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Naval battles
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The
action of 12 March 1672
was a naval battle in the
Third Anglo-Dutch War
between a squadron commanded by [[Robert Holmes (Royal Navy officer)
|Sir Robert Holmes]] and
Sir Frescheville Holles
against the
Smyrna
convoy, which was protected by 5 warships under De Haaze and
Cornelis Evertsen
.
[1]
The Battle took place before the official start of the conflict, but now there was no turning back and England declared war on the
Dutch Republic
on March 17, 1672.
Battle
[
edit
]
Sir Robert Holmes
with a squadron of 5 ships cruising about the
Isle of Wight
, met with the Dutch Smyrna fleet, consisting of about 50 sail.
[2]
When the English fleet closed in with the Smyrna convoy, Holmes ordered Captain De Haaze to come aboard his ship. De Haaze refused, and English ship the "Saint Michael" reacted to this refusal with a broadside after which De Haaze's ship replied in kind, and the engagement became general. At a certain point during the battle Haaze was killed, but his crew kept resisting. Holmes maintained the engagement until sunset, but failed to capture a single ship while his squadron had suffered severe damage. With dawn the action resumed. Four English warships which had hung back the day before now joined the battle. After another whole day of fighting, Evertsen managed to extract 62 merchantmen from danger. The Dutch during the engagement had lost 1 warship and only lost 4 merchantmen of which only 2 were of any value. The English ships had suffered severe damage with one ship disabled.
The
Gloucester'
s prize the
Klein Hollandia
which she had disabled and captured, later
foundered
off
Eastbourne
.
[3]
Ships involved
[
edit
]
The following details are from
British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1603?1714
.
[1]
Holmes' squadron
Vessel
|
Guns
|
Saint Michael
|
90
|
Resolution
|
70
|
Cambridge
|
70
|
Gloucester
|
62
|
York
|
60
|
Fairfax
|
60
|
Diamond
|
48
|
Success
|
32
|
De Haaze's squadron
Vessel
|
Guns
|
Vlissingen
|
50
|
Utrecht
|
48
|
Klein Hollandia
|
44
|
Dordrecht
|
44
|
Delft
|
36
|
Sources
[
edit
]
- Shomette, Donald G.; Haslach, Robert D. (1988).
Raid on America: The Dutch Naval campaign of 1672-1674
. University of South Carolina Press.
ISBN
978-0788422454
.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Winfield, Rif (10 March 2010).
British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1603?1714
.
Pen & Sword Books
.
ISBN
9781783469246
.
- ^
Roberts, Alice; Nubia, Onyeka (1 January 2023). "Alice Roberts reveals a Dutch ship sunk by the English, a Cornish Roman fort and a 5,000-year-old Neolithic monument. Series 10: Episode 4.".
Digging for Britain
. BBC
. Retrieved
30 January
2023
.
Sir Robert Holmes with a squadron of 5 ships cruising about the Isle of Wight, met with the Dutch Smyrna fleet, consisting of about 50 sail. Quote taken from A contemporary pamphlet "A true and perfect relation of the great victory obtained over the Dutch" which gives a date of 13 March 1672 for the action.
- ^
Davies, Caroline (27 January 2023).
"
'Remarkable': Eastbourne shipwreck identified as 17th-century Dutch warship"
. Guardian
. Retrieved
27 January
2023
.
A remarkably preserved shipwreck known only as the "unknown wreck off Eastbourne" has finally been identified as the 17th-century Dutch warship
Klein Hollandia
. Its identity has been confirmed after painstaking research by archaeologists and scientists after its initial discovery in 2019, having lain 32 metres (105ft) underwater on the seabed since 1672. the Klein Hollandia warship which was built in 1656 and owned by the Admiralty of Rotterdam.