32 



THE SEA. 



hastily prepared at various points. After committing- all the damage that he could in the 

 Thames, De Ruyter sailed for Portsmouth, intending- to cause similar havoc, but finding 

 the fleet well prepared, he passed down the Channel and captured several vessels at 

 Torbay. Thence turning back, he hovered about hither and thither, keeping the coast in 

 continual alarm until the treaty of peace was signed in the following summer. By its 

 provisions each nation retained the goods and prizes it had captured, while all ships of war 

 and merchant vessels belonging: to the United Provinces meeting our men-of-war in British 



L) KUYTEK OX THE MEDWAY. 



waters, were required to " strike the flag and lower the sail as had been formerly practised/' 

 From this date the merchant navy of England steadily increased, and London became that 

 which Amsterdam had been, the mart of nations, the chief emporium of the commercial world. 

 In spite of De Ruyter, England had therefore greatly gained by this war. 



And now France sought to pluck from England the laurels she had won from the 

 Dutch. Her naval force had become formidable, and augrAted by privateers, played 

 havoc with our merchant vessels. By the destruction or captufe of nearly the whole of 

 our Smyrna fleet, with two English ships of war convoying them, and other captures, it 

 was estimated that the loss to England was a million sterling. But May 12ih, 1692, 

 brought its revenge. On that day the memorable battle of La Hogue was fought, and 

 the French lost nearly the whole of their navy to us. 



