Witte de With on 8 and 9 October 1652

Witte de With wrote that the wind on 8 October 1652 was from the west-southwest. A galjoot joined inthe morning. The commandeur, Frans Denich, had been sent with dispatches. When he saw that he would be boarded by the English, he threw them overboard. He pretended to be a Hamburger and was let go. The weather had been rough, so the fleet was scattered, as some of the ships had dragged their anchors. They saw the English fleet, commanded by Robert Blake, at noon. The English had 73 ships. The Dutch tried to concentrate their ships. A feature of Witte de With's journals is that he recorded the direction of the sun. The sun was to the southwest by south, and the fleet was concentrated, except for the Prins Willem and the Louise Hendrika, both East Indiamen from the Middelburg Chamber of the VOC. We believe that Witte de With saw that the two great ships were present, and he wanted to be on board a larger ship than the 120ft Prinses Louise (36 guns). He wanted to be on his favorite ship, the Brederode (54 guns), but Tromp's people would not let him aboard. He settled for the 170ft Prins Willem (40 guns), which turned out to be a horrendous sailer. Witte de With and the Prins Willem were in the center of the Dutch fleet. The fleets closed and because the Prins Willem was the closest Dutch ship (they were not in a line), the ship quickly accumulated sail, rigging, and spar damage. Michiel De Ruyter was in the Louise Hendrika, and his ship was also quickly disabled. To Witte de With's chagrin, the ships behind him fired through the Prins Willem ("which, in my opinion, is a great brutality and outrage"). The fleets separated in the night. The Dutch let their ships drift with sails furled all night, as they were to the leeward of the English. In the morning, with the English two miles to the windward, the Dutch held a council of war. Witte de With complained about captains not doing their duty in the battle. With the advice of De Ruyter and Cornelis Evertsen de Oude, they decided that it would be a mistake to close the English in a situation where the wind was very light to calm. The Dutch were now to the windward of the English, beyond range of their guns. Late on the 9th, as the Dutch sailed towards home, several fast English ships fired a few rounds at the rear Dutch ships. This is based on the account in Witte de With's journal, as translated and quoted in The First Dutch War, Vol.II.