CHARLES I. : THE NAVY 267 



forced them to take shelter at the Isle of Wight ; thereafter 

 they sailed for Portland, having received intelligence that a 

 French squadron of fourteen sail and a Dutch one of the same 

 number were there, each flying its national flag. 



At a council held on board the Admiral's ship, it was resolved 

 that if the Dutch struck when they came up with them and 

 the French did not, a message was to be sent to the Dutch 

 Admiral "that we did not expect to see the friends of the 

 king our master in company of them that do affront 

 him, therefore we desire them, like friends, to stand by and 

 see the sport." But there was no "sport," for when the 

 English fleet got to Portland on 20th June, the allies had 

 gone ; " the same wind," wrote Lindsey, " which brought me 

 thither carried them out to sea" the day before. Learning 

 from the Mayor of Dartmouth that a fleet of fifty-six sail had 

 been seen off Falmouth on the 19th, the fleet went off west- 

 wards, calling at Plymouth, where it stayed for a few days. 

 On one occasion they thought they had come up with their 

 quarry. They espied a great number of ships at a distance, 

 dimly visible in the morning mist, which made them " provide 

 their guns " and get ready for action. But they turned out 

 to be only peaceful salt - ships from Rochelle. Despatches 

 were sent to the Court from Plymouth on 23rd June, in which 

 Lindsey stated he was going on to Land's End, "and so to 

 make a short return from thence." He also defended himself 

 from complaints that seem to have been made against him 

 from Dunkirk, apparently owing to his seizure of the prize for 

 the Fishery Society. He told Windebank that two or three 

 more Dunkirk men had been brought to him who had taken 

 prizes from the French, but that he had dismissed them 

 without meddling with their prizes. And then he added 

 what must have been unpleasant reading to Charles that the 

 king's instructions had bound him to carry an equal hand 

 between the subjects of his allies, and from that " compass " 

 he would not vary. He would perform as friendly offices to 

 the Dunkirkers as to either the French or the Hollander. 



Neither the impartial sentiments of the Admiral nor his 

 proceedings were approved at Court, where the king was getting 

 impatient. The summer was passing, and the opportunity of 

 forcing a conflict was passing with it. He soon learned how 



