Part 32 (2/2)
Sandwich, getting mixed up with the Dutch, cut their fleet in two and a general _melee_ ensued. In the Dutch centre the Junior Admiral was killed, and his crew, in a panic, carried their s.h.i.+p out of action.
Twelve or thirteen other vessels imitated this ungallant conduct, and when,--after a desperate encounter with the Royal Charles,--Opdam's s.h.i.+p blew up, the fate of the battle was decided. Evertsen and Tromp, each believing the other killed, both took command and issued contrary orders. Three or four of their vessels ran foul of one another, and were burnt by an English fire-s.h.i.+p; by 7 p.m. the whole Dutch fleet had begun a disorderly retreat.[18]
The Dutch losses had been very heavy, those of the English comparatively slight; but the English fire-s.h.i.+ps were expended, and the wind blew hard for the coast of Holland, which made a too vigorous pursuit of the flying foe dangerous. Nevertheless, the Duke of York ordered the chase to be continued, and retired to rest. Sir William Penn, who was on board the ”Royal Charles” as first Captain of the fleet, also went to sleep, leaving the s.h.i.+p in the charge of Captain Harman. During the night one of the Duke's gentlemen, Brouncker, came and urged Harman to slacken sail, in consideration of the danger to which the Duke was exposed. This, Harman refused to do; but when Brouncker returned later, with an order purporting to come from James himself, he reluctantly yielded. Next morning the enemy was out of sight, and James expressed both {309} surprise and displeasure at the discovery, denying that he had ever ordered the chase to be given up.
The affair was hotly discussed, and Bishop Burnet plainly implies that the Duke had used this cowardly device to save both his person and his reputation.[19] But James was no coward, and it is exceedingly unlikely that he would have stooped to such a trick. Rupert and Albemarle, who hated Penn, would fain have blamed him as ”a cowardly rogue who brought all the roguish fanatic captains into the fleet.”[20]
But Penn declared that he had been in bed at the time, and knew nothing about the matter. The statement elicited from Brouncker, in a Parliamentary inquiry, that he had acted on his own responsibility, out of anxiety for the Duke's safety, was probably the real truth.
Rupert, though in an extremely weak state of health, had shown his usual courage and energy in the action. The official reports did not give satisfaction to his admirers. ”Not a word is said of Prince Rupert, though the seamen say that none excelled him in valour and success,” they complained.[21] The Prince himself wrote cheerfully to Arlington, though, as his letter confesses, he was again on the sick-list. ”My greatest joy is to have ben so happie as to have bin a small instrument in this last encounter, to chastise so high an insolency as that of the Dutch. I hope, with his Majesty's good liking, to continue so, till they be brought to their duty; which work will be very easy if we linger not out the time, for which this place is not unfitt and will give a thousand excuses for delays. What this day will be resolved on in the Council I know not, being laid by the leg, by a small mistake of the Surgeon, of which I shall not trouble you. This {310} is writt abed, as you may see by the ill caracter, which I desire you not to take ill.”[22]
Though the Dutch had been defeated with great loss, the war was by no means over, and it was necessary to put to sea again, as soon as refitting had been accomplished. This time the Duke of York was forced, much against his will, to stay at home. Charles at the instigation of the Queen mother, forbade his brother again to risk his life, and offered the joint command of the fleet to Rupert and Sandwich. Rupert was supposed to have a personal aversion to Sandwich, which may or may not have been well grounded.[23] Sandwich's character has been variously represented, and, whether justly or not, his honesty was certainly suspected. His own creature, Pepys, a little later confided to his diary his concern for his lord in ”that cursed business of the prizes,” and his vehement disapproval of the whole affair.[24]
On the other hand, both Evelyn and Clarendon esteemed Sandwich highly.
But be the reason what it may, Rupert was averse to sharing the command with him, and hesitated to accept it. A conference with the King at Hampton Court at last won him over; he submitted ”very cheerfully,” and forthwith made ready to sail.[25]
Unfortunately Coventry, who disliked Rupert ”for no other reason than for not esteeming him at the same rate he valued himself,” says Clarendon, succeeded in persuading the King that the result of such a union must be disastrous. When all was ready, and Rupert's ”family” on board, the King affectionately informed his cousin that he could not dispense with his society that summer. Rupert, ”though wonderfully surprised, perplexed, and even broken-hearted,” offered no resistance.
He quietly {311} disembarked his retinue, and returned, ”with very much trouble,” to Court.[26]
Some consolation he may have found in the fact that Sandwich did nothing all the summer, and, on his return, fell under a cloud on charges of peculation. Rupert seems to have treated him with great kindness, giving him his countenance and support,[27] but the sympathies of the Parliament were evidenced by a proposal to vote to Rupert a gift of 10,000, and to Sandwich half-a-crown.[28]
His rival being thus disposed of, the command of the fleet was offered in 1666 to Rupert, in conjunction with the Duke of Albemarle. To this new colleague Rupert had no objections, and there was, happily, ”great unanimity and consent between them.” True, Rupert would fain have sailed in a separate s.h.i.+p, but, it being represented that this might cause confusion in orders, he yielded to the argument. Albemarle left much to Rupert's management, ”declaring modestly, upon all occasions, that he was no seaman;” and this was doubtless very pleasing to the Prince, who loved to rule. As both Admirals were ”men of great dexterity and indefatigable industry,” the outlook was exceedingly favourable.[29]
The sailors welcomed Rupert gladly; and, on February 13, ”several sea-captains who had served under Prince Rupert, invited him to dinner, and spoke cheerfully of going against the Dutch again together.”[30]
On May 25 they sailed from the Nore, with 58 s.h.i.+ps and 9 fire-s.h.i.+ps.
Rupert was in excellent spirits and, reported his secretary, went ”most cheerfully” on the expedition.[31]
Unfortunately the King and his Council committed at the outset a strategic blunder for which neither of the Admirals {312} was responsible. It was rumoured that a French fleet was coming from Belle Isle, under the Duke of Beaufort, and Rupert was ordered to sail with 24 s.h.i.+ps to intercept it before it could join with the Dutch. The sailors grumbled loudly at this separation. ”Nothing was to be heard among the seamen but complaints about the dividing of the fleet, and the sending away Prince Rupert.”[32] But orders had to be obeyed, and Rupert sailed away, leaving Albemarle with only 56 s.h.i.+ps to meet De Ruyter's 85.
In the Prince's absence, Albemarle fell in with the Dutch in the Downs, and the famous four days' battle began, June 1st. The wind was with Albemarle, but he had only 35 s.h.i.+ps well in hand, the rest straggling behind. With great ingenuity he made his attack so that only a portion of the Dutch fleet could engage with him, and the fight was continued, with immense gallantry and varying fortune, from 9 a.m till 10 p.m. On the second day the English returned in good order, but, though the Dutch were crowded and confused, Albemarle was too weak to press his advantage. Each side lost about three s.h.i.+ps. On the third day Albemarle held off, hoping for Rupert's arrival. This did not take place till late in the afternoon, and the blame of this long delay was due to home authorities. As soon as firing was heard in the Downs, Coventry had signed an order for Rupert's recall, and sent it to Arlington, expecting that he would at once despatch it. But Arlington happened to be in bed, and his servants dared not wake him; ”a tenderness not accostumed to be in the family of a secretary,” says Clarendon, with just severity.[33] Consequently Rupert never received the order until he himself had heard the noise of battle, and turned back to Albemarle's aid, on his own responsibility. A contrary wind delayed him yet longer, and it was 3 p.m on Sunday, June 3, before he reached the scene of action, where he was received by {313} the sailors with shouts of joy. In the confusion of joining the fleets, the ”Royal Prince” ran aground, and was burnt by the Dutch; a misfortune ”which touched every heart, for she was the best s.h.i.+p ever built, and like a castle at sea.”[34] The fight was not resumed until the next morning.
All order had been lost, and both sides were in confusion. There was two hours' furious firing, and the Dutch centre pa.s.sed right through the English centre, where the fight was very hot. Finally the exhausted Dutch suffered the English to draw away, and Albemarle, rallying his scattered fleet, beat an honourable retreat.[35]
Rupert's arrival had not turned defeat into victory, but it had saved Albemarle from imminent disaster. The losses of the English had been extremely heavy, but those of the Dutch had been also severe, and all the moral prestige belonged to the English, who had sustained the fight against great odds, with extraordinary gallantry. The credit was due, in a great measure, to the skill and valour of the admirals, but not a little, also, to the good discipline and seamans.h.i.+p of the men and officers. Dryden who celebrated the event in a long poem, while giving the admirals their due, did not forget the rest.
”Thousands there were, in darker fame shall dwell, ”Whose deeds some n.o.bler poem shall adorn, ”But, though to me unknown, they sure fought well, ”Whom Rupert led, and who were British born.”[36]
As before, Rupert's admirers thought that ”the good prince” had not received his due in the official reports of the action. His secretary, James Hayes, wrote to Arlington's secretary to expostulate. ”Give me leave to suggest that, {314} since in the Dutch gazette those lying words speak dishonourably of the Prince, it will offer an occasion of a word or two in yours, more to his merit; in whom I did indeed discover so extraordinary courage, conduct and presence of mind in the midst of all the showers of cannon bullet, that higher I think cannot be imagined of any man that ever fought. I observed him with astonishment all that day.”[37] This letter produced the following note, added to the official gazette: ”The writer of this letter could not think fit to mingle in his relations any expressions of His Royal Highness's personal behaviour, because it was prepared for his own sight. But it is most certain that never any Prince, or it may be truly said, any private person, was, in an action of war, exposed to more danger from the beginning to the end of it. His conduct and presence of mind equalling his fearless courage, and carrying him to change his s.h.i.+p three times, setting up his Royal standard in each of them, to animate his own men and brave the enemy.”[38] For this tribute Hayes returned grateful thanks. ”You have done right to a brave Prince, whose worth will endure praise, though I find his ears are too modest to hear his own.”[39]
Rupert was far more engaged with his smouldering wrath against the Commissioners of the Navy, than in considering what the gazette did, or did not say of himself. A month earlier he had written to the King that ”unless some course” were taken with the victualler--viz.
Pepys--the whole fleet would be ruined.[40] Now, when the fleet came in to refit, the first thing he did on meeting the King, was to reiterate his complaints. ”Which,” wrote Pepys, ”I am troubled at, and do fear may in violence break out upon this office some time or other, and we shall {315} not be able to carry on the business.”[41] But Rupert's time on sh.o.r.e was short, and the storm was deferred.
By July 22 the fleet was again at sea. Severely as it had suffered, the refitting had been conducted with remarkable celerity, and the King and the Duke of York themselves showed such an active interest in the preparations, that Rupert swore that they were the best officers in the navy. The fleet went out ”in very good heart,” Rupert's s.h.i.+p boasting ”a dancing-master and two men who feign themselves mad and make very good sport to a bag-pipe.”[42] Unluckily, the very day after putting to sea, came a violent thunderstorm, which damaged the s.h.i.+ps so severely that the Prince declared himself more afraid of the weather than of the enemy.
On July 25 they fell in with the Dutch fleet, commanded by Tromp and De Ruyter, off the North Foreland. The Dutch line was uneven, the van and centre crowded; the English line presented a remarkable regularity.
The fight began at 10 a.m., and Tromp immediately engaged the English rear, carried it away with him, out of sight, and was eventually shattered by it. This independent action on the part of his subordinate, greatly embarra.s.sed De Ruyter. His van was speedily over-matched, and at 4 p.m. his centre gave way. At night the English renewed the attack in a desultory fas.h.i.+on, and Rupert appears to have run some danger, for he afterwards promoted a gunner who had saved his life at the risk of his own.[43]
On the day following, the Prince added insult to injury by sending his little yacht ”Fan-Fan,” which had been built the week before, to attack De Ruyter. Rowing under the great s.h.i.+p, the little vessel plied her valiantly with her two small guns. This game continued for an hour, to the intense amus.e.m.e.nt of the English, and the indignation of {316} the Dutch, who could not bring their guns to bear on the yacht, by reason of her nearness to them. At last they contrived to hit her, and she was forced to retreat to the protection of her own fleet.[44] De Ruyter then effected a masterly retreat, his enemies fearing to follow on account of his proximity to his own sh.o.r.es.
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