Four Days Battle

The Four Days Battle was a naval battle of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Fought from June 1 to June 4, 1666 off the Flemish and English coast, it remains one of the longest naval engagements in history.

Second Day

On the morning of the second day Monck decided to destroy the Dutch by a direct attack and sailed to them from the southwest; but De Ruyter crossed his line sailing to the southeast, heavily damaging the British fleet and gaining the weather gauge. HMS Anne, HMS Bristol and HMS Baltimore had to return to the Thames. After a calm used for repairs he turned to attack the British from the south. Just when he approached the enemy line he noticed to his dismay that the rear squadron under Tromp had got separated and now was positioned to the other side of the British line busy at giving the Dutch rear its belly full. Often this is explained by assuming Tromp hadn't followed orders, but although he is indeed infamous for his usual insubordination, this time he simply hadn't seen the sign flags and the look-out of the centre mistakenly reported a confirmation sign. De Ruyter then broke through the enemy line, secured all rear squadron ships except the burnt Liefde and the sinking Spieghel on which Vice-Admiral Abraham van der Hulst had just been killed by a shot in the breast and returned to his main force by again breaking through, noticing smugly that the second time the British ships at once gave way.

Related Topics:
Weather gauge - Abraham van der Hulst

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Tromp, switching to his fourth ship already, then visited De Ruyter to thank him for the rescue. Both men were in a dark mood. Rear-Admiral Frederick Stachouwer had also been killed. The previous day the damaged Hollandia had been sent home together with the Gelderland, Delft, Reiger, Asperen and Beschermer to guard the three captured English vessels; now also the damaged Pacificatie, Vrijheid, Provincie Utrecht and Calantsoog had to return and only a handful of the rear squadron remained. Besides, the enemy had again gained the weather gauge, the dangers of which became immediately clear as George Ayscue, seeing the two Admirals together in a vulnerable position, tried to isolate them; with great difficulty they managed to return to their main force.

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Both fleets now passed three times in opposite tack; on the second pass De Zeven Provinciën got damaged and De Ruyter retreated from the fight to repair his ship. Later some historians would accuse him of cowardice, but he had strict detailed written orders from the States-General to act exactly so, to prevent a repeat of the events of the Battle of Lowestoft when the loss of the supreme commander had wrecked the Dutch command structure. Vice-Admiral Aert Janssen van Nes led the third pass.

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As the Dutch were in a leeward position their guns had a superior range and some British ships now took dreadful damage. HMS Loyal Subject turned for the home port and had to be written off on arrival. HMS Black Eagle (the former Groningen) raised the distress flag but simply disintegrated before any ships could assist.

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Then, at three in the afternoon, a Dutch flotilla of twelve ships appeared on the horizon. Monck was shocked, not because the event was totally unexpected but because his worst fear seemed to come true. The British had learned from their excellent intelligence network that the Dutch planned to keep a strong fourth squadron behind as a tactical reserve. Surely these new ships must be the avantguard of a fresh force. Monck ordered to check for the number of operational British ships. When only 29 ships reported to have any fight left in them, and Rupert was still nowhere to be seen, he decided to withdraw. In fact De Ruyter had just before the battle been convinced by the other admirals to use only three squadrons. Monck had never noticed that the Rainbow had disappeared - indeed he couldn't understand where Berkeley had gone either. The dozen ships were those of Tromp's squadron giving chase and now rejoining the fight after the intended prey had escaped to Ostend. The entire British fleet tacked to the southwest at four. The straggling St Paul (the former Sint Paulus) was captured in the evening.

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