The first battle of Schooneveld, 7 June 1673 by Willem van de Velde, the elder, painted c. 1684.

The Battles of Schooneveld were two naval battles of the Third Anglo-Dutch War, fought off the coast of the Netherlands on 7 and 14 June 1673 between an allied Anglo-French fleet commanded by Prince Rupert of the Rhine, and the fleet of the United Provinces, commanded by Michiel de Ruyter. The Dutch victories in the two battles, and at the Battle of Texel that followed in August, saved their country from a Franco-British invasion. Image File history File links The Battle of Schooneveld, 7 June 1673 by Willem van de Velde, the elder, painted 1674. ... Image File history File links The Battle of Schooneveld, 7 June 1673 by Willem van de Velde, the elder, painted 1674. ... June 7 is the 158th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (159th in leap years), with 207 days remaining. ... Events The English Test Act was passed. ... Willem van de Velde (circa 1611-1693) was a Dutch painter. ... Events France under Louis XIV makes Truce of Ratisbon separately with the Empire and Spain. ... The French battleship Orient burns, 1 August 1798, during the Battle of the Nile A naval battle is a battle fought using ships or other waterborne vessels. ... The Battle of Texel, 11–21 August 1673 by Willem van de Velde, the younger, painted 1683, depicts a battle of the Third Anglo-Dutch War. ... June 14 is the 165th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (166th in leap years), with 200 days remaining. ... Events The English Test Act was passed. ... For the city in British Columbia, see Prince Rupert, British Columbia. ... The United Provinces (Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden/Provinciën, Republic of the Seven United Netherlands/Provinces — 1581–1795) was a European republic which is now known as the Netherlands. ... Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter, Lieutenant-Admiral of the United Provinces by Ferdinand Bol, painted 1667. ... For the 1653 battle near Texel, see the Battle of Scheveningen The Battle of the Texel, 11/21 August 1673 by Willem van de Velde, the younger, painted 1683. ...

Background

The Franco-Dutch War of 1672–1678 resulted from the attempts of Louis XIV of France to annex the Spanish Netherlands. In 1672 troops from France, Münster and Cologne invaded the Netherlands by land, while England's navy attacked Dutch shipping and threatened a seaborne invasion. The conflict between England and The Republic is commonly called the Third Anglo-Dutch War. The Dutch War (1672–1678) was a war fought between France and a quadruple alliance consisting of Brandenburg, the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, and the United Provinces. ... Events England, France, Munster and Cologne invade the United Provinces, therefore this name is know as ´het rampjaar´ (the disaster year) in the Netherlands. ... Events August 10 - Treaty of Nijmegen ends the Dutch War. ... For the musical group of the same name, see Louis XIV (band). ... This article or section should be merged with Seventeen Provinces The Spanish Netherlands was a portion of the Low Countries controlled by Spain from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. ... Events England, France, Munster and Cologne invade the United Provinces, therefore this name is know as ´het rampjaar´ (the disaster year) in the Netherlands. ... Town Hall at Prinzipalmarkt Münster: Prinzipalmarkt Münster is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. ... Cologne (German: â–¶ [kÅ“ln]; Kölsch: Kölle) is with its one million residents Germanys fourth largest city after Berlin, Hamburg and Munich. ... The Battle of Texel, 11–21 August 1673 by Willem van de Velde, the younger, painted 1683, depicts a battle of the Third Anglo-Dutch War. ...

The years 1672–1673 were particularly desperate for the Dutch, with the French stopped only by the deliberate flooding of large parts of the Dutch countryside, and the withdrawing of guns and men from the fleet to augment the army of William III of Orange, now Admiral-General of the fleet. A surprise attack by De Ruyter in the summer of 1672, resulting in the Battle of Solebay, had however prevented the allies from establishing naval superiority on the North Sea, keeping open the sea lanes so vital to Dutch trade. William III King of England, Scotland and Ireland William III and II (14 November 1650–8 March 1702; also known as William Henry and William of Orange) was Prince of Orange from his birth, King of England and Ireland from 13 February 1689, and King of Scotland from 11 April... The Battle of Solebay, 7 June 1672, was the first naval battle of the Third Anglo-Dutch War. ... The North Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, located between the coasts of Norway and Denmark in the east, the coast of the British Isles in the west, and the German, Dutch, Belgian and French coasts in the south. ...

When the French invaded, the Orangist party took power, falsely accusing the former leading politician Johan de Witt and his personal friend Lieutenant-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter of plotting to betray the Republic to the French. The Orangists themselves were in fact subsidised by the English. Both England and France hoped to create a Dutch puppet state, using the enormous Dutch mercantile assets to gain world trade dominance, each expecting that any moment the Dutch might surrender to either one of them, but greatly fearing he wouldn't be the main beneficiary. Therefore during the battles mutual suspicion between the French and the British was enormous: the British were wary that De Ruyter might suddenly team up with the French; the French thought the orangist Lieutenant-Admiral Cornelis Tromp, readmitted to the Dutch fleet early in 1673, might well do the same with the English. In fact De Ruyter didn't feel too sure about Tromp himself, but his fears proved to be unfounded. Tromp cared for battle honours above anything else. Johan de Witt (September 24, 1625 - August 20, 1672) was a significant Dutch political figure. ... Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter, Lieutenant-Admiral of the United Provinces by Ferdinand Bol, painted 1667. ... Cornelis Tromp, 1629–1691 by Sir Peter Lely, painted c. ...

Michiel de Ruyter, since February 1673 Lieutenant-Admiral-General of the confederate Dutch fleet, planned to blockade the main English fleet in the River Thames by sinking blockships in its narrowest part, and then to deal with the remaining English squadrons at his leisure. But the English fleet took sea in time to prevent the blocking operation, and De Ruyter retreated on 15 May to the Schooneveld, the coastal waters at the mouth of the Schelde River, near the island of Walcheren, to prevent the allies from establishing the naval superiority needed for the transport and landing of a force of 6,000 soldiers waiting at Yarmouth. The Schooneveld basin, between two shoals, was so narrow the allies couldn't take advantage of their numerical superiority. There he was joined by Tromp, adding the squadrons of the admiralties of Amsterdam and the Northern Quarter to that of the admiralty of the Maas and the Zealandic fleet. De Ruyter read a message from the stadtholder to his captains, informing them they were not only the champions of their nation but of the whole of christendom and that for any cowards "the least safe place will be the ports of the State for there they shall escape neither the severe hand of Justice nor the curse and hatred of their compatriots", many later being overheard repeating these words to themselves. The Thames (pronounced /temz/) is a river flowing through southern England and connecting London with the sea. ... A blockship is a ship deliberately sunk to prevent a river, channel, or canal from being used. ... May 15 is the 135th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (136th in leap years). ... The Schooneveld is a shallow basin at the mouth of the Scheldt river, near the island of Walcheren, off the coast of the Netherlands. ... The Scheldt in Antwerp Length 350 km Elevation of the source 95 m Average discharge 120 m³/s Area watershed 21860 km² Origin France Mouth Westerschelde Basin countries France, Belgium, Netherlands The Scheldt (Dutch: Schelde, French lEscaut) is a 350 km[1] (217 mile) long river that finds its... Satellite image of the Scheldt estuary Walcheren is a former island in the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands at the mouth of the Scheldt estuary. ... Map sources for Great Yarmouth at grid reference TG5207 Great Yarmouth is an English coastal town (population 47288) in the county of Norfolk. ... This medieval map, which abstracts the known world to a cross inscribed within an orb, remakes geography in the service of Christian iconography. ...

First battle

On 2 June 1673 (New Style; 23 May in the Julian calendar then in use in England), the allies, deciding they had waited long enough, approached the Dutch fleet. Prince Rupert had a considerable superiority in ships (eighty-six against sixty-four) - indeed the Dutch admirals nicknamed their fleet the "Little Hope". The Dutch fleet was smaller than usual because the admiralty of Frisia was unable to assist, that province and Groningen being attacked by the bishop of Münster. However a sudden storm prevented a battle. On 7 June, the wind blowing from the northwest, Rupert tried again and arranged his own squadron of the Red in the van, the French squadron of the White commanded by Jean d'Estrées in the centre, and Sir Edward Spragge's squadron of the Blue in the rear. The Dutch van was commanded by Tromp, the centre by Lieutenant-Admiral Aert Janssen van Nes under direct supervision of De Ruyter himself and the rear by Lieutenant-Admiral Adriaen Banckert. 2 June is the 153rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (154th in leap years), with 212 days remaining. ... Events The English Test Act was passed. ... In Britain and countries of the British Empire, Old Style or O.S. after a date means that the date is in the Julian calendar, in use in those countries until 1752; New Style or N.S. means that the date is in the Gregorian calendar, adopted on 14 September... May 23 is the 143rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (144th in leap years). ... The Julian calendar was introduced in 46 BC by Julius Caesar and took force in 45 BC (709 ab urbe condita). ... Frisia (known in German and Dutch as Friesland) is a region along the southeastern coasts of the North Sea. ... The flag of Groningen Groningen is the northeast province of the Netherlands with a typical dialect (Gronings) with regional nuances. ... Town Hall at Prinzipalmarkt Münster: Prinzipalmarkt Münster is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. ... June 7 is the 158th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (159th in leap years), with 207 days remaining. ...

Rupert, convinced that the smaller Dutch fleet would withdraw to Hellevoetsluis when pressed, detached a special squadron at nine in the morning to cut off the retreating Dutch from the north. In this taskforce he concentrated all lighter ships from the regular squadrons so that it would be able to manoeuvre more easily over the shoals. However De Ruyter didn't budge. When however the squadron at last returned to the main allied line, joining Rupert's squadron, the Dutch started to move, but surprisingly in the direction of the enemy. This forced Rupert to attack immediately to prevent the Dutch from gaining the weather gauge, before he could form a proper keel line. Hellevoetsluis (population: 40,164 in 2004) is a town in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. ... On the forefront of British underground hiphop; Taskforce hail from the Highbury Estate, London. ... The weather gage (less commonly weather gauge) is the favorable position of a sailing vessel relative to the wind. ...

The battle began at noon and lasted for nine hours. Using his superior knowledge of the shallow waters, De Ruyter was able to manoeuvre his fleet so close to the shoals that the allies found it difficult to engage without grounding.

Rupert first made contact with the squadron of Cornelis Tromp. He had now about half of the allied fleet with him. Sailing slowly to the northeast after some time he reached the edge of the basin. This gave him the opportunity to surround Tromp from the north with the mass of frigates while simultaneously using his favourable windward position to attack him directly from the west with the heavy British ships. The frigate squadron was now in complete disarray however and couldn't execute such a complicated manoeuvre. Nor did Rupert choose the direct attack. He was much criticised for this afterwards and defended himself by claiming his approach would have been blocked by shoals. This was simply not true and Rupert knew it. Whatever his motives he turned to the southwest, both fleets bombarding each other from a distance, the Dutch inferiority in numbers compensated by the fact that their leeward position gave their guns a better range and the lack of a proper battle line in the enemy squadron. Cornelis Tromp, 1629–1691 by Sir Peter Lely, painted c. ...

De Ruyter had at first closely followed Tromp; but becoming aware the French flotilla of de Grancey had joined Spragge against Banckert, creating a gap in the French line, he suddenly tacked to the southwest, separating Tromp from the rest of the Dutch fleet. This greatly surprised the French fleet. The French main force of d'Estrées, both frightened and delighted by what it saw as a brilliant manoeuvre, disengaged slowly to the northwest to keep the weather gauge, but like Rupert didn't use this position to attack. This caused De Ruyter to comment: "The Zeven Provinciën can still inspire awe among its enemies". The Dutch centre now moved in opposite tack behind the enemy rear. Spragge understood that if De Ruyter reached the southern edge of the basin his force would be trapped between the Dutch centre and rear. He immediately broke formation to tack to the southwest also, narrowly escaping to the west with his flotilla, but leaving the flotilla's of Ossorey and Kempthorn behind with that of de Grancey in a slower turn in the same direction. Banckert now united his squadron with the Dutch centre by making a similar but larger turn, sailing behind De Ruyter. The Dutch supreme commander had thus gained an excellent position: the enemy fleet was now divided in four uncoordinated parts and he could attack the confused enemy rear with a numerical superiority having the weather gauge. At that moment he had no knowledge of Tromp's situation however and typically decided not to take any unnecessary risks but to join Tromp with the remainder of the Dutch fleet instead, saying: "First things first; it's better to help friends than to harm enemies". He tacked to the northeast, Banckert now in front, towards both vanguards moving in the opposite direction. Seeing him approach Tromp yelled to his men: "There's Granddad! (the Dutch sailors used this term of endearment for De Ruyter) He's coming to help us. I in return shall never abandon him, as long as I can breath!" That these things needed to be said at all shows the underlying political divisions within the Dutch fleet. As the Dutch crews of the van had become rather nervous by the size of their opposing force, Tromp had for hours pretended to be in signal contact with the Dutch centre. The allied rear could now escape to the west also.

When the Dutch main force reached Tromp it again tacked to the southwest forming a perfect continuous line of battle with his squadron. The allied rear tried to do likewise with their centre and van, but its formations remained very confused. Spragge, having moved far to the north to reach Tromp, his personal enemy, now inserted his flotilla between d'Estrées and Rupert. The combined Dutch fleet then broke repeatedly through the many gaps in the allied line and Rupert, worried by the mounting disorder in his fleet, was happy to disengage at nightfall, only halting his retreat at first light. Two French ships were lost, one Dutch ship was captured and then recaptured, and one, Deventer 70, sank after grounding. Dutch Vice-Admiral Volckhard Schram (of the van) and Rear-Admiral David Vlugh (of the rearguard) were killed.

Second battle

The allies cruised off the Dutch coast for a week, each accusing the other of having caused the failure, while the British recriminated among each other also. Spragge accused Rupert: "...the battle was, in truth, as ill fought on our side, as ever yet I saw". Worse was to come however. The allies had no intention to enter the Schooneveld again. Captain George Legge of HMS Royal Katherine wrote to his Lord High Admiral the Duke of York: "That hole is too little and the sands too dangerous for us to venture among them again". They hoped to lure the Dutch fleet to open sea; when at first nothing happened they grew so despondent, they were surprised when the Dutch did in fact come out. On 14 June 1673 De Ruyter, reinforced by four ships and fresh crews and fully resupplied, took advantage of a favourable northwest wind to attack the allied line. In this battle the allies were in total disarray — partly the result of having been two weeks at sea, including one battle — but mainly because of a curious coincidence: it so happened Spragge, now commanding the van, visited Rupert the moment the Dutch attacked. He immediately left for his squadron, but Rupert, suddenly fearing Spragge could never reach his force in time, decided to form the van with his own rear squadron. He tried to overtake the French in the centre; but they, Rupert never having made his intentions clear to them, did their utmost to remain in formation, i.e. in front of Rupert. Needless to say chaos was complete. Rupert repeatedly raised the bloodflag and then lowered it again upon seeing the confusion among his ships made a coordinated attack impossible. De Ruyter, utterly amazed and exclaiming: "What's wrong with this man? Has he gone mad or what?" exploited this disarray by engaging from some distance and firing at the allied masts and rigging severely damaging Rupert's squadron. The French, when attacked by Banckert, disengaged immediately, very suspicious of the bizarre course of events. Only Tromp clashed with great fury with his eternal enemy Spragge until nightfall. HMS Royal Katherine was an 84-gun second-rate ship of the line, launched in 1664. ... For the international law of the sea, see Admiralty law. ... James II of England and VII of Scotland ( 14 October 1633–16 September 1701 ) became King of England, King of Scots, and King of Ireland from 6 February 1685. ... June 14 is the 165th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (166th in leap years), with 200 days remaining. ... Events The English Test Act was passed. ...

Edward Spragge wrote in his journal:

The Prince placing himself in the van, the French in the middle, the line-of-battle being 89 men-of-war and small frigates, fireships and tenders, is so very long that I cannot see any sign the general admiral makes.

The heavy sea made it impossible for the allies, though in a leeward position, to open their lower gunports, and the strong gales had driven all three fleets dangerously close to the British coast. Rupert now desperately attempted to close with the Dutch to save his fleet from destruction, but they retreated to save theirs, and by the morning of 15 June the damaged allied fleets sailed into the Thames and De Ruyter was safely back in the Schooneveld. British and Danish ships in line of battle at the Battle of Copenhagen (1801). ... A man of war (also man-of-war, man-o-war or simply man) is an armed naval vessel. ... Frigate is a name which has been used for several distinct types of warships at different times. ... This article is not about the fireboats that fight fire Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 1588-08-08 by Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg, painted 1796, depicts Drakes fire ship attack on the Spanish Armada. ... Tender may mean: one of several types of boat or ship, all sharing the general function of servicing another type of air or sea vessel: seaplane tender - supplies and services seaplanes submarine tender - resupplies submarines motor torpedo boat tender - resupplies motor torpedo boats ships tender - used to transport people... June 15 is the 166th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (167th in leap years), with 199 days remaining. ...

The allies had not lost any ships, but they had suffered considerable damage and had to return to port for repairs.

Aftermath

By skilful manoeuvre, De Ruyter had fought two engagements against a superior fleet, inflicted such damage against his opponents that they were forced to lift the blockade and retire, and taken care to avoid the decisive battle that the allies were hoping to fight.

After refitting and establishing with great difficulty somewhat more cordial relationships, the allies decided to cruise off the Texel in the hope of drawing De Ruyter out of the Schooneveld and bringing him to action. But the resulting Battle of Texel was a Dutch victory, and England was forced to withdraw from the costly and unproductive war. This article is about the Dutch island Texel. ... For the 1653 battle near Texel, see the Battle of Scheveningen The Battle of the Texel, 11/21 August 1673 by Willem van de Velde, the younger, painted 1683. ...

References

• Atkinson, C. T. "The Anglo-Dutch Wars", in The Cambridge Modern History, volume 5, 1908.
• Mahan, Alfred Thayer. The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660–1783, 1890.
• Rodger, N. A. M. The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649–1815, Penguin, 2004.
• Warnsinck, Johan Carel Marinus. Admiraal de Ruyter. De Zeeslag op Schoonefeld Juni 1673. ‘s-Gravenhage 1930.