400 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



have it discussed in the negotiations in London. But if t 

 Dutch had no clear idea as to what they were to do abo 

 the flag on meeting the English fleet, the English commande 

 had no doubt about their own line of action. Their instructio: 

 were explicit. They were, by force if necessary, to com 

 the ships of all nations to this acknowledgment of Englan 

 sovereignty of the sea. 



Tromp proceeded to his cruising station off the coast o: 

 Flanders, between Dunkirk and Nieuport, and while riding 

 at anchor there a strong north-east gale set in, which damaged 

 some of his vessels, and on the evening of the 18th May he 

 crossed over to the English coast for shelter and repairs. 

 At this time Bourne was lying in the Downs with eight 

 Parliamentary ships, and Tromp sent two of his captains to 

 him to explain the accidental cause of his coming, the ships 

 conveying them saluting Bourne's flag. One of the officers, 

 according to Bourne's account, said that Tromp himself 

 would have gone into the Downs "but that he was not 

 willing to breed any difference about his flag, forasmuch 

 as he had not orders to take it down " ; to which Bourne 

 replied that he "presumed there would be no new thing 

 required of them, and neither more nor less would be ex- 

 pected from them but what they knew to be the ancient 

 right of this nation " ; and he added that the reality of the 

 explanation given for their presence "would best appear 

 their speedy drawing off from this place." l According t 

 Tromp's account of the interview, Bourne merely thanke< 

 him courteously for the message. 2 



At all events, the Dutch fleet passed along the Englia 

 coast in all its bravery, the admiral's ship with his flag on th 

 main-top-mast head, the rest with "jacks and ancients" flying 

 and about seven in the evening they cast anchor oft' Dover, 

 within little more than gunshot of the castle. Here they 

 remained till the following afternoon with all their flags dii 



1 Bourne's letter in The Answer of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of 

 land to three Papers delivered to the Council of State by the Lords Ambassadors 

 Extraordinary of the States- General of the United Provinces : and also a Narrative 



517 k 15 

 of the Late Engagement, &c., Brit. Mus., '-^ ' p. 12. 



2 Letter to States-General, May 30. Hdlantschc Mercurius, May 1652. Tht 

 Answer of the Parliament. Geddes, 209. Tideman, 130. 



