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.

Second Day

On the morning of the 5th Tromp broke off pursuit, well pleased with his first real victory as a squadron commander. During the night a ship had brought him the message that De Ruyter had likewise been victorious, so Tromp was in an euphoric mood. That abruptly changed upon the discovery of the drifting flagship of the dying Tjerk Hiddes. Suddenly he feared that his was now the only remnant of the Dutch fleet and he was in mortal peril. Behind him those ships of the British rear still operational had again turned to the east. In front the other enemy squadrons surely awaited him. On the horizon only English flags were to be seen. Manoeuvring wildly, Tromp, drinking a lot of gin to restore his nerve, dodged any attempt to trap him and brought his squadron safely home in the port of Flushing on the morning of the 6th. There, to great mutual relief, he discovered the rest of the Dutch fleet.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It took Tromp six hours to gather enough courage to face De Ruyter. It was obvious to him that he should never have allowed himself to get completely separated from the main force. Indeed De Ruyter, not being his usual charitable self, immediately blamed him for the defeat and ordered him from his sight, never again to return. The commander of the Dutch fleet still hadn't mentally recovered from the events of the previous day.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After a short summer's night, De Ruyter on the morning of the 5th discovered that his position had become hopeless. Lieutenant-Admiral Johan Evertsen had died after losing a leg. De Ruyter's force was now reduced to about forty ships, crowding together. Most of these were inoperational, survivors of the van. Some fifteen good ships had apparently deserted during the night. A strong gale from the east prevented an easy retreat to the continental coast. To the west the British van and centre (about fifty ships) surrounded him in a half-circle, safely bombarding him from a leeward position.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

De Ruyter was desperate. When his second-in-command of the centre, Vice-Admiral Aert Janssen van Nes visited him for a council of war, he exclaimed "With seven or eight against the mass!" He then sagged, mumbling: "What's wrong with us? I wish I were dead." His close personal friend Van Nes tried to cheer him up, joking: "Me too. But you never die when you want to!" No sooner had both men left the cabin, the table they had been sitting at was smashed by a cannon ball.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The British however had their problems too. The strong gale prevented them from closing with the Dutch. They tried to use fire ships, but these too had trouble reaching the enemy. Only the sloop Fan-Fan, Rupert's personal pleasure yacht, rowed to the Dutch flagship De Zeven Provinciën to harass it with its two little guns, much to the hilarious laughter of the British crews.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When his ship had again warded off an attack by a fire ship (the Land of Promise) and Tromp still didn't show up, for De Ruyter tension became unbearable. He sought death exposing himself deliberately on the deck. When he failed to be hit, he exclaimed: "O, God, how infortunate I am: among so many thousands of cannon balls, is there not one that would take me?" His son-in-law, Captain of the Marines Johann de Witte, heard him and said: "Father, what desperate words! If you merely want to die, let us then turn, sail in the midst of our enemies and fight ourselves to death!". This brave but foolish proposal brought the Admiral back to his senses, for he discovered that he wasn't as desperate as all that and answered: "You don't know what you are talking about! If I did that, all would be lost. But if I can bring myself and these ships safely home, we'll finish the job later."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Then the wind that in this battle had brought so much misfortune to the Dutch saved them by turning to the west. They formed a line of battle and brought their fleet to safety through the Flemish shoals, Vice-Admiral Adriaen Banckert of the Zealandic fleet covering the retreat of all damaged ships with the operational vessels, the number of the latter slowly growing as it turned out that very few ships had actually deserted in the night: most had merely drifted away and now one after the other rejoined the battle.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~