St. James's Day Battle

The naval St James' Day Battle (also known as the St James's Day Fight, the Battle of the North Foreland and the Battle of Orfordness) took place on 4-5 August 1666 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War and was fought between fleets of England and the United Provinces commanded by Admiral Michiel de Ruyter. (4 August was 25 July—St James' day in the Julian calendar then in use in England). In The Netherlands the battle is known as the Two Days Battle.

First Day

In the early morning of the 4th the Dutch fleet of 88 ships discovered near North Foreland the British of 89 ships sailing to the north and pursued it from the southeast, in a leeward position as the wind blew from the northwest. Suddenly the wind turned to the northeast. The commander of the British fleet, Prince Rupert of the Rhine, then turned sharply east to regain the weather gauge; and De Ruyter followed to keep it. This proved to be a fatal manoeuvre for the Dutch. They now sailed right into the core of a high pressure area. The Dutch van, commanded by Lieutenant-Admiral Johan Evertsen, lost all speed and couldn't maintain a line of battle. This awkward situation lasted for hours; then again a soft breeze began to blow from the northeast. Immediately the British van commanded by Thomas Allin and part of the centre formed a line of battle and sailed right to the Dutch van, still in disarray and basically defenseless. Ship after ship of the Frisian fleet was mauled by the combined fire power of the British line. Vice-Admiral Rudolf Coenders was killed. Lieutenant-Admiral Tjerk Hiddes de Vries had an arm and a leg shot off, yet still tried to bring cohesion to his force — but to no avail. Unable to reach them with his centre, the horrified De Ruyter saw the Frisian ships drifting to the south, now no more than floating wrecks full of dead, the moans of the dying clearly audible above the other sounds of battle.

Related Topics:
Prince Rupert of the Rhine - Weather gauge - Johan Evertsen - Thomas Allin - Rudolf Coenders - Tjerk Hiddes de Vries

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Now Rupert combined his full van and centre to deliver the coup-de-grâce to the Dutch centre. George Monck, accompanying Rupert, predicted that De Ruyter would give two broadsides and run, but the latter put up a furious fight on the Dutch flagship De Zeven Provinciën. He withstood a combined attack by HMS Sovereign of the Seas and HMS Royal Charles and forced Rupert to leave the damaged Charles for HMS Royal James. This way he covered the retreat of the Dutch van.

Related Topics:
George Monck - De Zeven Provinciën - HMS Sovereign of the Seas - HMS Royal Charles - HMS Royal James

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Meanwhile Lieutenant-Admiral Cornelis Tromp, commanding the Dutch rear, had from a great distance seen the sad events evolve. Annoyed by the lack of competence shown, he decided to give the correct example. He turned sharply to the west, crossed the line of the British rear, commanded by Jeremy Smith, separating it from the rest of the English fleet and then, having the weather gauge, kept on attacking it rabidly until at last the British were routed and fled to the west. He pursued well into the night, destroying HMS Resolution with a fireship. After Tromp three times shot the entire crew from its rigging, Smith's flagship HMS Loyal London had to be towed home. Subcommander of the British rear was Edward Spragge, who felt so humiliated by the course of events, he became a personal enemy of Tromp, dying himself while trying to kill his foe in the Battle of Texel.

Related Topics:
Cornelis Tromp - Jeremy Smith - HMS Resolution - Fireship - HMS Loyal London - Edward Spragge - Battle of Texel

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