1653.] THIRD DAY'S BATTLE. 401 Accordingly, on the third day, Tromp drew up his fleet in the form of a half-moon or semicircle; and, as a hen covers her chickens with her wings, the Dutch admiral put his convoy of 200 merchantmen richly laden in the middle-that is, within the semicircle composed of his men-of-war, his own ship occupying the post of danger and honour; for his own ship formed to windward the extreme point of the semicircle, and the rest of his fleet extended on each side to form the segments of the semicircle which covered the convoy. In this order he retreated with the wind astern, firing to the right and left on all the English ships that approached to insult his wings. Tromp continued to fight till night, which gave him time to renew his order of retreat; and Hoste says, that though pursued the following day by the English, he entered his ports "with the glory of having, by his valour and skill, preserved for his country a rich convoy which was on the point of becoming a prey of the enemy." How far this last statement is correct, may be judged by the despatch of the English admirals, which thus proceeds : "On the 20th, about nine in the morning, we fell close in with them, with some fine great ships, and all the frigates of strength, though very many could not come up that day. And seeing their men-of-war somewhat weakened, we sent smaller frigates, and ships of less force, that could get up amongst the merchantmen, which put their whole body to a very great trouble, so that many of them and their men-of-war began to break off from their main body; and towards evening we pressed so hard upon them, that they turned their merchantmen out of their fleet upon us (as is conceived), for a bait; but we gave strict order, that none of our ships that could get up to their men-of war, and had force, should meddle with any merchantmen, but leave them to the rear. We continued still fighting with them until the dusk of the evening, by which time we were some three-and-a-half leagues off Blackness,' in France (four leagues W. from Calais), the wind at N.W.; we steering directly for the point of land, having the wind of the Dutch fleet. So that if it had pleased the Lord, in His wise providence, who sets bounds to the sea, and overrules the ways and actions of men, that it had been but three hours longer to-night, we had probably made an interposition between them and home; whereby they might have been obliged to have made their way through us with their men-of-war, which at this time were not thirty-five, as we could count-the rest being destroyed or dispersed. The merchantmen, also, must have been necessitated to have run ashore, or fallen into our hands; which, as we conceive, the Dutch admiral being sensible of, just as it was dark, bore directly in upon the shore, where, it is supposed, he anchored; the tide of ebb being then come, which was a leewardly tide. We consulted with our pilots, and men knowing those coasts, what it was possible for the enemy to do? Whose opinions were, that he could not weather the French shore, as the tide and wind then was, to get home; and that we must likewise anchor, or we could not be able to carry it about the flats of the Somme; whereupon we anchored, Blackness being N.E. and by E., three leagues from us. "This night being very dark, and blowing hard, the Dutch got away from us; so that, in the morning of the 21st, we could not discover one ship more than our own, which were betwixt forty and fifty, the rest being scattered, 1 Cap Gris Nez, opposite to Dungeness. 165.] RESULTS OF THE BATTLE OF PORTLAND. 403 and as many prizes as made up sixty in all. We spent all this night and day, while [till] twelve o'clock, in fitting of our ships, masts, and sails, for we were not capable to stir till they were repaired; at which time, being a windward tide, and the Dutch fleet gone, we weighed and stood over to the English shore, fearing to stay longer upon the coast, being a lee-shore." The despatch thus concludes: "Thus you see how it hath pleased the Lord to deal with us, poor unworthy instruments, employed in this late transaction; wherein He hath delivered into our hands some seventeen or eighteen of their ships of war, which have been by your fleet (without the loss of any one ship save the Sampson) taken and destroyed; besides merchantmen, whose numbers we know not, they being scattered to several ports. "We have many men wounded, and divers, both of honesty and worth, slain. "P.S.-Several of the Dutch are driven ashore in France, one without any men at all in her." 1 In this Battle of Portland, Blake himself was wounded, some accounts say severely, others slightly. Lord Leicester in his Journal says, "General Blake was hurt in the thigh with a crossbow-shot." 2 Another cotemporary account says, "General Blake was slightly wounded in the neck at Portland fight." Lord Leicester says, "Van 3 Blake, Deane, and Monk to the Speaker, aboard the Triumph in Stokes Bay, February 27, 165, in Old Parl. Hist. vol. xx. p. 116 et seq. 2 Sydney Papers, edited by R. W. Blencowe, p. 139: London, 1825. Granville Penn, vol. ii. p. 615, Appendix M. Tromp got home into Holland with some of his men-ofwar, leaving all his merchants which he was to convoy, many whereof fell daily into the hands of the English. 1 It is said the Hollanders lost 4,000 men, the English not above 400." But the loss on both sides was probably much greater than this. In another letter the General of the fleet says, "The loss on our side is greater than was expected, for we have lost many precious commanders, besides many wounded-some having lost their legs, and others their arms." Among the slain were Captains Ball, Mildmay, and Barker, "with our secretary Mr. Sparrow, whose deaths are much lamented." " On the 24th of February, the Council of State ordered a letter of thanks to be written to the Generals of the fleet.3 Whatever was the nature or severity of Blake's wound, it would appear that soon after the battle he was suffering from an illness which alarmed the Council of State; for on Sunday, the 6th of March, the Order Book contains the following minute, which is the only minute made on that day. The minute is headed, "Lord's Day, 6th March, 165," and is as follows: "Whereas it is just now signified to the Council, that General Blake is fallen very ill at Portsmouth, It is ordered that Colonel Walton and Mr. Scot be desired to speak with Dr. Pridean and Dr. Bates; and to desire them, in the name of the Council, to take a journey to Portsmouth to contribute their advice and assistance for the restoring of him to health again, if the Lord please; and to desire them to go away this night, to which end the Council have given order for a coach Sydney Papers, p. 139: London, 480, 481. 1825. 2 King's Pamphlets, No. 555, Brit. Mus. Granville Penn, vol. i. pp. 479, Order Book of the Council of State, Thursday, February 24, 165, MS. State Paper Office. 165.] EFFECT OF THE GREAT BATTLE. 405 and six horses to be made ready, and a messenger to attend them for defraying the charge of their journey." On Monday, the 14th of March, there is the following order relating to the same matter: "That fifty pounds apiece be paid, out of the exigent moneys of the Council, to Dr. Pridean and Dr. Bates, in consideration of their pains in their journey to visit General Blake at Portsmouth, by the order and at the desire of the Council." 2 On Wednesday the 16th of March, the Council made the following order, with a view to remedy the want of men to man the fleet, arising from the "great number of private men-of-war," to which Blake had called their attention in his despatch of December 1, 1652, quoted in a former page : "That a letter be written to the Generals of the fleet, to let them know that the Council have put a stop to the granting of any more commissions for private men-of-war, unless they shall be certified of the supply of the fleet with men; and do give power unto them, for the speedy manning of the fleet, to take men out of the private menof-war as they shall meet with them, and as they shall find they shall stand in need of them." 3 To enable the reader to judge of the effect of this great battle at the time, I will quote a passage from a cotemporary Dutch writer, whose efforts to prove that the Hollanders "had not much less right to pretend to the victory than their enemies," only confirm the truth of the English claim to the victory :-"The success of this battle made so great a noise at London, that they made no difficulty to publish abroad that Tromp, Evertz, and De Ruyter were totally routed, and that 100 merchant-ships, 1 Order Book of the Council of State, Lord's Day, March 6, 165, MS. State Paper Office. Ibid. Monday, March 14, 165. |