year .The Julian calendar has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months...
, had already written to England: "On the 9th, at noon, smoke was seen rising from several places in the island of Vlie, and the 10th brought news that Sir Robert had burned in the enemy's harbour 160 outward bound valuable merchantmen and three men-of-war, and taken a little pleasure boat and eight guns in four hours. The loss is computed at a million sterling, and will make great confusion when the people see themselves in the power of the English at their very doors. Sir Robert then landed his forces, and is burning the houses in Vlie and Schelling as bonfires for his good success at sea", thus being the first to use the word "bonfire" for this event, which soon became very common. Charles II of England
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
ordered bonfire
Bonfire
A bonfire is a controlled outdoor fire used for informal disposal of burnable waste material or as part of a celebration. Celebratory bonfires are typically designed to burn quickly and may be very large...
s to be lit in celebration of the victory, as was usual. A poem thus expressed the boisterous elation felt by the English, that their victory in the naval fight was so soon followed by this success:
- Where are those boasting boors, what are their names?
- That swore they blockt us up i'th River Thames
- Brave, were it done: I must confess the Hogan
- Was very willing, but wanted Mogan
- Our streets were thick with bonfires large and tall
- But Holmes one bonfire made, was worth'em all
- Well done Sir Robert, bravely done I swear,
- Whilst we made bonfires here, you made'em there
Much of the credit however, was given to Heemskerck.
After the defeat in the St James's Day Fight political tensions in the Dutch Republic
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...
had strongly increased, with the loyal servant of the States regime, Lieutenant-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter
Michiel de Ruyter
Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter is the most famous and one of the most skilled admirals in Dutch history. De Ruyter is most famous for his role in the Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 17th century. He fought the English and French and scored several major victories against them, the best known probably...
, accusing the champion of the rivaling Orangist faction, Lieutenant-Admiral Cornelis Tromp
Cornelis Tromp
Sir Cornelis Maartenszoon Tromp, 1st Baronet was a Dutch naval officer. He was the son of Lieutenant Admiral Maarten Tromp. He became Lieutenant Admiral General in the Dutch Navy and briefly Admiral General in the Danish Navy...
, to have abandoned the main body of the Dutch fleet to seek his personal glory. On 21 August the news of a second catastrophe at the Vlie caused rioting in Amsterdam, where the stock market collapsed; an angry Orangist mob tried to plunder the house of De Ruyter. Commentators in England predicted the fall of the leader of the States faction, Grand Pensionary
Grand Pensionary
The Grand Pensionary was the most important Dutch official during the time of the United Provinces. In theory he was only a civil servant of the Estates of the dominant province among the Seven United Provinces: the county of Holland...
Johan de Witt
Johan de Witt
Johan de Witt, heer van Zuid- en Noord-Linschoten, Snelrewaard, Hekendorp and IJsselveere was a key figure in Dutch politics in the mid 17th century, when its flourishing sea trade in a period of globalization made the United Provinces a leading European power during the Dutch Golden Age...
, expecting him to flee to France.
De Witt however, deftly exploited the situation to his advantage. Having arrested on 19 August the main English contact with the Orangists, Henri Buat
Henri de Fleury de Coulan
Henri de Fleury de Coulan, Sieur de Buat, St Sire et La Forest de Gay was a captain of horse in the army of the Dutch Republic, who became embroiled in a celebrated conspiracy during the First Stadtholderless Period to overthrow the regime of Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt in favor of future...
, he soon produced convincing evidence that the Orangists had collaborated with the enemy. The outrage this caused was then directed by him to the humanitarian aspects of the raid and away from the fact that a fleet worth two million guilders had been lost. In this he was aided by the reaction of the Dutch population to the destruction of Terschelling. Whereas in the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
and the Irish Sea
Irish Sea
The Irish Sea separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is connected to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel, and to the Atlantic Ocean in the north by the North Channel. Anglesey is the largest island within the Irish Sea, followed by the Isle of Man...
it would well into the 18th century remain common to raid villages of other nations, even in peacetime, the English and Dutch had gradually stopped attacking each other's coastal settlements around the middle of the 16th century, reaching a situation in the North Sea of what the Dutch liked to call 'good neighbourship' between Protestant brother nations. Everybody understood that in wartime soldiers would plunder, but laying waste to an entire town, as Holmes had done, was seen as a betrayal of mutual trust and thus caused a storm of indignation. Many pamphlets were written dedicated to the "Sack of ter Schelling", highlighting the presumed atrocities committed by the English. Such accusations had only a limited factual basis; the number of civilian casualties had been low. After the English had left, the operator of the northern fire beacon of Schelling was found slain and the remains of two invalid elderly women were discovered in the charred ruins of their houses; they had apparently been unable to escape the fire when it reached their homes. In some pamphlets these tragic facts were translated into a brutal massacre of the population, with English soldiers callously burning alive decrepit grandmothers. Charles's ordering of bonfires in these circumstances was condemned as a show of particularly poor taste.
Three weeks later, the Great Fire of London
Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall...
occurred. This led to a new wave of Dutch pamphlets and poems linking these events, often showing two engravings, the Destruction of ter Schelling at the left mirrored by that of London on the right. To the Dutch mind the connection was obvious: London had been destroyed as a Divine retribution, the Lord punishing Charles for having dared to rejoice at the calamity of his fellow Christians, "the sparks of the fire of Schelling crossing the sea, blown by the same easterly that would relentlessly burn London".
The English accounts of the raid that were published later that year did not make this connection. However, while self-congratulatory when covering the burning of the fleet, their tone turned apologetic as the destruction of ter Schelling was described. They emphasized how neat and well-laid out the town was and that it was burnt more by accident than intent, Holmes, according to them, not intending to terrorize the population. This reflected a changed mood in England. After the first feeling of satisfaction had subsided, a more sober analysis brought many to the conclusion that the raid had done the Dutch much harm, but the English little good. Although it was to be the largest single loss of shipping ever to be afflicted to the Dutch merchant fleet, 130 ships represented only a minor fraction of the total number of merchantmen, so the blow was hardly fatal. Nothing constructive had been accomplished; no major prizes taken, nor goods, no permanent base established on the islands. The destruction of ter Schelling was seen as a foolish act that could lead to a dangerous escalation. Nobody relished the prospect of the Dutch taking revenge on the largely defenceless towns of the English east coast.
Religious denomination
A religious denomination is a subgroup within a religion that operates under a common name, tradition, and identity.The term describes various Christian denominations...
tried to outdo each other in the amount of money given, soon enough funds were available to shelter the poor for the coming winter and make a start with rebuilding the town. The Great Fire of London brought most to the conclusion that God had already avenged the destruction of ter Schelling, so no special retaliation on English coastal towns was necessary. However, when the following year Charles deliberately procrastinated the peace talks held in Breda
Breda
Breda is a municipality and a city in the southern part of the Netherlands. The name Breda derived from brede Aa and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. As a fortified city, the city was of strategic military and political significance...
, De Witt used the lingering resentment caused by Holmes's Bonfire to convince the States of Holland
States of Holland
The States of Holland and West Frisia were the representation of the two Estates to the court of the Count of Holland...
that it was justified to end the war by a devastating raid on Chatham Dockyard
Chatham Dockyard
Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...
where the larger vessels of the English fleet were laid up. During this Raid on the Medway
Raid on the Medway
The Raid on the Medway, sometimes called the Battle of the Medway, Raid on Chatham or the Battle of Chatham, was a successful Dutch attack on the largest English naval ships, laid up in the dockyards of their main naval base Chatham, that took place in June 1667 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War...
the Dutch marines had strict orders not to plunder or destroy any civilian property, in order to shame the English. That at least some of the English understood this, is shown by Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
' diary entry of 30 June 1667: "It seems very remarkable to me, and of great honour to the Dutch, that those of them that did go on shore to Gillingham, though they went in fear of their lives, and were some of them killed; and, notwithstanding their provocation at Schelling, yet killed none of our people nor plundered their houses, but did take some things of easy carriage, and left the rest, and not a house burned; and, which is to our eternal disgrace, that what my Lord Douglas's men, who come after them, found there, they plundered and took all away".
When after the successful raid it seemed that Charles was still trying to prolong the talks, De Witt suggested some "light spoiling" to be carried out on the English east coast, but Lieutenant-Admiral De Ruyter protested vehemently against such a change of policy after which the Grand Pensionary had to admit such actions would be "counterproductive and even somewhat unchristian".
In later Dutch accounts of the raid the burning of ter Schelling would be much emphasized. It was kept alive in memory by a famous legend, that of the Stryper Wyfke, the "Little Wife of Stryp". According to the, probably apocryphal, story, those people having escaped massacre by fleeing to the east side of the island were saved from the encroaching English troops by an old crone near the hamlet of Stryp, where an ancient abandoned graveyard laid on a dune. Peering through the fog, some soldiers mistook the standing headstones for a line of Dutch troops and asked the old woman how many there were. She answered, in some versions of the legend in order to deceive, in others through a misunderstanding of the question: "Hundreds of them are standing, but thousands are lying" — referring to the buried corpses — after which the English would have become so frightened that they abandoned their approach. Many accounts of English naval historians however, only mention the burning of the fleet, glossing over the destruction of the town.
Today, the legend of the Stryper Wyfke is commemorated by a bronze statue west of Midsland
Midsland
Midsland is a village on Terschelling in the province Friesland of the Netherlands and has around the 870 citizens.Near the village a statue was placed in 1982 commemorating Het Stryper Wyfke, an old crone who deceived English troops and saved the island's civilian population during Holmes's...
that shows her pointing to the graveyard, facing an easterly breeze.