THE DUTCH WAR 



As a result of this victory England was able to maintain a rigid commer- 

 cial blockade of Holland. 



Subsequent Operations. 



This blockade of the Dutch coast meant more to Holland than any 

 action. Blake was ill and Monck was in command of the fleet with 

 Penn as his colleague and Lawson and Badiley of Mediterranean fame 

 as his subordinates. Peace negotiations were again proposed but they 

 came to nothing, and in the middle of 1653 Tromp slipped out of the 

 Maas with a fleet intending to join another fleet from the Texel, under 

 De With. There was a partial action fought off Katwijk without any 

 decisive result, but drawing the British blockading fleet away and letting 

 De With slip out. The two Dutch fleets joined off Scheveningen and 

 once again there was a ding-dong battle. But it was a disastrous one 

 for the Dutch, for Tromp was killed by a chance musket ball on his 

 quarter-deck in very much the same fashion that Nelson died at 

 Trafalgar. It was decided to keep his flag flying and to hide the 

 catastrophe, but the Dutch were beaten and after sustaining very heavy 

 losses retired in disorder. The English casualties were heavy, includ- 

 ing a number of captains, but the enemy lost something like twenty 

 ships and a huge number of men. 



Tromp. 



Martin Harpertszoon Tromp was undoubtedly one of the greatest 

 seamen of his age. He was born in 1597 and had salt water in his 

 blood, for he went to sea in his father's ship before he was ten and was 

 in action almost at once. His genius and outspokenness were often 

 against him and in 1629 the Dutch Admiralty suspended him for putting 

 forward suggestions for the reformation of naval administration and 

 discipline. In an emergency, however, they were glad enough to have 

 him back and he soon made himself the terror of Holland's enemies. 

 He and Blake were worthy foemen but the curious thing is that they 

 had a very strong personal regard and even friendship for one another, 

 and while they fought hard they remained on terms of the utmost 

 courtesy. His death in action by a chance bullet was a disaster to 

 Holland, for his men worshipped him and would follow him anywhere, 

 while in addition he had something of the genius of a Nelson and never 

 lost his head either in victory or defeat. 



The End of the War. 



Scheveningen was the last of the fleet actions of the First Dutch 

 War, but there were a number of minor fights, mostly single ship duels 

 which make interesting reading. The Dutch contrived to get a number 

 of convoys both in and out, but their main fleet was practically destroyed 

 in a gale off the Texel and they were never in a position to meet us at 

 sea. Blockading work cost us a lot of ships by stranding on the out- 

 lying Dutch islands and shallows, and at the end of 1653 we very nearly 

 lost the Phosnix which attempted to tackle a powerful Dutch fleet of 

 armed merchantmen from the Baltic. Peace was finally concluded on 



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