Battle of Camperdown
Encyclopedia
The Battle of Camperdown (known in Dutch
as the Zeeslag bij Kamperduin) was a major naval action fought on 11 October 1797 between a Royal Navy
fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan and a Dutch Navy fleet under Vice-Admiral Jan de Winter. The battle was the most significant action between British and Dutch forces during the French Revolutionary Wars
and resulted in a complete victory for the British, who captured eleven Dutch ships without losing any of their own. In 1795 the Dutch Republic
had been overrun by the army of the French Republic and had been reorganised into the Batavian Republic
, a French client state. In early 1797, after the French Atlantic Fleet had suffered heavy losses in a disastrous winter campaign, the Dutch fleet was ordered to reinforce the French at Brest
. The rendezvous never occurred; the continental allies failed to capitalise on the Spithead and Nore mutinies
that paralysed the British Channel
forces and North Sea fleets during the spring of 1797.
By September, the Dutch fleet under De Winter were blockade
d within their harbour in the Texel
by the British North Sea fleet under Duncan. At the start of October, Duncan was forced to return to Yarmouth
for supplies and De Winter used the opportunity to conduct a brief raid into the North Sea
. When the Dutch fleet returned to the Dutch coast on 11 October, Duncan was waiting, and intercepted De Winter off the coastal village of Camperduin
. Attacking the Dutch line of battle
in two loose groups, Duncan's ships broke through at the rear and van and were subsequently engaged by Dutch frigate
s lined up on the other side. The battle split into two melees, one to south, or leeward, where the more numerous British overwhelmed the Dutch rear and one to the north, or windward, where a more evenly matched exchange centred on the battling flagships. As the Dutch fleet attempted to reach shallower waters in an effort to escape the British attack, the British leeward division joined the windward combat and eventually forced the surrender of the Dutch flagship Vrijheid and ten other ships.
The loss of their flagship prompted the surviving Dutch ships to disperse and retreat, Duncan recalling the British ships with their prizes for the journey back to Yarmouth. En route, the fleet was struck by a series of gales and two prizes were wrecked and another recaptured before the remainder reached Britain. Casualties in both fleets were heavy, as the Dutch followed the British practice of firing at the hulls of enemy ships rather than their masts and rigging, which caused higher losses among the British crews than were normally experienced against continental nations. The Dutch fleet was broken as a fighting force, losing ten ships and more than 1,100 men. When British forces confronted the Dutch Navy again two years later in the Vlieter Incident
, the Dutch sailors refused to fight and their ships surrendered en masse.
during the French Revolutionary Wars
. The French then reorganised the country as a client state
named the Batavian Republic
, and it joined France against the allies in the War of the First Coalition. One of the most important Dutch assets of which the French gained control was the Dutch Navy, which had been captured in its frozen harbour in the Texel
by French cavalry
advancing across the ice. The Dutch fleet provided a substantial reinforcement to the French forces in Northern European waters, which were principally based at Brest
on the Atlantic Ocean
and whose main opponent was the Royal Navy
's Channel Fleet
. The location of the main anchorage of the Dutch fleet in the waters off the Texel prompted a reorganisation of the distribution of British warships in Northern European waters, with a new focus on the importance of the North Sea
. With the Navy suffering severe shortages in men and equipment and with other theatres of war deemed more important, small, old and poorly maintained ships were activated from reserve and based in harbours in East Anglia
, principally the port of Yarmouth
, under the command of Admiral Adam Duncan. The 65-year-old Duncan was a veteran of the wars of the War of the Austrian Succession
(1740–1748), the Seven Years War (1756–1762) and the American Revolutionary War
(1775–1783) and had fought at numerous engagements with distinction and success. Standing at 6'4" he was also noted for his physical strength and size: a contemporary described him as "almost gigantic".
The French Navy
had suffered a series of disasters in the opening years of the war, suffering heavy losses at the Glorious First of June
in 1794 and during the Croisière du Grand Hiver
the following January. In the winter of 1796, after prompting from representatives of the United Irishmen (a society dedicated to ending British rule of the Kingdom of Ireland
), the French Atlantic fleet launched a large scale attempt to invade Ireland
, known as the Expédition d'Irlande
. This too ended in disaster, with twelve ships lost and thousands of men drowned in fierce winter gales. Their ambitions frustrated, the representatives of the United Irishmen, led by Wolfe Tone, turned to the new Batavian state for support and were promised assistance in the coming year by a united French and Dutch fleet. A plan was formulated to merge the French and Dutch fleets and attack Ireland together in the summer of 1797. Tone joined the staff of Vice-Admiral Jan de Winter on his flagship Vrijheid in the Texel
and 13,500 Dutch troops were equipped in preparation for the operation, the fleet waiting only for the best moment to take advantage of westerly winds and sweep past the British blockade and down the English Channel
.
, which abducted criminals, beggars and unwilling conscripts for compulsory service at sea. Wages had not been increased since 1653 and were usually months late, rations were terrible, shore leave forbidden and discipline harsh. Tensions in the fleet had been gradually rising since the start of the war, and in February 1797, anonymous sailors from the Channel Fleet at Spithead
sent letters to their former commander Lord Howe
, soliciting his support in improving their conditions. The list was deliberately ignored on the instructions of First Lord of the Admiralty Lord Spencer
, and on 16 April the sailors responded with the Spithead Mutiny: a largely peaceful strike action
led by a delegation of seamen from each ship tasked with negotiating with the authorities and enforcing discipline. For a month the fleet remained at stalemate, until Lord Howe was able to negotiate a series of improvements in conditions that enabled the strikers to return to regular service. The mutiny had achieved almost all of its aims, increasing pay, removing unpopular officers and improving conditions for the men serving in the Channel Fleet and ultimately the whole Navy.
While the upheaval continued at Spithead, Duncan had retained order in the North Sea fleet at Yarmouth by the sheer force of his personality. When men from his flagship HMS Venerable
clambered up into the rigging and roared three cheers in a prearranged signal for the revolt to begin on 1 May, Duncan initially threatened to run the ringleader through with his sword. Calmed by his subordinates, he instead assembled his officers and the Royal Marines
aboard his ship and advanced on the men in the rigging, demanding to know what they were doing. So fierce was his tone that the men fell silent and hesitantly returned to their quarters except five ringleaders whom he admonished personally on his quarterdeck before issuing a general pardon and dismissing them to their duty. The following week he assembled all of the men and demanded to know whether they would follow his orders: in response the crew nominated a spokesman, who apologised for their actions, saying "we humbly implore your honour's pardon with hearts full of gratitude and tears in our eyes for the offense we have given to the worthiest of commanders who has proved a father to us". A week later when a similar outbreak of mutiny affected the fourth rate ship HMS Adamant
under Captain William Hotham
, Duncan again acted decisively, coming aboard Adamant as the crew rebelled and demanding to know if there was any man who disputed his authority. When a sailor stepped forward, Duncan seized him by his shirt and dangled him over the side of the ship with one arm crying, "My lads - look at this fellow - he who dares to deprive me of command of the fleet!" The mutiny evaporated almost instantly.
, which became known as the Nore Mutiny. Led by a sailor named Richard Parker, the Nore mutineers quickly organised and became a significant threat to water traffic in the Thames Estuary
. Duncan was informed that his fleet at Yarmouth might be ordered to attack the mutineers and although reluctant, responded that "I do not shrink from the business if it cannot otherwise be got the better of". When rumours of the plan reached the fleet at Yarmouth, the crew of Venerable also expressed their distaste with the plan, but reaffirmed their promise of loyalty to their admiral whatever the circumstances. News then arrived that the Dutch fleet under De Winter was preparing to sail, and Duncan's fleet was ordered by Lord Spencer to blockade the Dutch coast. Duncan issued orders for the fleet to weigh anchor, but the men disobeyed, ship after ship overthrowing their officers and joining the mutineers at the Nore. Eventually Duncan was left with only his own Venerable and Hotham's Adamant to contain the entire Dutch fleet. Duncan later wrote that "To be deserted by my own fleet in the face of the enemy is a disgrace which I believe never before happened to a British Admiral, nor could I have supposed it possible."
Aware that the escape of the Dutch fleet into the North Sea
at such a vulnerable time could be disastrous for Britain, Duncan maintained position off the Texel for three days during which the wind was ideal for a Dutch foray, and he disguised his two vessels as different ships on each day and ordered the frigate HMS Circe
to make a flurry of nonsensical signals to a fictitious British fleet beyond the horizon. He was subsequently joined by two additional ships, HMS Russell
and HMS Sans Pareil
, and on the fourth day, with conditions still perfect for the Dutch, he anchored his squadron in the Marsdiep
channel and gave orders for them to fight until their ships sank, thereby blocking the channel. In a speech to his men, he announced that "The soundings are such that my flag will continue to fly above the water after the ship and her company have disappeared." The expected attack never came: the Dutch army that was to have joined the fleet was not prepared, and Duncan's misleading signals had successfully convinced De Winter that a large British fleet waited just beyond the horizon. The winds subsequently changed direction and on 10 June six more ships joined Duncan's squadron from the Channel Fleet and on 13 June a Russian squadron arrived. While Duncan had been at sea, the Nore Mutiny had acrimoniously fallen apart under blockade
by government forces. Cut off from food supplies and with public support decidedly against the mutiny, Parker issued threats that the ships under his control would be handed over to the French government. Fighting subsequently broke out between the radical leaders and the moderate majority of seamen and the ships gradually deserted Parker and returned to their anchorages, so that by 12 June only two ships still flew the red flag
of the mutineers. Eventually the last rebellious ship, Parker's own HMS Sandwich
, surrendered on 14 June.
against the Netherlands between 1793 and 1795, support for the House of Orange
remained strong among the Dutch population and with the fleet's sailors. Wolfe Tone wrote in frustration that "The destiny of Europe might have been changed for ever . . . the great occasion is lost, and we must do as well as we can."
When news of this decision reached the Admiralty, they recalled Duncan's blockade fleet to Yarmouth for a refit on 1 October, the admiral insisting on sending some of his ships back to the Dutch coast two days later under Captain Henry Trollope
in HMS Russell accompanied by HMS Adamant and the small ships HMS Beaulieu, HMS Circe and HMS Martin
with the hired lugger
Black Joke
. Their arrival off Texel on 6 October coincided with De Winter's much delayed expedition. Although some sources, particularly in France, have claimed that De Winter was determined to bring Duncan to battle, in reality he was more concerned that his men were disaffected and inexperienced by their long stay in port, and had reluctantly acceded to orders from the Batavian government to conduct a brief sweep in the Southern North Sea in search of weak British forces that could be overwhelmed by his fleet or drawn into the dangerous shallow waters of the Dutch coastline. He may also have been hoping to resurrect the plan to augment the French at Brest if he was able to pass westwards down the English Channel undetected. His fleet consisted of 16 ships of the line and a number of smaller support craft, and his orders from The Hague
included instructions to remember "how frequently Dutch Admirals have maintained the honour of the Dutch flag, even when the enemy's forces were sometimes superior to theirs." Preparing the ships for sea took some time, and the Dutch did not manage to leave the Texel until 10:00 on 8 October, De Winter turning southwest in the hope of linking with another Dutch ship of the line at the mouth of the River Maas. Within hours, Trollope had discovered and followed De Winter.
The Dutch fleet was watched constantly by the ships Duncan had sent to observe them, and when Dutch preparations to sail were observed a message was sent back to Duncan informing him of the Dutch movements. The despatch vessel flew the signal for an enemy as it entered Yarmouth roads early in the morning on 9 October, so that by the time it had docked the British fleet was already preparing to sail, Duncan sending the final message to the Admiralty: "The wind is now in the NE and [I] shall make good course over to them, and if it please God, hope to get at them. The squadron under my command are unmoored and I shall put to sea immediately." Before midday, Duncan had sailed with the 11 ships that were ready and steered for the mouth of the Texel, intending to intercept De Winter on his return. By evening his fleet was at full strength, three stragglers having rejoined, and on the afternoon of 10 October his ships were anchored off the Dutch port, scouts reporting 22 merchant ships in the harbour but no sign of De Winter's warships. Since leaving the Texel, De Winter had been unable to escape from Trollope's ships: on the evening of 10 October, several Dutch vessels were detached to drive his squadron away while the Dutch fleet lay off the Maas, but could not close with the faster British vessels. Having failed to make the rendezvous off the Maas, De Winter then turned to the northwest, cruising off Lowestoft
in Suffolk
and again unsuccessfully attempting to drive away Trollope's squadron. There, reports from Dutch fishing vessels of Duncan's appearance off the Texel reached De Winter and he immediately recalled his ships and ordered the fleet to turn back towards the Dutch coast, aiming for the village of Scheveningen. Meanwhile, further messages from Trollope reporting the Dutch movements had reached Duncan and he turned his fleet west, following the Dutch coastline. At 07:00 on the morning of 11 October Trollope's squadron sighted sails to the northeast and, after confirming that they were Duncan's fleet, signalled that the Dutch fleet was approximately 3 nautical miles (5.6 km) further to the southwest, becoming visible to the fleet by 08:30. The first clear sighting was reported by Captain Peter Halkett
of Circe, who had climbed the mainmast to get a better view. At this point, the Dutch were sailing towards land, approximately 9 nautical miles (16.7 km) off the coast of Noord-Holland, close to the village of Camperduin
. The weather was poor, with heavy seas and strong wind from the southeast broken by frequent rain squalls, but this did not prevent hundreds of Dutch civilians gathering on the dunes to watch the impending combat.
to meet the British attack in a solid defensive formation, sailing on the port tack in a northeasterly heading. As they manoeuvred into their assigned stations, the Dutch fleet drew closer to the shore. Duncan intended to follow Lord Howe's manoeuvres at the Glorious First of June
three years earlier and bring each ship through the Dutch line between two opponents, but the Dutch formation and proximity to the shore rendered this plan impractical. To compensate, Duncan signalled for his ships to form line and sail southeast on the port tack so that they had the wind directly behind them. Shortly afterwards, concerned that the Dutch might make the shoreline before he could bring them to battle despite his wry insistence that "I am determined to fight the ships on land if I cannot by sea", Duncan ordered his fleet to turn southwards and advance on the enemy and "bear up and sail large". He fired signal guns to alert his captains and then ordered them to "engage the enemy as arriving up" and for his van to attack the Dutch rear. At 11:00 Duncan sought to remedy increasing gaps between his vessels by ordering the faster ships to slow down and wait for their compatriots. He then made an effort to re-establish the line on the starboard tack before realising that the Dutch fleet was still in order awaiting the British attack and continually drawing closer to the dangerous coastline. Abandoning his previous signals, Duncan ordered the entire fleet to turn towards the Dutch and attack directly, each ship to "steer for and engage her opponent". Many of these signals were poorly executed and incorrect, visibility was low and Trollope's squadron was still using obsolete signal codes, so a number of vessels failed to comprehend Duncan's intentions, turning the advancing line into a ragged pattern of scattered vessels clustered into two loose groups. The flurry of orders was so quick and contradictory that at least one captain gave up entirely: the Scottish Captain John Inglis of HMS Belliqueux
threw his signal book to the deck in frustration and shouted "Up wi' the hel'lem and gang into the middle o't!"
The combined effect of Duncan's orders was to split his fleet into two uneven divisions, each sailing in a loose formation towards the unified Dutch line. The northern or windward division comprised six third rate ships of the line, two fourth rate ships and the frigate Circe, tasked with repeating signals from the flagship Venerable, which led the division with HMS Triumph
and HMS Ardent
close behind. This force was aiming for the Dutch flagship Vrijheid, which lay fifth in the Dutch line. The southern or leeward division comprised eight third rate ships of the line and the repeater frigate HMS Beaulieu, and was led by Vice-Admiral Richard Onslow
on HMS Monarch
. Onslow's force was aiming for the rear of the Dutch line, to strike the fourth ship from the end. Behind the two divisions lay a line of small craft tasked with repeating Duncan's signals so that the entire fleet could see his intentions. At 11:53, Duncan raised the signal for each ship to pass through the Dutch line and attack from the far side, but the poor weather prevented the more distant ships from recognising the signal.
De Winter had originally intended to close his line up into a solid defensive platform and retreat to shallower waters while Duncan formed his own line of battle, but the sudden, disorganised British attack had thrown his plans into confusion. As a result, gaps had opened up between his van, centre and rear, leaving the last four ships greatly outnumbered and unsupported. De Winter gave urgent orders for the van and centre to drop back to assist the rear, but there was little time and his situation looked desperate: although the Dutch and British lines each mustered 16 ships, the British vessels were almost all larger and more strongly built than their Dutch counterparts and their crews were experienced seamen in the heavy weather conditions while the Dutch crews, confined to port for the previous year, had little understanding of the skills required in combat at sea. The Dutch line of battle was accompanied by a second line to the east, formed from ten frigates, brigs and smaller craft. These vessels, unlike the smaller ships with the British fleet, were well armed and situated so that their guns covered the gaps between the ships that formed the Dutch line of battle, ready to rake any British vessels that attempted to break through.
remarked to Onslow that he could not see where his ship could pass between the closely formed Dutch ships, to which the admiral responded that "the Monarch will make a passage." Striking the small gap between the ships, Onslow fired raking
broadside
s into both vessels and then turned to lay his ship alongside Reyntjes' flagship. As he did so, the Dutch frigate Monnikkendam and the brig Daphné pulled out of the second line and attempted to fill the gap Monarch had created, firing into the British ship of the line as they did so. In response Onslow opened fire on the smaller vessels, destroying the frigate's wheel
and damaging the rigging so that the ship fell back, followed later by the severely damaged brig.
Monarch was almost immediately followed by HMS Powerful
under Captain William O'Bryen Drury
, which passed through the same gap, raked Haarlem again and poured a destructive fire into the wallowing Monnikkendam. At the same time HMS Montagu
attacked Alkmaar, the next in line, from the west while HMS Russell under Captain Trollope attacked the last Dutch ship, the 56-gun Delft
. These attacks were accompanied by fire from HMS Monmouth
, which passed between Alkmaar and Delft and raked both ships and from HMS Director
, which passed up the Dutch line until it reached the battered Haarlem, engaging the ship at close range. The straggling HMS Veteran
joined the northern part of the engagement, cutting across Jupiter and then turning in pursuit of the Dutch centre, while Adamant reached the fight late, joining the attack on the already battered Haarlem. Only HMS Agincourt
remained apart from the battle entirely, passing up the Dutch line at extreme range; one anecdotal account reports that on board Agincourt a stray shot passed high over the deck and an officer was seen to flinch, drawing a scornful call from the crew that "There is no danger yet, Sir".
In the confusion, the tail of the Dutch line disintegrated into a chaotic melee, with eight British ships of the line fighting four Dutch and the frigate Monnikkendam. So close was the action that the British ships found themselves at risk of firing into one another in the high seas, heavy rain and poor visibility. The Dutch centre, consisting of the ships of the line Brutus, Leijden and the fifth rate razee
Mars, pulled away from the engagement behind them under Rear-Admiral Johan Bloys van Treslong, coming under only distant fire from the ships of Onslow's division. Isolated, the Dutch rearguard were rapidly overwhelmed, Jupiter, Haarlem, Alkmaar and Delft all surrendering to Onslow's attack before 13:45, while the battered Monnikkendam was seized by the frigate Beaulieu.
, but Story ensured that there was no gap between his vessel and the flagship to break through, and their combined fire was so dangerous to the advancing Venerable that Duncan instead cut though behind Staaten Generaal, raking Story's ship twice and causing it to drift off in confusion as Duncan engaged Vrijheid from the east.
While Venerable had diverted south, Vrijheid had been attacked from the west by Ardent under Captain Richard Rundle Burges. The smaller British ship had soon suffered more than a hundred casualties, including Burges killed, under the combined fire of De Winter's flagship and the next ship ahead Admiraal Tjerk Hiddes De Vries. Only the arrival of Venerable alongside Vrijheid allowed Ardent a brief respite. During the fight, Burges' men "fought like maniacs", including the wife of one of the gunners who insisted on joining her husband at his gun, until her legs were torn off by cannonfire. Within a short period however both Venerable and Ardent were surrounded, as at least one of the frigates from the second line joined the attack on the two isolated British vessels. At the height of the combat, the colours and signal flags on Venerable were brought down by cannon fire. To ensure that there was no suggestion that the flagship had surrendered, a sailor named Jack Crawford
scrambled to the top of the mainmast and replaced them as the battle raged beneath him. To support Duncan, Captain William Essington of HMS Triumph and Captain Sir Thomas Byard of HMS Bedford
drove forward into the battle, Triumph coming close alongside the Dutch Wassenaar and opening a heavy fire while Bedford attacked Admiraal Tjerk Hiddes De Vries and Hercules. At the tip of the line, Beschermer was attacked by Belliqueux to starboard, Captain Inglis passing through the gap between Beschermer and Hercules. Ahead of this combat, the lead ships HMS Isis
and Gelijkheid fought alongside one another, Isis having failed to breakthrough the Dutch line and instead drawn up to port.
The Dutch central division joined the battle at the head of the line shortly after the engagement of Triumph and Bedford, causing considerable damage to all of the British vessels, particularly Venerable. The British flagship was soon isolated in the midst of the Dutch van, engaging Vrijheid, Staaten General, Admiral Tjerk Hiddes De Vries and Wassenaar simultaneously. Despite the heavy odds, Duncan continued to fight hard, the British succeeding in knocking out two opponents by killing Captain Hinxt of Beschermer, which drifted eastwards in confusion, while shots from either Bedford or Triumph set a powder barrel on Hercules on fire. The blaze on the latter ship, which soon spread to the sails and rigging, prompted a lull in the battle as the crew of Hercules desperately attempted to extinguish the blaze and other Dutch ships scrambled to escape the blazing vessel as it drifted through the melee. Shortly afterwards, the battered Wassenaar surrendered to Triumph, Captain Holland dead on his quarterdeck. Triumph then moved on towards the battle between Vrijheid and Venerable, at which the crew of Wassenaar raised their colours again after being fired on by a Dutch brig.
Following Onslow's victory over the Dutch rearguard, the admiral ordered the least damaged of his ships to sail in support of the outnumbered British ships in the melee at the Dutch van. Powerful and Director were the quickest to respond, joining the attack on Vrijheid at 14:00. Russell, driving northwards to join the attack, encountered the now extinguished Hercules, whose crew had thrown all of their ammunition overboard during the fire to prevent the ship exploding. The ship was thus defenceless, Commander Ruijsoort surrendering immediately. The remainder of the British fleet now arrived in the battle, Captain John Wells of HMS Lancaster
firing on the Beschermer near the head of the Dutch line. Aware that their vessel would be unable to resist the attack, Beschermer' s surviving officers turned away towards the shore, rapidly followed by the unengaged portions of the Dutch line. With the arrival of British reinforcements and the retreat of sections of the Dutch fleet, the battle was almost complete; the battered Wassenaar surrendered for the second time, to Russell, while the Admiraal Tjerk Hiddes De Vries and the Gelijkheid, both of which were too badly damaged to escape, also struck their colours. Eventually only the Dutch flagship remained in combat.
For an hour De Winter continued his resistance, with Director holding station off the stern of Vrijheid and repeatedly raking it. By 15:00, all three masts had been brought down, obstructing the fire of the starboard battery, while De Winter was the only officer who remained uninjured, standing on his wrecked quarterdeck and still refusing to lower his colours. In an attempt to settle the combat, Captain William Bligh
of Director closed to within 20 yards (18.3 m) of the Dutch flagship and demanded to know if De Winter surrendered. The Dutch admiral replied "What do you think about it?", and then attempted to personally raise signals demanding reinforcements from the rest of his fleet, only to find that the halyards had been shot away. De Winter then summoned the ship's carpenter and ordered him to repair his barge, so that the admiral could transfer command to another ship and continue the battle. When British sailors from Director boarded the drifting flagship, De Winter was discovered assisting the carpenter with repairs to the barge. On being informed that he was a prisoner of war
, he replied "This is my destiny not foreseen" and, after checking on a mortally wounded officer who lay on the quarterdeck, he followed the boarding party back to their boat for the trip to Venerable.
Casualties in the battle were very heavy on both sides, and historians such as William James
have noted that the losses among the British ships were proportionally much higher than when British fleets met French or Spanish opposition. This was attributed to the Dutch tactics, mirrored by the British, of firing at the enemy hulls rather than attempting to disable their masts and rigging as in other continental navies. The worst hit of the British ships were those in the first wave, such as Ardent with 148 casualties, Monarch with 136 and Belliqueux with 103, while both Adamant and Agincourt escaped without a single man killed or wounded. Among the dead were Captain Burges of Ardent and two lieutenants, while the wounded included Captain Essington of Triumph and twelve lieutenants. In total, British losses were recorded after the battle as 203 killed and 622 wounded, although later assessments based on charitable requirements of those wounded or killed gave the higher figures of 228 killed and 812 wounded, including 16 of the latter who subsequently died. Many of the British ships were badly damaged, taking on large quantities of water through damaged hulls. One of the worst hit was Venerable, which had to be completely dismantled and reconstructed after returning to Britain before the ship was ready for active service again.
Dutch casualty returns, particularly on the captured ships, were vague, and only partially complete. Among the losses were Captain Hinxt of Beschermer and Captain Holland of Wassenaar, both of whom were killed early in the battle. Also lost were Captain Van Rossum of Vrijheid, who was struck in the thigh by a cannonball and died shortly afterwards from the effects of the wound, and Admiral Reijntjes who died while a prisoner in England as a result of the wounds he suffered aboard Jupiter. His remains were subsequently returned to the Netherlands with full military honours. There were also large numbers of wounded among the Dutch fleet, including Rear-Admirals Bloys van Treslong and Story; one of the few Dutch officers to escape injury or death was De Winter himself, who later commented "It is a matter of marvel that two such gigantic objects as Admiral Duncan and myself should have escaped the general carnage of this day." In total, Dutch losses were later reported as 540 men killed and 620 wounded, with Vrijheid the worst hit with the loss of almost half of its total complement.
in his cabin with De Winter after dinner: when the Dutch admiral lost a rubber, he commented that it was hard to be beaten twice in one day by the same man. On 13 October, Duncan completed his official despatch and sent it ahead of his wallowing ships with Captain William George Fairfax
on the cutter Rose: he praised all of his men, reserving special mention for Trollope and the late Burges, whom he called a "good and gallant Officer . . . a sincere Friend". De Winter was permitted to send despatches to the Batavian government, in which he blamed Story and his centre for not maintaining the combat longer. He also attributed overwhelming British numbers to his defeat and suggested that he may have captured some of the British fleet if he had been better supported. When this letter was later published it provoked a storm of criticism in Britain, one officer describing it as "a garbled account which, for ought I know, might have been collected by people on shore who knew nothing of the action."
During the afternoon of 12 October, a gale sprang up which inflicted further damage to the battered ships and caused water to gush through the many shot holes in the ships' hulls. Aboard the Dutch ships, the situation was especially dangerous. Casualties had been significantly higher, particularly on Vrijheid, than on board the British vessels and the small numbers of British sailors placed aboard as prize crews were unable to cope alone, and in the high winds many masts collapsed to the deck and huge quantities of water leaked into the hulls.
The Delft, captured in the early stages of the battle, was under the command of the Dutch Lieutenant Heilberg and the British Lieutenant Charles Bullen
, with a small prize crew of 69 men. 93 Dutch prisoners had been removed, and among the remaining Dutch sailors were 76 wounded men. As the gale intensified, it rapidly became clear that despite a tow line attached from Veteran the ship would never reach Britain, and a large board was raised on deck with the chalked message "The ship is sinking". Reacting at once, boats from nearby ships organised an evacuation and began loading the Dutch prisoners for transfer to more seaworthy vessels. Bullen offered a place in the first rescue boat, from Veteran, to Heilberg, but the Dutch officer refused, gesturing to the immobile wounded who had been brought onto the maindeck as the lower decks had flooded and replying "But how can I leave these men?". In response, Bullen cried out "God bless you, my brave fellow! Here is my hand; I give you my word I will stay her with you!". The prize crew left on the second rescue boat sent from Russell, and Bullen and Heilberg waited for a third trip to bring them off with the remaining 30 wounded men and three junior Dutch officers who had also elected to stay. Before further help could arrive however, the Delft suddenly foundered, Bullen and Heilberg throwing themselves clear as the ship sank. Both were seen in the water but only Bullen reached safety, swimming to Monmouth alone.
Two other prizes were lost to the British fleet: Monnikkendam had been supplied with a prize crew of 35 men from Beaulieu, but had become separated during the gales and lost its remaining masts and spars. Jury masts were fitted, but they too collapsed and the hull was flooded to a depth of 14 feet (4.3 m). On 12 October, aware that the ship would soon founder, the prize master instructed the Dutch boatswain to run the ship onto the Dutch coast at West Kapel
. Local boats came out to the stranded vessel and all aboard were saved, the 35 British prisoners taken to a prison hulk at Flushing
. The ship itself was wrecked beyond repair and abandoned. The other captured frigate, Ambuscade, was also driven ashore in a sinking state and the prize crew made prisoner, but in that case the ship was salvaged and later returned to Dutch service.
In contrast to the British difficulties, the survivors of the Dutch fleet had few problems returning to the Texel, with the exception of Brutus. Admiral Bloys van Treslong had sailed for the coast off Hinder with two brigs, and was found there on 13 October by the 40-gun British frigate HMS Endymion
under Captain Sir Thomas Williams
. At 16:30, Endymion closed with the larger, but damaged, Dutch ship and opened fire, Brutus responding with a broadside
of its own. Williams successfully raked his opponent twice, but the complicated tides of the Dutch coast dragged his ship out of range at 17:30 before he could press his attack any further. Firing rockets in the hope of attracting attention from any of Duncan's ships, Williams was rewarded at 22:30 by the arrival of Beaulieu. On 14 October the frigates hunted for their opponents, and found the Dutch ships off the Goeree
channel at 05:00. The frigates closed, and Bloys van Treslong withdrew, passing deeper into Dutch waters and reaching safety at Maese by 07:00. With their quarry escaped, the British frigates returned to Duncan's struggling fleet.
and Captains Henry Trollope and William George Fairfax were knighted
. King George III
insisted on meeting Duncan personally, and on 30 October set out for Sheerness
in the royal yacht
HMY Royal Charlotte before strong winds and waves forced him back to port on 1 November. Unable to reach Duncan's flagship, the King instead rewarded the fleet as a whole by pardoning 180 men condemned for their role in the Nore Mutiny and held aboard the prison hulk HMS Eagle
in the River Medway
. Gold medals were created and presented to the captains and both Houses of Parliament
voted their thanks for their victory. All first lieutenants were promoted to commander and Duncan and Onslow were presented with valuable presentation swords valued at 200 and 100 guineas each respectively. Duncan was also given a pension of £2,000 a year by the government, made a freeman of numerous towns and cities and was subject to presentations from numerous patriotic societies, particularly in Scotland, where he was awarded valuable plate by both his birth city of Dundee
and the county of Forfarshire. A public subscription was taken up for the widows and wounded and raised £52,609 10s
and 10d (the equivalent of £ as of ), When Duncan travelled to a reception at The Guildhall
on 10 November, a mob surrounded his carriage in the street, unhitched the horses and dragged it themselves up Ludgate Hill
as a mark of respect. On 23 December, the King lead a thanksgiving procession and ceremony in St Paul's Cathedral
in London
at which Duncan carried De Winter's flag from Vrijheid and Onslow carried Reijntjes' flag from Jupiter, followed by Fairfax, Essington, Mitchell, Bligh, Walker, Trollope, Drury, O'Bryen, Gregory and Hotham as well as numerous seamen from the fleet. Five decades later the battle was among the actions recognised by a clasp attached to the Naval General Service Medal, awarded upon application to all British participants still living in 1847.
Not all of the reactions were positive: several of Duncan's captains were criticised for their failure to rapidly and decisively engage the enemy, including Captain Wells of Lancaster. The worst criticism fell on Captain John Williamson of Agincourt. Agincourt had been barely engaged in the battle and had suffered not one single casualty. As a result, Williamson was accused of failing to do his duty by Captain Hopper of Agincourt' s Royal Marines
and court-martialled on 4 December 1797, at Sheerness aboard Circe, on the charges of "disobedience to signals and not going into action" and "cowardice and disaffection". Williamson had a history of indecisiveness: in 1779, while a junior officer on Captain James Cook
's voyage to the Pacific Ocean
, Williamson had prevaricated about bringing boats to evacuate Cook from Kealakekua Bay
while under attack by Hawaiians. As a result, Cook was trapped on the beach and stabbed to death. At the conclusion of the trial on 1 January 1798, Williamson was found guilty of the first charge and not guilty of the latter, resulting in demotion to the bottom of the post captains list and prohibition from further naval service. Williamson was reported to have died in 1799, shortly after his dismissal from the service, but Edward Pelham Brenton
later claimed that he had instead gone into hiding under an assumed name and continued to draw his pension for many years. In the Batavian Republic, there were also recriminations against those officers who were deemed to have failed in their duty: De Winter's despatch from London after the battle placed much of the blame with six ships that had failed to follow his orders and had withdrawn early from the battle. Several officers were brought up on charges, including Admiral Bloys van Treslong who was convicted at court-martial and dismissed the service although later reinstated, and Commander Souter of Batavier who was convicted and imprisoned. Admiral Story was also criticised, particularly by De Winter, and was only permitted to keep his command once he had satisfied the Batavian government that he had had no option but to retreat.
All of the captured Dutch ships were bought into the Royal Navy, Gleijkheid, Vrijheid, Wassenaar, Haarlem and Alkmaar under their own names (although in most cases they were anglicised) and Admiraal Tjerk Hiddes De Vries as the simpler Devries. Two were completely renamed, due to the prior existence of ships with their names in the Royal Navy; Jupiter became HMS Camperdown and Hercules became HMS Delft. None of these ships was ever in sufficient condition for service in open waters: the damage suffered at Camperdown proved too severe for them to be fully repaired. In addition, ships of Dutch construction had lighter hulls and flatter bottoms than ships of other nations as they were designed to operate off the shallow waters of the Dutch coast, and as a result they were of little use to the ocean-going Royal Navy. All the prizes were immediately relegated to harbour duty, and none were used for front-line service. Although the prize court took several years to determine the prize money
that would be awarded for the battle, the initial estimates of £60,000 (the equivalent of £ as of ) proved pessimistic: Duncan and his men were eventually awarded £150,000 (the equivalent of £ as of ), although they were forced to defend a claim from the Russian Navy on behalf of the squadron that had reinforced Duncan in May. Since this force had played no part in the battle and had been considered a liability rather than a benefit by the British commanders, the claim was rejected, but legal fees and other claims reduced the eventual payment. Following the award of the first £10,000 instalment, Duncan was given the unique honour of permission to buy shares
on the London Stock Exchange
at ⅞ market price.
Although Camperdown was considered the greatest ever victory for a British fleet over an equal enemy force to that date, historian Noel Mostert has noted that it "was a battle that, with posterity, somehow lost rank and significance against the greater and more romantically glorious events that followed". Nevertheless, the effects of the action on the wider war were hugely important. The losses suffered by the Dutch Navy in ships, men and morale gave the Royal Navy superiority in the North Sea, a position enhanced by the disruption the battle caused to French negotiations for an alliance with what historian Edward Pelham Brenton describes as the "Northern Powers" of Scandinavia
. The destruction of the Dutch fleet at Camperdown was also a serious blow to French ambitions to invade Ireland, and denied their Atlantic fleet of essential reinforcements; it may even have played a part in Napoleon Bonaparte's decision to abandon efforts to attack Britain directly early in 1798. In 1799, a significant British and Russian expeditionary force landed in the Netherlands
supported by a large fleet under Lord Duncan. Assailed from both sea and land, the remainder of the Dutch Navy under Admiral Story capitulated without a fight: in what became known as the Vlieter Incident
, the political divisions between the officers and seamen resulted in a mutiny during which the Dutch sailors threw their ammunition overboard. In Britain, the public relief at the restoration of the Navy's authority in the aftermath of the spring mutinies was enormous and helped steady the wavering British government in their pursuit of the war by restoring confidence in British naval supremacy in home waters. Christopher Lloyd
notes that the events of 1797 led to "a new and blatant patriotism . . . [which] was centred on the achievements of 'our gallant tars'." A popular rhyme of the time reflected public feeling:
Although Duncan's initial tactics at the battle were reminiscent of those of Howe at the Glorious First of June, and his eventual attack has been compared to Nelson's tactics at the Battle of Trafalgar
in 1805, Duncan credited the tactical work Essay on Naval Tactics by John Clerk of Eldin
for inspiring his decisions on the day. Duncan was subsequently indirectly criticised some years after the battle by his colleague Earl St Vincent
, who had won the Battle of Cape St Vincent over a Spanish fleet nine months before Camperdown. In a letter complaining of Clerk's assertion that he had been responsible for all of the major naval victories of the war, St Vincent wrote that Duncan "was a brave officer, little versed in the subtleties of naval tactics, and who would have been quickly embarrassed by them. When he saw the enemy, he rushed upon him without thinking of such and such and order of battle. To conquer he calculated upon the brave example he set his captains, and the event justified his expectation." This assessment was refuted by Captain Hotham, who publicly responded that "the advanced season of the year and the close proximity of the enemy's coast all made what, upon another occasion, might have appeared haste imperatively necessary, for it was the prompt decision of the Admiral that occasioned the result". Some modern historians, such as Peter Padfield, have agreed with Hotham's assertion, with the added suggestion that Duncan's tactics during the battle might have had an influence on the newly promoted Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson, who was in England recovering from the loss of his right arm at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife
at the time of Camperdown. Duncan himself felt that he could have done more, noting that "We were obliged ... to be rather rash in our attack. Had we been ten leagues at sea none would have escaped." but some of the highest praise came from his erstwhile opponent, De Winter, who wrote that "Your not waiting to form line ruined me: if I had got nearer the shore and you had attacked, I should probably have drawn both fleets on it, and it would have been a victory for me, being on my own coast." Duncan's health deteriorated after the battle, forcing his retirement from the Navy in 1799 and contributing to his death at Cornhill-on-Tweed
in 1804.
De Winter's actions during in the battle have been commended: Edward Pelham Brenton wrote in 1836 that "The Dutch admiral displayed, in his own person, the most undaunted valour ... but was compelled at length to yield to superior skill, it would be untrue to say superior bravery." while William James noted in 1827 that after the battle ""Batavian prowess" still claimed the respect of an enemy and the applause of the world". De Winter was released from captivity in 1798 after news reached Britain that his wife had suffered a stroke
, and he subsequently became the Batavian ambassador to France, before resuming command of the Dutch fleet at the start of the Napoleonic Wars
. He was a trusted subordinate of Louis Bonaparte
, King of Holland between 1806 and 1810, and was honoured by Emperor Napoleon in 1811 before his sudden death in Paris
the following year.
The battle became a popular theme for contemporary artists and many paintings depicting it are held in National collections in the United Kingdom, including paintings by Thomas Whitcombe
and Philip de Loutherbourg in the Tate Gallery
, Whitcombe, Samuel Drummond
and Daniel Orme
at the National Maritime Museum
, and George Chambers, Sr.
and John Singleton Copley
at the National Gallery of Scotland
. In literature, the battle has played a central role in the 1968 novel Sea Road to Camperdown by Showell Styles
, and the 1975 novel The Fireship
by C. Northcote Parkinson
. The battle also inspired composers, such as Daniel Steibelt
, whose composition Britannia: An Allegorical Overture was created in honour of the victory and Jan Ladislav Dussek
, who created a composition entitled The Naval Battle and Total Defeat of the Dutch by Admiral Duncan in 1797.
The Royal Navy has commemorated the battle through the ships bearing the names HMS Camperdown
and HMS Duncan
, which have maintained close links with Duncan's hometown of Dundee. In Dundee, the Battle of Camperdown is commemorated at Camperdown House
, originally the Dundee seat of the Viscounts Camperdown, which was completed in 1828 and later became a public park and tourist attraction. The bicentennial of the battle was celebrated in Dundee in 1997 with the "Glorious Victory" exhibition at the city's McManus Galleries
in conjunction with Camperdown House and the National Museum of Scotland
. The exhibition became a popular tourist attraction and was viewed by more than 50,000 visitors. On 11 October a memorial service was held to remember the dead and a new statue of Admiral Duncan unveiled in the town.
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
as the Zeeslag bij Kamperduin) was a major naval action fought on 11 October 1797 between a Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan and a Dutch Navy fleet under Vice-Admiral Jan de Winter. The battle was the most significant action between British and Dutch forces during the French Revolutionary Wars
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
and resulted in a complete victory for the British, who captured eleven Dutch ships without losing any of their own. In 1795 the Dutch Republic
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
had been overrun by the army of the French Republic and had been reorganised into the Batavian Republic
Batavian Republic
The Batavian Republic was the successor of the Republic of the United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on January 19, 1795, and ended on June 5, 1806, with the accession of Louis Bonaparte to the throne of the Kingdom of Holland....
, a French client state. In early 1797, after the French Atlantic Fleet had suffered heavy losses in a disastrous winter campaign, the Dutch fleet was ordered to reinforce the French at Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
. The rendezvous never occurred; the continental allies failed to capitalise on the Spithead and Nore mutinies
Spithead and Nore mutinies
The Spithead and Nore mutinies were two major mutinies by sailors of the Royal Navy in 1797. There were also discontent and minor incidents on ships in other locations in the same year. They were not violent insurrections, being more in the nature of strikes, demanding better pay and conditions...
that paralysed the British Channel
Channel Fleet
The Channel Fleet was the Royal Navy formation of warships that defended the waters of the English Channel from 1690 to 1909.-History:The Channel Fleet dates back at least to 1690 when its role was to defend England against the French threat under the leadership of Edward Russell, 1st Earl of...
forces and North Sea fleets during the spring of 1797.
By September, the Dutch fleet under De Winter were blockade
Blockade
A blockade is an effort to cut off food, supplies, war material or communications from a particular area by force, either in part or totally. A blockade should not be confused with an embargo or sanctions, which are legal barriers to trade, and is distinct from a siege in that a blockade is usually...
d within their harbour in the Texel
Texel
Texel is a municipality and an island in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the biggest and most populated of the Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea, and also the westernmost of this archipelago, which extends to Denmark...
by the British North Sea fleet under Duncan. At the start of October, Duncan was forced to return to Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth, often known to locals as Yarmouth, is a coastal town in Norfolk, England. It is at the mouth of the River Yare, east of Norwich.It has been a seaside resort since 1760, and is the gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the sea...
for supplies and De Winter used the opportunity to conduct a brief raid into the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
. When the Dutch fleet returned to the Dutch coast on 11 October, Duncan was waiting, and intercepted De Winter off the coastal village of Camperduin
Camperduin
Camperduin is a small village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Bergen, and lies about 12 km northwest of Alkmaar....
. Attacking the Dutch line of battle
Line of battle
In naval warfare, the line of battle is a tactic in which the ships of the fleet form a line end to end. A primitive form had been used by the Portuguese under Vasco Da Gama in 1502 near Malabar against a Muslim fleet.,Maarten Tromp used it in the Action of 18 September 1639 while its first use in...
in two loose groups, Duncan's ships broke through at the rear and van and were subsequently engaged by Dutch frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
s lined up on the other side. The battle split into two melees, one to south, or leeward, where the more numerous British overwhelmed the Dutch rear and one to the north, or windward, where a more evenly matched exchange centred on the battling flagships. As the Dutch fleet attempted to reach shallower waters in an effort to escape the British attack, the British leeward division joined the windward combat and eventually forced the surrender of the Dutch flagship Vrijheid and ten other ships.
The loss of their flagship prompted the surviving Dutch ships to disperse and retreat, Duncan recalling the British ships with their prizes for the journey back to Yarmouth. En route, the fleet was struck by a series of gales and two prizes were wrecked and another recaptured before the remainder reached Britain. Casualties in both fleets were heavy, as the Dutch followed the British practice of firing at the hulls of enemy ships rather than their masts and rigging, which caused higher losses among the British crews than were normally experienced against continental nations. The Dutch fleet was broken as a fighting force, losing ten ships and more than 1,100 men. When British forces confronted the Dutch Navy again two years later in the Vlieter Incident
Vlieter Incident
The Vlieter incident was the surrender without a fight of a squadron of the navy of the Batavian Republic, commanded by Rear-Admiral Samuel Story, during the Anglo-Russian Invasion of Holland to the British navy on a sandbank near the Channel known as De Vlieter, near Wieringen, on August 30,...
, the Dutch sailors refused to fight and their ships surrendered en masse.
Background
In the winter of 1795, forces of the French Republic overran the neighbouring Dutch RepublicDutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
during the French Revolutionary Wars
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
. The French then reorganised the country as a client state
Client state
Client state is one of several terms used to describe the economic, political and/or military subordination of one state to a more powerful state in international affairs...
named the Batavian Republic
Batavian Republic
The Batavian Republic was the successor of the Republic of the United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on January 19, 1795, and ended on June 5, 1806, with the accession of Louis Bonaparte to the throne of the Kingdom of Holland....
, and it joined France against the allies in the War of the First Coalition. One of the most important Dutch assets of which the French gained control was the Dutch Navy, which had been captured in its frozen harbour in the Texel
Texel
Texel is a municipality and an island in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the biggest and most populated of the Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea, and also the westernmost of this archipelago, which extends to Denmark...
by French cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
advancing across the ice. The Dutch fleet provided a substantial reinforcement to the French forces in Northern European waters, which were principally based at Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
on the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
and whose main opponent was the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
's Channel Fleet
Channel Fleet
The Channel Fleet was the Royal Navy formation of warships that defended the waters of the English Channel from 1690 to 1909.-History:The Channel Fleet dates back at least to 1690 when its role was to defend England against the French threat under the leadership of Edward Russell, 1st Earl of...
. The location of the main anchorage of the Dutch fleet in the waters off the Texel prompted a reorganisation of the distribution of British warships in Northern European waters, with a new focus on the importance of the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
. With the Navy suffering severe shortages in men and equipment and with other theatres of war deemed more important, small, old and poorly maintained ships were activated from reserve and based in harbours in East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
, principally the port of Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth, often known to locals as Yarmouth, is a coastal town in Norfolk, England. It is at the mouth of the River Yare, east of Norwich.It has been a seaside resort since 1760, and is the gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the sea...
, under the command of Admiral Adam Duncan. The 65-year-old Duncan was a veteran of the wars of the War of the Austrian Succession
War of the Austrian Succession
The War of the Austrian Succession – including King George's War in North America, the Anglo-Spanish War of Jenkins' Ear, and two of the three Silesian wars – involved most of the powers of Europe over the question of Maria Theresa's succession to the realms of the House of Habsburg.The...
(1740–1748), the Seven Years War (1756–1762) and the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
(1775–1783) and had fought at numerous engagements with distinction and success. Standing at 6'4" he was also noted for his physical strength and size: a contemporary described him as "almost gigantic".
The French Navy
French Navy
The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...
had suffered a series of disasters in the opening years of the war, suffering heavy losses at the Glorious First of June
Glorious First of June
The Glorious First of June [Note A] of 1794 was the first and largest fleet action of the naval conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the First French Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars...
in 1794 and during the Croisière du Grand Hiver
Croisière du Grand Hiver
The Croisière du Grand Hiver was a French attempt to organise a winter naval campaign in the wake of the Glorious First of June.-Context:...
the following January. In the winter of 1796, after prompting from representatives of the United Irishmen (a society dedicated to ending British rule of the Kingdom of Ireland
Kingdom of Ireland
The Kingdom of Ireland refers to the country of Ireland in the period between the proclamation of Henry VIII as King of Ireland by the Crown of Ireland Act 1542 and the Act of Union in 1800. It replaced the Lordship of Ireland, which had been created in 1171...
), the French Atlantic fleet launched a large scale attempt to invade Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, known as the Expédition d'Irlande
Expédition d'Irlande
The Expédition d'Irlande was an unsuccessful attempt by the First French Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars to assist the outlawed Society of United Irishmen, a popular rebel Irish republican group, in their planned rebellion against British rule...
. This too ended in disaster, with twelve ships lost and thousands of men drowned in fierce winter gales. Their ambitions frustrated, the representatives of the United Irishmen, led by Wolfe Tone, turned to the new Batavian state for support and were promised assistance in the coming year by a united French and Dutch fleet. A plan was formulated to merge the French and Dutch fleets and attack Ireland together in the summer of 1797. Tone joined the staff of Vice-Admiral Jan de Winter on his flagship Vrijheid in the Texel
Texel
Texel is a municipality and an island in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the biggest and most populated of the Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea, and also the westernmost of this archipelago, which extends to Denmark...
and 13,500 Dutch troops were equipped in preparation for the operation, the fleet waiting only for the best moment to take advantage of westerly winds and sweep past the British blockade and down the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
.
Spithead Mutiny
For the Royal Navy the early years of the war had been successful, but the commitment to a global conflict was creating a severe strain on available equipment, men and financial resources. The Navy had expanded from 134 ships at the start of the conflict in 1793 to 633 by 1797, and personnel had increased from 45,000 men to 120,000, an achievement possible only as a result of the impressment serviceImpressment
Impressment, colloquially, "the Press", was the act of taking men into a navy by force and without notice. It was used by the Royal Navy, beginning in 1664 and during the 18th and early 19th centuries, in wartime, as a means of crewing warships, although legal sanction for the practice goes back to...
, which abducted criminals, beggars and unwilling conscripts for compulsory service at sea. Wages had not been increased since 1653 and were usually months late, rations were terrible, shore leave forbidden and discipline harsh. Tensions in the fleet had been gradually rising since the start of the war, and in February 1797, anonymous sailors from the Channel Fleet at Spithead
Spithead
Spithead is an area of the Solent and a roadstead off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds, except those from the southeast...
sent letters to their former commander Lord Howe
Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe
Admiral of the Fleet Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe KG was a British naval officer, notable in particular for his service during the American War of Independence and French Revolutionary Wars. He was the brother of William Howe and George Howe.Howe joined the navy at the age of thirteen and served...
, soliciting his support in improving their conditions. The list was deliberately ignored on the instructions of First Lord of the Admiralty Lord Spencer
George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer
George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer KG PC FRS FSA , styled Viscount Althorp from 1765 to 1783, was a British Whig politician...
, and on 16 April the sailors responded with the Spithead Mutiny: a largely peaceful strike action
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
led by a delegation of seamen from each ship tasked with negotiating with the authorities and enforcing discipline. For a month the fleet remained at stalemate, until Lord Howe was able to negotiate a series of improvements in conditions that enabled the strikers to return to regular service. The mutiny had achieved almost all of its aims, increasing pay, removing unpopular officers and improving conditions for the men serving in the Channel Fleet and ultimately the whole Navy.
While the upheaval continued at Spithead, Duncan had retained order in the North Sea fleet at Yarmouth by the sheer force of his personality. When men from his flagship HMS Venerable
HMS Venerable (1784)
HMS Venerable was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 19 April 1784 at Blackwall Yard.In 1797, Venerable served as Admiral Duncan's flagship at the Battle of Camperdown....
clambered up into the rigging and roared three cheers in a prearranged signal for the revolt to begin on 1 May, Duncan initially threatened to run the ringleader through with his sword. Calmed by his subordinates, he instead assembled his officers and the Royal Marines
Royal Marines
The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...
aboard his ship and advanced on the men in the rigging, demanding to know what they were doing. So fierce was his tone that the men fell silent and hesitantly returned to their quarters except five ringleaders whom he admonished personally on his quarterdeck before issuing a general pardon and dismissing them to their duty. The following week he assembled all of the men and demanded to know whether they would follow his orders: in response the crew nominated a spokesman, who apologised for their actions, saying "we humbly implore your honour's pardon with hearts full of gratitude and tears in our eyes for the offense we have given to the worthiest of commanders who has proved a father to us". A week later when a similar outbreak of mutiny affected the fourth rate ship HMS Adamant
HMS Adamant (1780)
HMS Adamant was a 50-gun Portland-class fourth rate warship of the British Royal Navy. She served during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars in a career that spanned thirty years....
under Captain William Hotham
William Hotham (1772–1848)
Sir William Hotham GCB was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars....
, Duncan again acted decisively, coming aboard Adamant as the crew rebelled and demanding to know if there was any man who disputed his authority. When a sailor stepped forward, Duncan seized him by his shirt and dangled him over the side of the ship with one arm crying, "My lads - look at this fellow - he who dares to deprive me of command of the fleet!" The mutiny evaporated almost instantly.
Nore Mutiny
Despite his initial success, Duncan was unable to retain control in the face of a more widespread revolt on 15 May among the ships based at the NoreNore
The Nore is a sandbank at the mouth of the Thames Estuary, England. It marks the point where the River Thames meets the North Sea, roughly halfway between Havengore Creek in Essex and Warden Point in Kent....
, which became known as the Nore Mutiny. Led by a sailor named Richard Parker, the Nore mutineers quickly organised and became a significant threat to water traffic in the Thames Estuary
Thames Estuary
The Thames Mouth is the estuary in which the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea.It is not easy to define the limits of the estuary, although physically the head of Sea Reach, near Canvey Island on the Essex shore is probably the western boundary...
. Duncan was informed that his fleet at Yarmouth might be ordered to attack the mutineers and although reluctant, responded that "I do not shrink from the business if it cannot otherwise be got the better of". When rumours of the plan reached the fleet at Yarmouth, the crew of Venerable also expressed their distaste with the plan, but reaffirmed their promise of loyalty to their admiral whatever the circumstances. News then arrived that the Dutch fleet under De Winter was preparing to sail, and Duncan's fleet was ordered by Lord Spencer to blockade the Dutch coast. Duncan issued orders for the fleet to weigh anchor, but the men disobeyed, ship after ship overthrowing their officers and joining the mutineers at the Nore. Eventually Duncan was left with only his own Venerable and Hotham's Adamant to contain the entire Dutch fleet. Duncan later wrote that "To be deserted by my own fleet in the face of the enemy is a disgrace which I believe never before happened to a British Admiral, nor could I have supposed it possible."
Aware that the escape of the Dutch fleet into the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
at such a vulnerable time could be disastrous for Britain, Duncan maintained position off the Texel for three days during which the wind was ideal for a Dutch foray, and he disguised his two vessels as different ships on each day and ordered the frigate HMS Circe
HMS Circe (1785)
HMS Circe was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1785 but not completed or commissioned until 1790...
to make a flurry of nonsensical signals to a fictitious British fleet beyond the horizon. He was subsequently joined by two additional ships, HMS Russell
HMS Russell (1764)
HMS Russell was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 10 November 1764 at Deptford.In 1782, she was commanded by Captain James Saumarez at the Battle of the Saintes. In 1794 she was part of Admiral Howe's fleet at the Glorious First of June, and in the following year...
and HMS Sans Pareil
HMS Sans Pareil (1794)
HMS Sans Pareil was an 80-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was formerly the French ship Sans Pareil, but was captured in 1794 and spent the rest of her career in service with the British.-French service:...
, and on the fourth day, with conditions still perfect for the Dutch, he anchored his squadron in the Marsdiep
Marsdiep
The Marsdiep is a deep tide-race between Den Helder and Texel in the Netherlands, and running southwards between sandbanks. That gap connects the North Sea and the Waddenzee....
channel and gave orders for them to fight until their ships sank, thereby blocking the channel. In a speech to his men, he announced that "The soundings are such that my flag will continue to fly above the water after the ship and her company have disappeared." The expected attack never came: the Dutch army that was to have joined the fleet was not prepared, and Duncan's misleading signals had successfully convinced De Winter that a large British fleet waited just beyond the horizon. The winds subsequently changed direction and on 10 June six more ships joined Duncan's squadron from the Channel Fleet and on 13 June a Russian squadron arrived. While Duncan had been at sea, the Nore Mutiny had acrimoniously fallen apart under blockade
Blockade
A blockade is an effort to cut off food, supplies, war material or communications from a particular area by force, either in part or totally. A blockade should not be confused with an embargo or sanctions, which are legal barriers to trade, and is distinct from a siege in that a blockade is usually...
by government forces. Cut off from food supplies and with public support decidedly against the mutiny, Parker issued threats that the ships under his control would be handed over to the French government. Fighting subsequently broke out between the radical leaders and the moderate majority of seamen and the ships gradually deserted Parker and returned to their anchorages, so that by 12 June only two ships still flew the red flag
Red flag
In politics, a red flag is a symbol of Socialism, or Communism, or sometimes left-wing politics in general. It has been associated with left-wing politics since the French Revolution. Socialists adopted the symbol during the Revolutions of 1848 and it became a symbol of communism as a result of its...
of the mutineers. Eventually the last rebellious ship, Parker's own HMS Sandwich
HMS Sandwich (1759)
HMS Sandwich was a 90-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 14 April 1759 at Chatham.Sandwich participated in the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1780, where she served as Admiral Rodney's flagship....
, surrendered on 14 June.
De Winter's cruise
By the middle of August 1797, after six weeks of constant easterly winds that kept his ships trapped in their harbour, De Winter decided that an attempt to join the French at Brest as the first stage of an invasion of Ireland was impractical and he abandoned the plan. In part this decision was due to the strength of Duncan's reconstituted fleet, which had increased to 17 ships of the line with the addition of the vessels returned from the Nore. Duncan's men were also better trained and more experienced than their Dutch counterparts, having spent considerably longer at sea and having been taught to fire three rounds a minute to the Dutch two. In addition to his concerns about the proficiency of his men, De Winter was also worried about their loyalty: the dominion of France over the Batavian Republic and the country's enforced participation in distant theatres of warfare were unpopular among the Dutch people. Although De Winter was an avowed republican, who had fought in the French ArmyFrench Army
The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces.As of 2010, the army employs 123,100 regulars, 18,350 part-time reservists and 7,700 Legionnaires. All soldiers are professionals, following the suspension of conscription, voted in...
against the Netherlands between 1793 and 1795, support for the House of Orange
House of Orange-Nassau
The House of Orange-Nassau , a branch of the European House of Nassau, has played a central role in the political life of the Netherlands — and at times in Europe — since William I of Orange organized the Dutch revolt against Spanish rule, which after the Eighty Years' War...
remained strong among the Dutch population and with the fleet's sailors. Wolfe Tone wrote in frustration that "The destiny of Europe might have been changed for ever . . . the great occasion is lost, and we must do as well as we can."
When news of this decision reached the Admiralty, they recalled Duncan's blockade fleet to Yarmouth for a refit on 1 October, the admiral insisting on sending some of his ships back to the Dutch coast two days later under Captain Henry Trollope
Henry Trollope
Admiral Sir Henry Trollope, GCB was an officer of the British Royal Navy.-Early career:He entered the navy at the age of 14. In the American Revolutionary War he served aboard HMS Captain and HMS Asia. He fought at the battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill and the Siege of Boston...
in HMS Russell accompanied by HMS Adamant and the small ships HMS Beaulieu, HMS Circe and HMS Martin
HMS Martin (1790)
HMS Martin was a 16-gun sloop of the Royal Navy.-Construction and commissioning:Martin was a , built to a design by John Henslow and ordered from Woolwich Dockyard on 17 January 1788. She was worked on by Master Shipwright John Nelson until August 1790, after which she was completed by William Rule...
with the hired lugger
Lugger
A lugger is a class of boats, widely used as traditional fishing boats, particularly off the coasts of France, Scotland and England. It is a small sailing vessel with lugsails set on two or more masts and perhaps lug topsails.-Defining the rig:...
Black Joke
Hired armed cutter Black Joke
The hired armed cutter Black Joke was a cutter of ten 6-pounder guns and 9886/94 tons burthen that served the Royal Navy from 12 January 1795 to 19 October 1801...
. Their arrival off Texel on 6 October coincided with De Winter's much delayed expedition. Although some sources, particularly in France, have claimed that De Winter was determined to bring Duncan to battle, in reality he was more concerned that his men were disaffected and inexperienced by their long stay in port, and had reluctantly acceded to orders from the Batavian government to conduct a brief sweep in the Southern North Sea in search of weak British forces that could be overwhelmed by his fleet or drawn into the dangerous shallow waters of the Dutch coastline. He may also have been hoping to resurrect the plan to augment the French at Brest if he was able to pass westwards down the English Channel undetected. His fleet consisted of 16 ships of the line and a number of smaller support craft, and his orders from The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
included instructions to remember "how frequently Dutch Admirals have maintained the honour of the Dutch flag, even when the enemy's forces were sometimes superior to theirs." Preparing the ships for sea took some time, and the Dutch did not manage to leave the Texel until 10:00 on 8 October, De Winter turning southwest in the hope of linking with another Dutch ship of the line at the mouth of the River Maas. Within hours, Trollope had discovered and followed De Winter.
The Dutch fleet was watched constantly by the ships Duncan had sent to observe them, and when Dutch preparations to sail were observed a message was sent back to Duncan informing him of the Dutch movements. The despatch vessel flew the signal for an enemy as it entered Yarmouth roads early in the morning on 9 October, so that by the time it had docked the British fleet was already preparing to sail, Duncan sending the final message to the Admiralty: "The wind is now in the NE and [I] shall make good course over to them, and if it please God, hope to get at them. The squadron under my command are unmoored and I shall put to sea immediately." Before midday, Duncan had sailed with the 11 ships that were ready and steered for the mouth of the Texel, intending to intercept De Winter on his return. By evening his fleet was at full strength, three stragglers having rejoined, and on the afternoon of 10 October his ships were anchored off the Dutch port, scouts reporting 22 merchant ships in the harbour but no sign of De Winter's warships. Since leaving the Texel, De Winter had been unable to escape from Trollope's ships: on the evening of 10 October, several Dutch vessels were detached to drive his squadron away while the Dutch fleet lay off the Maas, but could not close with the faster British vessels. Having failed to make the rendezvous off the Maas, De Winter then turned to the northwest, cruising off Lowestoft
Lowestoft
Lowestoft is a town in the English county of Suffolk. The town is on the North Sea coast and is the most easterly point of the United Kingdom. It is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and south-east of Norwich...
in Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
and again unsuccessfully attempting to drive away Trollope's squadron. There, reports from Dutch fishing vessels of Duncan's appearance off the Texel reached De Winter and he immediately recalled his ships and ordered the fleet to turn back towards the Dutch coast, aiming for the village of Scheveningen. Meanwhile, further messages from Trollope reporting the Dutch movements had reached Duncan and he turned his fleet west, following the Dutch coastline. At 07:00 on the morning of 11 October Trollope's squadron sighted sails to the northeast and, after confirming that they were Duncan's fleet, signalled that the Dutch fleet was approximately 3 nautical miles (5.6 km) further to the southwest, becoming visible to the fleet by 08:30. The first clear sighting was reported by Captain Peter Halkett
Sir Peter Halkett, 6th Baronet
Admiral Sir Peter Halkett, 6th Baronet was a senior Royal Navy officer of the early nineteenth century who is best known for his service in the French Revolutionary Wars. The younger son a Scottish baronet, Halkett joined the Navy and by 1793 was a lieutenant, becoming a post captain after service...
of Circe, who had climbed the mainmast to get a better view. At this point, the Dutch were sailing towards land, approximately 9 nautical miles (16.7 km) off the coast of Noord-Holland, close to the village of Camperduin
Camperduin
Camperduin is a small village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Bergen, and lies about 12 km northwest of Alkmaar....
. The weather was poor, with heavy seas and strong wind from the southeast broken by frequent rain squalls, but this did not prevent hundreds of Dutch civilians gathering on the dunes to watch the impending combat.
Duncan's attack
At 09:00, Duncan made the signal "Prepare for battle" while De Winter organised his ships into a line of battleLine of battle
In naval warfare, the line of battle is a tactic in which the ships of the fleet form a line end to end. A primitive form had been used by the Portuguese under Vasco Da Gama in 1502 near Malabar against a Muslim fleet.,Maarten Tromp used it in the Action of 18 September 1639 while its first use in...
to meet the British attack in a solid defensive formation, sailing on the port tack in a northeasterly heading. As they manoeuvred into their assigned stations, the Dutch fleet drew closer to the shore. Duncan intended to follow Lord Howe's manoeuvres at the Glorious First of June
Glorious First of June
The Glorious First of June [Note A] of 1794 was the first and largest fleet action of the naval conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the First French Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars...
three years earlier and bring each ship through the Dutch line between two opponents, but the Dutch formation and proximity to the shore rendered this plan impractical. To compensate, Duncan signalled for his ships to form line and sail southeast on the port tack so that they had the wind directly behind them. Shortly afterwards, concerned that the Dutch might make the shoreline before he could bring them to battle despite his wry insistence that "I am determined to fight the ships on land if I cannot by sea", Duncan ordered his fleet to turn southwards and advance on the enemy and "bear up and sail large". He fired signal guns to alert his captains and then ordered them to "engage the enemy as arriving up" and for his van to attack the Dutch rear. At 11:00 Duncan sought to remedy increasing gaps between his vessels by ordering the faster ships to slow down and wait for their compatriots. He then made an effort to re-establish the line on the starboard tack before realising that the Dutch fleet was still in order awaiting the British attack and continually drawing closer to the dangerous coastline. Abandoning his previous signals, Duncan ordered the entire fleet to turn towards the Dutch and attack directly, each ship to "steer for and engage her opponent". Many of these signals were poorly executed and incorrect, visibility was low and Trollope's squadron was still using obsolete signal codes, so a number of vessels failed to comprehend Duncan's intentions, turning the advancing line into a ragged pattern of scattered vessels clustered into two loose groups. The flurry of orders was so quick and contradictory that at least one captain gave up entirely: the Scottish Captain John Inglis of HMS Belliqueux
HMS Belliqueux (1780)
HMS Belliqueux was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 5 June 1780 at Blackwall Yard, London. She was named after the French ship captured in 1758....
threw his signal book to the deck in frustration and shouted "Up wi' the hel'lem and gang into the middle o't!"
The combined effect of Duncan's orders was to split his fleet into two uneven divisions, each sailing in a loose formation towards the unified Dutch line. The northern or windward division comprised six third rate ships of the line, two fourth rate ships and the frigate Circe, tasked with repeating signals from the flagship Venerable, which led the division with HMS Triumph
HMS Triumph (1764)
HMS Triumph was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 3 March 1764 at Woolwich.In 1797, she took part in the Battle of Camperdown, and in 1805 Triumph was part of Admiral Calder's fleet at the Battle of Cape Finisterre....
and HMS Ardent
HMS Ardent (1796)
HMS Ardent was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 9 April 1796 at Northfleet. She had been designed and laid down for the Honourable East India Company, but was purchased by the Navy after the outbreak of the French Revolutionary War.In 1801, Ardent took part in the...
close behind. This force was aiming for the Dutch flagship Vrijheid, which lay fifth in the Dutch line. The southern or leeward division comprised eight third rate ships of the line and the repeater frigate HMS Beaulieu, and was led by Vice-Admiral Richard Onslow
Sir Richard Onslow, 1st Baronet
Sir Richard Onslow, 1st Baronet GCB was an English naval officer who played a distinguished role at the Battle of Camperdown.-Naval career:...
on HMS Monarch
HMS Monarch (1765)
HMS Monarch was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 20 July 1765 at Deptford Dockyard.Monarch had a very active career, fighting in her first battle in 1778 at the First Battle of Ushant and her second under Admiral Rodney at Cape St. Vincent in 1780...
. Onslow's force was aiming for the rear of the Dutch line, to strike the fourth ship from the end. Behind the two divisions lay a line of small craft tasked with repeating Duncan's signals so that the entire fleet could see his intentions. At 11:53, Duncan raised the signal for each ship to pass through the Dutch line and attack from the far side, but the poor weather prevented the more distant ships from recognising the signal.
De Winter had originally intended to close his line up into a solid defensive platform and retreat to shallower waters while Duncan formed his own line of battle, but the sudden, disorganised British attack had thrown his plans into confusion. As a result, gaps had opened up between his van, centre and rear, leaving the last four ships greatly outnumbered and unsupported. De Winter gave urgent orders for the van and centre to drop back to assist the rear, but there was little time and his situation looked desperate: although the Dutch and British lines each mustered 16 ships, the British vessels were almost all larger and more strongly built than their Dutch counterparts and their crews were experienced seamen in the heavy weather conditions while the Dutch crews, confined to port for the previous year, had little understanding of the skills required in combat at sea. The Dutch line of battle was accompanied by a second line to the east, formed from ten frigates, brigs and smaller craft. These vessels, unlike the smaller ships with the British fleet, were well armed and situated so that their guns covered the gaps between the ships that formed the Dutch line of battle, ready to rake any British vessels that attempted to break through.
Collapse of the Dutch rear guard
At 12:05, Duncan raised the signal ordering his ships to engage the enemy closely. At the same time, the Dutch ship Jupiter under Rear-Admiral Hermanus Reijntjes, fourth from the southern end of the line, opened fire on the rapidly approaching Monarch. The Dutch ships had waited until the British were well within effective range in order to maximise the effect of their shot, and soon Onslow's flagship was under fire from the entire rearguard of the Dutch line, the ship suffering damage while attempting to break through the Dutch line between Jupiter and Haarlem at 12:30. On Monarch, Captain Edward O'BryenEdward O'Bryen
Rear-Admiral Edward O'Bryen was a British Royal Navy officer prominent in the late nineteenth century, who is best known for his participation at the Nore Mutiny and the Battle of Camperdown, both in 1797 during the French Revolutionary Wars...
remarked to Onslow that he could not see where his ship could pass between the closely formed Dutch ships, to which the admiral responded that "the Monarch will make a passage." Striking the small gap between the ships, Onslow fired raking
Raking fire
In naval warfare, raking fire is fire directed parallel to the long axis of an enemy ship. Although each shot is directed against a smaller target profile than by shooting broadside and thus more likely to miss the target ship to one side or the other, an individual cannon shot that hits will pass...
broadside
Broadside
A broadside is the side of a ship; the battery of cannon on one side of a warship; or their simultaneous fire in naval warfare.-Age of Sail:...
s into both vessels and then turned to lay his ship alongside Reyntjes' flagship. As he did so, the Dutch frigate Monnikkendam and the brig Daphné pulled out of the second line and attempted to fill the gap Monarch had created, firing into the British ship of the line as they did so. In response Onslow opened fire on the smaller vessels, destroying the frigate's wheel
Ship's wheel
A ship's wheel is the modern method of adjusting the angle of a boat or ship's rudder in order to cause the vessel to change its course. Together with the rest of the steering mechanism it forms part of the helm. It is typically connected to a mechanical, electric servo, or hydraulic system...
and damaging the rigging so that the ship fell back, followed later by the severely damaged brig.
Monarch was almost immediately followed by HMS Powerful
HMS Powerful (1783)
HMS Powerful was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 3 April 1783 at Blackwall Yard, London.In 1805 the ship arrived too late to take part in the Battle of Trafalgar but was then detached to reinforce the East India squadron. On 13th June 1806 she captured the French...
under Captain William O'Bryen Drury
William O'Bryen Drury
Rear-Admiral William O'Bryen Drury was a senior officer of the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. Drury served as commander of the ship of the line HMS Powerful during the French Revolutionary Wars, during which he was heavily engaged at the Battle of Camperdown, at which a Dutch fleet...
, which passed through the same gap, raked Haarlem again and poured a destructive fire into the wallowing Monnikkendam. At the same time HMS Montagu
HMS Montagu (1779)
HMS Montagu, sometimes spelled Montague, was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 28 August 1779 at Chatham Dockyard....
attacked Alkmaar, the next in line, from the west while HMS Russell under Captain Trollope attacked the last Dutch ship, the 56-gun Delft
Dutch ship Delft
The Delft was a Dutch 56-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the navy of the Dutch Republic and the Batavian Republic.The order to construct the ship was given on 27 May 1782 by the Admiralty of the Meuse...
. These attacks were accompanied by fire from HMS Monmouth
HMS Monmouth (1796)
HMS Monmouth was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 23 April 1796 at Northfleet. She had been designed and laid down for the Honourable East India Company, but was purchased by the Navy after the start of the French Revolutionary War.She was hulked in 1815, and...
, which passed between Alkmaar and Delft and raked both ships and from HMS Director
HMS Director (1784)
HMS Director was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 9 March 1784 at Gravesend. She was laid down speculatively in the November of 1779, and ordered by the Navy the following year....
, which passed up the Dutch line until it reached the battered Haarlem, engaging the ship at close range. The straggling HMS Veteran
HMS Veteran (1787)
HMS Veteran was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 14 August 1787 at East Cowes. She was designed by Sir Edward Hunt, and was the only ship built to her draught....
joined the northern part of the engagement, cutting across Jupiter and then turning in pursuit of the Dutch centre, while Adamant reached the fight late, joining the attack on the already battered Haarlem. Only HMS Agincourt
HMS Agincourt (1796)
HMS Agincourt was a 64-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 23 July 1796 at Blackwall Yard, London. She was bought from the East India Company in 1796, where she had been called Earl Talbot....
remained apart from the battle entirely, passing up the Dutch line at extreme range; one anecdotal account reports that on board Agincourt a stray shot passed high over the deck and an officer was seen to flinch, drawing a scornful call from the crew that "There is no danger yet, Sir".
In the confusion, the tail of the Dutch line disintegrated into a chaotic melee, with eight British ships of the line fighting four Dutch and the frigate Monnikkendam. So close was the action that the British ships found themselves at risk of firing into one another in the high seas, heavy rain and poor visibility. The Dutch centre, consisting of the ships of the line Brutus, Leijden and the fifth rate razee
Razee
A razee or razée is a sailing ship that has been cut down to reduce the number of decks. The word is derived from the French vaisseau rasé, meaning a razed ship.-Sixteenth century:...
Mars, pulled away from the engagement behind them under Rear-Admiral Johan Bloys van Treslong, coming under only distant fire from the ships of Onslow's division. Isolated, the Dutch rearguard were rapidly overwhelmed, Jupiter, Haarlem, Alkmaar and Delft all surrendering to Onslow's attack before 13:45, while the battered Monnikkendam was seized by the frigate Beaulieu.
Battle of the vanguards
While the Dutch rearguard was overwhelmed by British numbers, a more equal combat was being contested to the north. There the combat was centred around the two flagships, Duncan's Venerable engaging De Winter's Vrijheid 18 minutes after Monarch broke the line to the south. Duncan had originally intended to break the line between Vrijheid and the next ship Staaten Generaal under Rear-Admiral Samuel StorySamuel Story
Samuel Story was a vice-admiral of the navy of the Batavian Republic. He commanded the squadron that surrendered without a fight to the Royal Navy at the Vlieter Incident in 1799.-Early life:...
, but Story ensured that there was no gap between his vessel and the flagship to break through, and their combined fire was so dangerous to the advancing Venerable that Duncan instead cut though behind Staaten Generaal, raking Story's ship twice and causing it to drift off in confusion as Duncan engaged Vrijheid from the east.
While Venerable had diverted south, Vrijheid had been attacked from the west by Ardent under Captain Richard Rundle Burges. The smaller British ship had soon suffered more than a hundred casualties, including Burges killed, under the combined fire of De Winter's flagship and the next ship ahead Admiraal Tjerk Hiddes De Vries. Only the arrival of Venerable alongside Vrijheid allowed Ardent a brief respite. During the fight, Burges' men "fought like maniacs", including the wife of one of the gunners who insisted on joining her husband at his gun, until her legs were torn off by cannonfire. Within a short period however both Venerable and Ardent were surrounded, as at least one of the frigates from the second line joined the attack on the two isolated British vessels. At the height of the combat, the colours and signal flags on Venerable were brought down by cannon fire. To ensure that there was no suggestion that the flagship had surrendered, a sailor named Jack Crawford
Jack Crawford (sailor)
Jack Crawford was a sailor of the Royal Navy known as the "Hero of Camperdown."Crawford was born in Thornhill's Bank in the East End of Sunderland. He was a keelman until 1786 when, aged 11 or 12, he joined the crew of the Peggy at South Shields as an apprentice...
scrambled to the top of the mainmast and replaced them as the battle raged beneath him. To support Duncan, Captain William Essington of HMS Triumph and Captain Sir Thomas Byard of HMS Bedford
HMS Bedford (1775)
HMS Bedford was a Royal Navy 74-gun third rate. This ship of the line was launched on 27 October 1775 at Woolwich.-Early service:In 1780, Bedford fought at the Battle of Cape St Vincent...
drove forward into the battle, Triumph coming close alongside the Dutch Wassenaar and opening a heavy fire while Bedford attacked Admiraal Tjerk Hiddes De Vries and Hercules. At the tip of the line, Beschermer was attacked by Belliqueux to starboard, Captain Inglis passing through the gap between Beschermer and Hercules. Ahead of this combat, the lead ships HMS Isis
HMS Isis (1774)
HMS Isis was a 50-gun Portland-class fourth-rate of the Royal Navy. She saw service during the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars....
and Gelijkheid fought alongside one another, Isis having failed to breakthrough the Dutch line and instead drawn up to port.
The Dutch central division joined the battle at the head of the line shortly after the engagement of Triumph and Bedford, causing considerable damage to all of the British vessels, particularly Venerable. The British flagship was soon isolated in the midst of the Dutch van, engaging Vrijheid, Staaten General, Admiral Tjerk Hiddes De Vries and Wassenaar simultaneously. Despite the heavy odds, Duncan continued to fight hard, the British succeeding in knocking out two opponents by killing Captain Hinxt of Beschermer, which drifted eastwards in confusion, while shots from either Bedford or Triumph set a powder barrel on Hercules on fire. The blaze on the latter ship, which soon spread to the sails and rigging, prompted a lull in the battle as the crew of Hercules desperately attempted to extinguish the blaze and other Dutch ships scrambled to escape the blazing vessel as it drifted through the melee. Shortly afterwards, the battered Wassenaar surrendered to Triumph, Captain Holland dead on his quarterdeck. Triumph then moved on towards the battle between Vrijheid and Venerable, at which the crew of Wassenaar raised their colours again after being fired on by a Dutch brig.
Onslow's reinforcement
HMS Lancaster (1797)
HMS Lancaster was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 29 January 1797 at Rotherhithe. She was designed and built for the Honourable East India Company, but was purchased by the Navy after the start of the French Revolutionary War.She was sold out of the service in...
firing on the Beschermer near the head of the Dutch line. Aware that their vessel would be unable to resist the attack, Beschermer
For an hour De Winter continued his resistance, with Director holding station off the stern of Vrijheid and repeatedly raking it. By 15:00, all three masts had been brought down, obstructing the fire of the starboard battery, while De Winter was the only officer who remained uninjured, standing on his wrecked quarterdeck and still refusing to lower his colours. In an attempt to settle the combat, Captain William Bligh
William Bligh
Vice Admiral William Bligh FRS RN was an officer of the British Royal Navy and a colonial administrator. A notorious mutiny occurred during his command of HMAV Bounty in 1789; Bligh and his loyal men made a remarkable voyage to Timor, after being set adrift in the Bounty's launch by the mutineers...
of Director closed to within 20 yards (18.3 m) of the Dutch flagship and demanded to know if De Winter surrendered. The Dutch admiral replied "What do you think about it?", and then attempted to personally raise signals demanding reinforcements from the rest of his fleet, only to find that the halyards had been shot away. De Winter then summoned the ship's carpenter and ordered him to repair his barge, so that the admiral could transfer command to another ship and continue the battle. When British sailors from Director boarded the drifting flagship, De Winter was discovered assisting the carpenter with repairs to the barge. On being informed that he was a prisoner of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
, he replied "This is my destiny not foreseen" and, after checking on a mortally wounded officer who lay on the quarterdeck, he followed the boarding party back to their boat for the trip to Venerable.
Aftermath
De Winter was immediately taken to see Duncan, the Dutch officer holding out his sword as a token of surrender. Duncan refused the weapon, instead shaking De Winter's hand and insisting "I would much rather take a brave man's hand than his sword". In addition to the losses in the rear, five ships of the Dutch van had been captured as well as the frigate Ambuscade that had attacked from the second line. The remainder of the Dutch ships had fled, making rapid progress towards the coastal shallows. Duncan did not follow them: the Dutch coast between Kamperduin and Egmond was only 5 nautical miles (9.3 km) away, his ship lay in just 9 fathoms (18 yards (16.5 m)) of water and the weather was too fierce and his ships too battered to risk combat in shoal waters. Instead he ordered his ships to ensure control of their prizes and to return to Britain. Many ships were now undermanned due to the terrible casualties they had suffered: surgeon Robert Young of Ardent, the worst hit of the British ships, worked for more than twelve hours without a break and later wrote:Casualties in the battle were very heavy on both sides, and historians such as William James
William James (naval historian)
William M. James was a British lawyer turned naval historian who wrote important naval histories of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, 1793-1815.-Career:...
have noted that the losses among the British ships were proportionally much higher than when British fleets met French or Spanish opposition. This was attributed to the Dutch tactics, mirrored by the British, of firing at the enemy hulls rather than attempting to disable their masts and rigging as in other continental navies. The worst hit of the British ships were those in the first wave, such as Ardent with 148 casualties, Monarch with 136 and Belliqueux with 103, while both Adamant and Agincourt escaped without a single man killed or wounded. Among the dead were Captain Burges of Ardent and two lieutenants, while the wounded included Captain Essington of Triumph and twelve lieutenants. In total, British losses were recorded after the battle as 203 killed and 622 wounded, although later assessments based on charitable requirements of those wounded or killed gave the higher figures of 228 killed and 812 wounded, including 16 of the latter who subsequently died. Many of the British ships were badly damaged, taking on large quantities of water through damaged hulls. One of the worst hit was Venerable, which had to be completely dismantled and reconstructed after returning to Britain before the ship was ready for active service again.
Dutch casualty returns, particularly on the captured ships, were vague, and only partially complete. Among the losses were Captain Hinxt of Beschermer and Captain Holland of Wassenaar, both of whom were killed early in the battle. Also lost were Captain Van Rossum of Vrijheid, who was struck in the thigh by a cannonball and died shortly afterwards from the effects of the wound, and Admiral Reijntjes who died while a prisoner in England as a result of the wounds he suffered aboard Jupiter. His remains were subsequently returned to the Netherlands with full military honours. There were also large numbers of wounded among the Dutch fleet, including Rear-Admirals Bloys van Treslong and Story; one of the few Dutch officers to escape injury or death was De Winter himself, who later commented "It is a matter of marvel that two such gigantic objects as Admiral Duncan and myself should have escaped the general carnage of this day." In total, Dutch losses were later reported as 540 men killed and 620 wounded, with Vrijheid the worst hit with the loss of almost half of its total complement.
Return journeys
On Venerable, Duncan assembled all of those men fit to attend for a church service to "return thanks to Almighty God for all His mercies showered on them and him." For the next 24 hours the 66-year-old Duncan remained on duty without a break, organising the scattered fleet on its journey home. The British admiral did find time however to play a game of whistWhist
Whist is a classic English trick-taking card game which was played widely in the 18th and 19th centuries. It derives from the 16th century game of Trump or Ruff, via Ruff and Honours...
in his cabin with De Winter after dinner: when the Dutch admiral lost a rubber, he commented that it was hard to be beaten twice in one day by the same man. On 13 October, Duncan completed his official despatch and sent it ahead of his wallowing ships with Captain William George Fairfax
William George Fairfax
Sir William George Fairfax was a vice-admiral in the Royal Navy and the progenitor of the Fairfax Baronets. His most notable service was as Admiral Adam Duncan's flag captain on board HMS Venerable during the Battle of Camperdown on 11 October 1797.-Life:Born in 1739 the son of Captain John...
on the cutter Rose: he praised all of his men, reserving special mention for Trollope and the late Burges, whom he called a "good and gallant Officer . . . a sincere Friend". De Winter was permitted to send despatches to the Batavian government, in which he blamed Story and his centre for not maintaining the combat longer. He also attributed overwhelming British numbers to his defeat and suggested that he may have captured some of the British fleet if he had been better supported. When this letter was later published it provoked a storm of criticism in Britain, one officer describing it as "a garbled account which, for ought I know, might have been collected by people on shore who knew nothing of the action."
During the afternoon of 12 October, a gale sprang up which inflicted further damage to the battered ships and caused water to gush through the many shot holes in the ships' hulls. Aboard the Dutch ships, the situation was especially dangerous. Casualties had been significantly higher, particularly on Vrijheid, than on board the British vessels and the small numbers of British sailors placed aboard as prize crews were unable to cope alone, and in the high winds many masts collapsed to the deck and huge quantities of water leaked into the hulls.
The Delft, captured in the early stages of the battle, was under the command of the Dutch Lieutenant Heilberg and the British Lieutenant Charles Bullen
Charles Bullen
Sir Charles Bullen GCB GCH was a highly efficient and successful naval officer who served in the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and distinguished himself at the Glorious First of June, the battle of Camperdown and the battle of Trafalgar.-Career:Born in Newcastle in...
, with a small prize crew of 69 men. 93 Dutch prisoners had been removed, and among the remaining Dutch sailors were 76 wounded men. As the gale intensified, it rapidly became clear that despite a tow line attached from Veteran the ship would never reach Britain, and a large board was raised on deck with the chalked message "The ship is sinking". Reacting at once, boats from nearby ships organised an evacuation and began loading the Dutch prisoners for transfer to more seaworthy vessels. Bullen offered a place in the first rescue boat, from Veteran, to Heilberg, but the Dutch officer refused, gesturing to the immobile wounded who had been brought onto the maindeck as the lower decks had flooded and replying "But how can I leave these men?". In response, Bullen cried out "God bless you, my brave fellow! Here is my hand; I give you my word I will stay her with you!". The prize crew left on the second rescue boat sent from Russell, and Bullen and Heilberg waited for a third trip to bring them off with the remaining 30 wounded men and three junior Dutch officers who had also elected to stay. Before further help could arrive however, the Delft suddenly foundered, Bullen and Heilberg throwing themselves clear as the ship sank. Both were seen in the water but only Bullen reached safety, swimming to Monmouth alone.
Two other prizes were lost to the British fleet: Monnikkendam had been supplied with a prize crew of 35 men from Beaulieu, but had become separated during the gales and lost its remaining masts and spars. Jury masts were fitted, but they too collapsed and the hull was flooded to a depth of 14 feet (4.3 m). On 12 October, aware that the ship would soon founder, the prize master instructed the Dutch boatswain to run the ship onto the Dutch coast at West Kapel
Kapel (North Holland)
Kapel is a hamlet in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is located in the municipality of Heiloo, about 2 km south of Heiloo itself.The hamlet is named after the chapel of "Onze Lieve Vrouwe ter Nood", a pilgrimage site since 1409. Formerly, it was also known as Oesdom....
. Local boats came out to the stranded vessel and all aboard were saved, the 35 British prisoners taken to a prison hulk at Flushing
Flushing, Netherlands
Vlissingen is a municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the former island of Walcheren. With its strategic location between the Scheldt river and the North Sea, Vlissingen has been an important harbour for centuries. It was granted city rights in 1315. In the 17th century...
. The ship itself was wrecked beyond repair and abandoned. The other captured frigate, Ambuscade, was also driven ashore in a sinking state and the prize crew made prisoner, but in that case the ship was salvaged and later returned to Dutch service.
In contrast to the British difficulties, the survivors of the Dutch fleet had few problems returning to the Texel, with the exception of Brutus. Admiral Bloys van Treslong had sailed for the coast off Hinder with two brigs, and was found there on 13 October by the 40-gun British frigate HMS Endymion
HMS Endymion (1797)
HMS Endymion was a 40-gun fifth rate that served in the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars, the War of 1812 and during the First Opium War. She was built to the lines of the French prize captured in 1794...
under Captain Sir Thomas Williams
Thomas Williams (Royal Navy officer)
Admiral Sir Thomas Williams GCB was a senior British Royal Navy officer of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, who served in numerous theatres during the American Revolutionary War, French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars...
. At 16:30, Endymion closed with the larger, but damaged, Dutch ship and opened fire, Brutus responding with a broadside
Broadside
A broadside is the side of a ship; the battery of cannon on one side of a warship; or their simultaneous fire in naval warfare.-Age of Sail:...
of its own. Williams successfully raked his opponent twice, but the complicated tides of the Dutch coast dragged his ship out of range at 17:30 before he could press his attack any further. Firing rockets in the hope of attracting attention from any of Duncan's ships, Williams was rewarded at 22:30 by the arrival of Beaulieu. On 14 October the frigates hunted for their opponents, and found the Dutch ships off the Goeree
Goeree-Overflakkee
Goeree-Overflakkee is the southernmost delta island of the province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is separated from Voorne-Putten and Hoeksche Waard by the Haringvliet, from the mainland of North Brabant by the Volkerak, and from Schouwen-Duiveland by Lake Grevelingen.From west to east, it...
channel at 05:00. The frigates closed, and Bloys van Treslong withdrew, passing deeper into Dutch waters and reaching safety at Maese by 07:00. With their quarry escaped, the British frigates returned to Duncan's struggling fleet.
Effects
On 17 October 1797, Duncan's limping convoy began to arrive at Yarmouth to be greeted with great celebrations. Several ships were delayed, with three wallowing off Kentish Knock, three more in Hosley Bay and several still at sea due to an adverse northwesterly wind. News of the victory had already spread across Britain, and on 20 October Duncan was created Viscount Duncan of Camperdown and Baron Duncan of Lundie. Admiral Onslow was made a baronetOnslow Baronets
There have been two Baronetcies created for the Onslow family, one in the Baronetage of England and one in the Baronetage of Great Britain. Both titles are still extant....
and Captains Henry Trollope and William George Fairfax were knighted
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
. King George III
George III of the United Kingdom
George III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...
insisted on meeting Duncan personally, and on 30 October set out for Sheerness
Sheerness
Sheerness is a town located beside the mouth of the River Medway on the northwest corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 12,000 it is the largest town on the island....
in the royal yacht
Royal Yacht
A royal yacht is a ship used by a monarch or a royal family. If the monarch is an emperor the proper term is imperial yacht. Most of them are financed by the government of the country of which the monarch is head...
HMY Royal Charlotte before strong winds and waves forced him back to port on 1 November. Unable to reach Duncan's flagship, the King instead rewarded the fleet as a whole by pardoning 180 men condemned for their role in the Nore Mutiny and held aboard the prison hulk HMS Eagle
HMS Eagle (1774)
HMS Eagle was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 2 May 1774 at Rotherhithe.On 7 September 1776, the experimental American submarine Turtle, under the guidance of Army volunteer Sergeant Ezra Lee, attacked HMS Eagle, which was moored off what is today called Liberty...
in the River Medway
River Medway
The River Medway, which is almost entirely in Kent, England, flows for from just inside the West Sussex border to the point where it enters the Thames Estuary....
. Gold medals were created and presented to the captains and both Houses of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
voted their thanks for their victory. All first lieutenants were promoted to commander and Duncan and Onslow were presented with valuable presentation swords valued at 200 and 100 guineas each respectively. Duncan was also given a pension of £2,000 a year by the government, made a freeman of numerous towns and cities and was subject to presentations from numerous patriotic societies, particularly in Scotland, where he was awarded valuable plate by both his birth city of Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
and the county of Forfarshire. A public subscription was taken up for the widows and wounded and raised £52,609 10s
Shilling
The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere. The word is thought to derive...
and 10d (the equivalent of £ as of ), When Duncan travelled to a reception at The Guildhall
Guildhall, London
The Guildhall is a building in the City of London, off Gresham and Basinghall streets, in the wards of Bassishaw and Cheap. It has been used as a town hall for several hundred years, and is still the ceremonial and administrative centre of the City of London and its Corporation...
on 10 November, a mob surrounded his carriage in the street, unhitched the horses and dragged it themselves up Ludgate Hill
Ludgate Hill
Ludgate Hill is a hill in the City of London, near the old Ludgate, a gate to the City that was taken down, with its attached gaol, in 1780. Ludgate Hill is the site of St Paul's Cathedral, traditionally said to have been the site of a Roman temple of the goddess Diana. It is one of the three...
as a mark of respect. On 23 December, the King lead a thanksgiving procession and ceremony in St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
at which Duncan carried De Winter's flag from Vrijheid and Onslow carried Reijntjes' flag from Jupiter, followed by Fairfax, Essington, Mitchell, Bligh, Walker, Trollope, Drury, O'Bryen, Gregory and Hotham as well as numerous seamen from the fleet. Five decades later the battle was among the actions recognised by a clasp attached to the Naval General Service Medal, awarded upon application to all British participants still living in 1847.
Not all of the reactions were positive: several of Duncan's captains were criticised for their failure to rapidly and decisively engage the enemy, including Captain Wells of Lancaster. The worst criticism fell on Captain John Williamson of Agincourt. Agincourt had been barely engaged in the battle and had suffered not one single casualty. As a result, Williamson was accused of failing to do his duty by Captain Hopper of Agincourt
Royal Marines
The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...
and court-martialled on 4 December 1797, at Sheerness aboard Circe, on the charges of "disobedience to signals and not going into action" and "cowardice and disaffection". Williamson had a history of indecisiveness: in 1779, while a junior officer on Captain James Cook
James Cook
Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
's voyage to the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
, Williamson had prevaricated about bringing boats to evacuate Cook from Kealakekua Bay
Kealakekua Bay
Kealakekua Bay is located on the Kona coast of the island of Hawaii about south of Kailua-Kona.Settled over a thousand years ago, the surrounding area contains many archeological and historical sites such as religious temples, and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places listings on...
while under attack by Hawaiians. As a result, Cook was trapped on the beach and stabbed to death. At the conclusion of the trial on 1 January 1798, Williamson was found guilty of the first charge and not guilty of the latter, resulting in demotion to the bottom of the post captains list and prohibition from further naval service. Williamson was reported to have died in 1799, shortly after his dismissal from the service, but Edward Pelham Brenton
Edward Pelham Brenton
Captain Edward Pelham Brenton was an officer of the British Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars who military career was relatively quiet, apart from involvement in the capture of Martinique in 1809...
later claimed that he had instead gone into hiding under an assumed name and continued to draw his pension for many years. In the Batavian Republic, there were also recriminations against those officers who were deemed to have failed in their duty: De Winter's despatch from London after the battle placed much of the blame with six ships that had failed to follow his orders and had withdrawn early from the battle. Several officers were brought up on charges, including Admiral Bloys van Treslong who was convicted at court-martial and dismissed the service although later reinstated, and Commander Souter of Batavier who was convicted and imprisoned. Admiral Story was also criticised, particularly by De Winter, and was only permitted to keep his command once he had satisfied the Batavian government that he had had no option but to retreat.
All of the captured Dutch ships were bought into the Royal Navy, Gleijkheid, Vrijheid, Wassenaar, Haarlem and Alkmaar under their own names (although in most cases they were anglicised) and Admiraal Tjerk Hiddes De Vries as the simpler Devries. Two were completely renamed, due to the prior existence of ships with their names in the Royal Navy; Jupiter became HMS Camperdown and Hercules became HMS Delft. None of these ships was ever in sufficient condition for service in open waters: the damage suffered at Camperdown proved too severe for them to be fully repaired. In addition, ships of Dutch construction had lighter hulls and flatter bottoms than ships of other nations as they were designed to operate off the shallow waters of the Dutch coast, and as a result they were of little use to the ocean-going Royal Navy. All the prizes were immediately relegated to harbour duty, and none were used for front-line service. Although the prize court took several years to determine the prize money
Prize money
Prize money has a distinct meaning in warfare, especially naval warfare, where it was a monetary reward paid out to the crew of a ship for capturing an enemy vessel...
that would be awarded for the battle, the initial estimates of £60,000 (the equivalent of £ as of ) proved pessimistic: Duncan and his men were eventually awarded £150,000 (the equivalent of £ as of ), although they were forced to defend a claim from the Russian Navy on behalf of the squadron that had reinforced Duncan in May. Since this force had played no part in the battle and had been considered a liability rather than a benefit by the British commanders, the claim was rejected, but legal fees and other claims reduced the eventual payment. Following the award of the first £10,000 instalment, Duncan was given the unique honour of permission to buy shares
Share (finance)
A joint stock company divides its capital into units of equal denomination. Each unit is called a share. These units are offered for sale to raise capital. This is termed as issuing shares. A person who buys share/shares of the company is called a shareholder, and by acquiring share or shares in...
on the London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...
at ⅞ market price.
Legacy
| "They say they are going to make a Lord of our Admiral. They can't make too much of him. He is a heart of oak; he is a seaman every inch of him, and as to a bit of a broadside, it only makes the old cock young again." |
| Anonymous sailor, October 1797 |
Although Camperdown was considered the greatest ever victory for a British fleet over an equal enemy force to that date, historian Noel Mostert has noted that it "was a battle that, with posterity, somehow lost rank and significance against the greater and more romantically glorious events that followed". Nevertheless, the effects of the action on the wider war were hugely important. The losses suffered by the Dutch Navy in ships, men and morale gave the Royal Navy superiority in the North Sea, a position enhanced by the disruption the battle caused to French negotiations for an alliance with what historian Edward Pelham Brenton describes as the "Northern Powers" of Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
. The destruction of the Dutch fleet at Camperdown was also a serious blow to French ambitions to invade Ireland, and denied their Atlantic fleet of essential reinforcements; it may even have played a part in Napoleon Bonaparte's decision to abandon efforts to attack Britain directly early in 1798. In 1799, a significant British and Russian expeditionary force landed in the Netherlands
Anglo-Russian Invasion of Holland
The Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland refers to the campaign of 27 August to 19 November 1799 during the War of the Second Coalition, in which an expeditionary force of British and Russian troops invaded the North-Holland peninsula in the Batavian Republic...
supported by a large fleet under Lord Duncan. Assailed from both sea and land, the remainder of the Dutch Navy under Admiral Story capitulated without a fight: in what became known as the Vlieter Incident
Vlieter Incident
The Vlieter incident was the surrender without a fight of a squadron of the navy of the Batavian Republic, commanded by Rear-Admiral Samuel Story, during the Anglo-Russian Invasion of Holland to the British navy on a sandbank near the Channel known as De Vlieter, near Wieringen, on August 30,...
, the political divisions between the officers and seamen resulted in a mutiny during which the Dutch sailors threw their ammunition overboard. In Britain, the public relief at the restoration of the Navy's authority in the aftermath of the spring mutinies was enormous and helped steady the wavering British government in their pursuit of the war by restoring confidence in British naval supremacy in home waters. Christopher Lloyd
Christopher Lloyd (naval historian)
Charles Christopher Lloyd was a British naval historian, who served as Professor of History at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, 1962–1966.-Early life and education:...
notes that the events of 1797 led to "a new and blatant patriotism . . . [which] was centred on the achievements of 'our gallant tars'." A popular rhyme of the time reflected public feeling:
Although Duncan's initial tactics at the battle were reminiscent of those of Howe at the Glorious First of June, and his eventual attack has been compared to Nelson's tactics at the Battle of Trafalgar
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....
in 1805, Duncan credited the tactical work Essay on Naval Tactics by John Clerk of Eldin
John Clerk of Eldin
John Clerk of Eldin FRSE FSAScot was a Scottish merchant, naval author, artist, geologist and landowner. The 7th son of Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, Bt, Clerk of Eldin was a figure in the Scottish Enlightenment, best remembered for his influential writings on naval tactics in the Age of Sail.A...
for inspiring his decisions on the day. Duncan was subsequently indirectly criticised some years after the battle by his colleague Earl St Vincent
John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent
Admiral of the Fleet John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent GCB, PC was an admiral in the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom...
, who had won the Battle of Cape St Vincent over a Spanish fleet nine months before Camperdown. In a letter complaining of Clerk's assertion that he had been responsible for all of the major naval victories of the war, St Vincent wrote that Duncan "was a brave officer, little versed in the subtleties of naval tactics, and who would have been quickly embarrassed by them. When he saw the enemy, he rushed upon him without thinking of such and such and order of battle. To conquer he calculated upon the brave example he set his captains, and the event justified his expectation." This assessment was refuted by Captain Hotham, who publicly responded that "the advanced season of the year and the close proximity of the enemy's coast all made what, upon another occasion, might have appeared haste imperatively necessary, for it was the prompt decision of the Admiral that occasioned the result". Some modern historians, such as Peter Padfield, have agreed with Hotham's assertion, with the added suggestion that Duncan's tactics during the battle might have had an influence on the newly promoted Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson, who was in England recovering from the loss of his right arm at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1797)
The Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife was an amphibious assault by the Royal Navy on the Spanish port city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Launched by Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson on 22 July 1797, the assault was heavily defeated, and on 25 July the remains of the landing party ...
at the time of Camperdown. Duncan himself felt that he could have done more, noting that "We were obliged ... to be rather rash in our attack. Had we been ten leagues at sea none would have escaped." but some of the highest praise came from his erstwhile opponent, De Winter, who wrote that "Your not waiting to form line ruined me: if I had got nearer the shore and you had attacked, I should probably have drawn both fleets on it, and it would have been a victory for me, being on my own coast." Duncan's health deteriorated after the battle, forcing his retirement from the Navy in 1799 and contributing to his death at Cornhill-on-Tweed
Cornhill-on-Tweed
Cornhill-on-Tweed is a village and civil parish in Northumberland, in England about to the east of Coldstream.To the south and west of the village are the hamlets of West Learmouth and East Learmouth.- History :...
in 1804.
De Winter's actions during in the battle have been commended: Edward Pelham Brenton wrote in 1836 that "The Dutch admiral displayed, in his own person, the most undaunted valour ... but was compelled at length to yield to superior skill, it would be untrue to say superior bravery." while William James noted in 1827 that after the battle ""Batavian prowess" still claimed the respect of an enemy and the applause of the world". De Winter was released from captivity in 1798 after news reached Britain that his wife had suffered a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
, and he subsequently became the Batavian ambassador to France, before resuming command of the Dutch fleet at the start of the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
. He was a trusted subordinate of Louis Bonaparte
Louis Bonaparte
Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, Prince Français, Comte de Saint-Leu , King of Holland , was the fifth surviving child and the fourth surviving son of Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino...
, King of Holland between 1806 and 1810, and was honoured by Emperor Napoleon in 1811 before his sudden death in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
the following year.
The battle became a popular theme for contemporary artists and many paintings depicting it are held in National collections in the United Kingdom, including paintings by Thomas Whitcombe
Thomas Whitcombe
Thomas Whitcombe was a prominent British maritime painter of the Napoleonic Wars. Among his work are over 150 actions of the Royal Navy, and he exhibited at the Royal Academy, the British Institution and the Royal Society of British Artists...
and Philip de Loutherbourg in the Tate Gallery
Tate Gallery
The Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...
, Whitcombe, Samuel Drummond
Samuel Drummond
Samuel Drummond was a British painter, especially prolific in portraying and marine genre. His works are displayed particularly in the National Portrait Gallery, National Maritime Museum and the Walker Art Gallery.-Life:Drummond was born to Jane Bicknell and James Drummond, a London baker...
and Daniel Orme
Daniel Orme
Daniel Orme was an artist in England. He was born in Manchester in 1766. His father encouraged his interest in an artistic career. From 1785 to 1814 he lived in London, during which he studied at the Royal Academy. He became a painter and engraver in London. In 1814 he moved back to Manchester. He...
at the National Maritime Museum
National Maritime Museum
The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England is the leading maritime museum of the United Kingdom and may be the largest museum of its kind in the world. The historic buildings forming part of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site, it also incorporates the Royal Observatory, Greenwich,...
, and George Chambers, Sr.
George Chambers (painter)
George Hyde Chambers was an English marine painter.-Life and work:Chambers was born in a poor working-class area of Whitby, Yorkshire, the second son of a seaman; his mother took in lodgers. At the age of 8 years, he was working on the coal sloops in the town harbour...
and John Singleton Copley
John Singleton Copley
John Singleton Copley was an American painter, born presumably in Boston, Massachusetts, and a son of Richard and Mary Singleton Copley, both Irish. He is famous for his portrait paintings of important figures in colonial New England, depicting in particular middle-class subjects...
at the National Gallery of Scotland
National Gallery of Scotland
The National Gallery of Scotland, in Edinburgh, is the national art gallery of Scotland. An elaborate neoclassical edifice, it stands on The Mound, between the two sections of Edinburgh's Princes Street Gardens...
. In literature, the battle has played a central role in the 1968 novel Sea Road to Camperdown by Showell Styles
Showell Styles
Frank Showell Styles was a Welsh writer and mountaineer.Showell Styles was born in Four Oaks, Birmingham and was educated at Bishop Vesey's Grammar School, Sutton Coldfield. Known to his friends as 'Pip', Showell Styles' childhood was spent in the hills of North Wales where he became an avid...
, and the 1975 novel The Fireship
The Fireship (novel)
The Fireship is one of a series of nautical novels by C. Northcote Parkinson. It is set in the late 18th century, when Britain was at war with Revolutionary France. Parkinson's hero is a junior naval officer...
by C. Northcote Parkinson
C. Northcote Parkinson
Cyril Northcote Parkinson was a British naval historian and author of some sixty books, the most famous of which was his bestseller Parkinson's Law, which led him to be also considered as an important scholar within the field of public administration.-Early life and education:The youngest son of...
. The battle also inspired composers, such as Daniel Steibelt
Daniel Steibelt
Daniel Gottlieb Steibelt , was a German pianist and composer who died in Saint Petersburg, Russia.-Life and music:Daniel Steibelt was born in Berlin, and studied music with Johann Kirnberger before being forced by his father to join the Prussian army. Deserting, he began a nomadic career as a...
, whose composition Britannia: An Allegorical Overture was created in honour of the victory and Jan Ladislav Dussek
Jan Ladislav Dussek
Jan Ladislav Dussek was a Czech composer and pianist. He was an important representative of Czech music abroad in the second half of 18th century and the beginning of 19th century...
, who created a composition entitled The Naval Battle and Total Defeat of the Dutch by Admiral Duncan in 1797.
The Royal Navy has commemorated the battle through the ships bearing the names HMS Camperdown
HMS Camperdown
Four ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Camperdown after the Battle of Camperdown in 1797: was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line, previously the Dutch Jupiter. She was captured at the Battle of Camperdown in 1797 and was sold in 1817....
and HMS Duncan
HMS Duncan
Seven Royal Navy ships have been named HMS Duncan, after Admiral Adam Duncan, 1st Viscount Duncan of Camperdown, hero of the Battle of Camperdown....
, which have maintained close links with Duncan's hometown of Dundee. In Dundee, the Battle of Camperdown is commemorated at Camperdown House
Camperdown Country Park
Camperdown Country Park, often known as just Camperdown Park, is a public park in the Camperdown area of Dundee, Scotland. The park comprises the former grounds of Camperdown House, a 19th-century mansion, which was bought by the city in 1946. Camperdown Park is home to a wildlife centre and...
, originally the Dundee seat of the Viscounts Camperdown, which was completed in 1828 and later became a public park and tourist attraction. The bicentennial of the battle was celebrated in Dundee in 1997 with the "Glorious Victory" exhibition at the city's McManus Galleries
McManus Galleries
McManus Galleries is a Gothic Revival-style building, located in the centre of Dundee, Scotland. The building houses a museum and art gallery with a collection of fine and decorative art as well as a natural history collection....
in conjunction with Camperdown House and the National Museum of Scotland
National Museum of Scotland
The National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland, was formed in 2006 with the merger of the Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture and history, and the Royal Museum next door, with collections covering science and technology, natural history, and world...
. The exhibition became a popular tourist attraction and was viewed by more than 50,000 visitors. On 11 October a memorial service was held to remember the dead and a new statue of Admiral Duncan unveiled in the town.