English Captain: Nicholas Foster

Nicholas Foster (or Forster) served in the Commonwealth navy. In 1653, he commanded the hired merchantman Golden Fleece (44 guns). He fought in the Battle of the Gabbard, where he was assigned to the General's division. He very likely fought at the Battle of Scheveningen, as well. From 1653 to 1655, he commanded the 4th Rate Phoenix. In Vol. I of The First Dutch War, Richard Gibson described meeting Nicholas Foster in Plymouth, in 1659. Nicholas Foster described his taking a Dutch merchant ship in March 1654, and talking with him. Nicholas Foster knew Dutch and had served in the Dutch service in the East Indies. He regretted that England and the Netherlands had gone to war. In December 1653, he had gone to Göteborg, under the command of Christopher Myngs, to deliver the English ambassador. Sources:

1. R. C. Anderson, "English Fleet-Lists in the First Dutch War," The Mariner's Mirror, Vol.XXIV No.4, October 1938.

2. R. C. Anderson, List of English Naval Captains 1642-1660, 1964.

3. C. T. Atkinson, Ed., The First Dutch War, Vol. VI, 1930.

4. William Laird Clowes, The Royal Navy: A History from the Earliest Times to the Present, Vol.II, 1898.

5. Dr. S.R. Gardiner, Ed., The First Dutch War, Vol.I, 1898.