- Battle of Texel
Infobox Military Conflict
caption="The Battle of the Texel, 11/21 August 1673 " byWillem van de Velde, the younger , painted1683 . The ship at the centre is Dutch AdmiralCornelis Tromp 's flagship "Gouden Leeuw ", 82 guns.
conflict= Battle of Texel
partof=Franco-Dutch War
date=August 21 ,1673
place=Texel
result=Dutch Victory
combatant1=Dutch Republic
combatant2=England France
commander1=Michiel de Ruyter Cornelis Tromp
commander2=Prince Rupert of the Rhine Jean II d'Estrées
strength1=~75 warships, 30 fireships
strength2=~92 warships, 30 fireships
casualties1=No Ships Lost
casualties2=No Ships Lost:"For the1653 battle that partly took place nearTexel , see theBattle of Scheveningen "The naval Battle of
Texel or Battle of Kijkduin took place on21 August 1673 (11 August O.S.) between the Dutch and the combined English and French fleets and was the last major battle of theThird Anglo-Dutch War , which was itself part of theFranco-Dutch War (1672-1678), during whichLouis XIV of France invaded the Republic and sought to establish control over theSpanish Netherlands . The English involvement came about because of theTreaty of Dover secretly concluded byCharles II of England and was highly unpopular with the English Parliament.The overall commanders of the English and Dutch military forces were Lord High Admiral James, Duke of York, afterwards King
James II of England , and Admiral-GeneralWilliam III of Orange , James' son-in-law and also a future King of England. Neither of them took part in the fight. The Battle of Texel was joined when a Dutch fleet sought to oppose the landing of troops by a combined Anglo-French fleet.Prince Rupert of the Rhine commanded the Allied fleet of about 92 ships and 30 fireships, taking control of the centre himself, withJean II d'Estrées commanding the van, and SirEdward Spragge the rear division. The Dutch fleet of 75 ships and 30 fireships was commanded by Lieutenant-Admiral-GeneralMichiel de Ruyter , with Lieutenant-AdmiralsAdriaen Banckert in charge of the van andCornelis Tromp the rear. The Dutch were under an even greater disadvantage than the above numbers show, as Dutch warships were on the average smaller than both their English and French opponents.De Ruyter first decided not to leave his defensive position in the
Schooneveld , from which he had successfully engaged the allied fleet in the doubleBattle of Schooneveld , but was ordered to do so by stadtholder William in order to save the Spice Fleet returning from the Indies.Although outnumbered, De Ruyter gained the
weather gauge and sent his van under Adriaen Banckert in to separate the Allied van (under D'Estrées) from the main fleet. His ploy was effective, and the French ships were unable to play a significant part in the remainder of the battle, which became a gruelling encounter between the bulk of the Dutch fleet and the English centre and rear divisions. Both suffered badly during hours of fierce fighting.Spragge and Tromp, commanding their respective rear divisions, clashed repeatedly — Spragge had publicly sworn an oath in front of King Charles that this time he would either kill or capture his old enemy Tromp — each having their ships so damaged as to need to shift their flags to fresh ships three times. On the third occasion, Spragge drowned when his boat took a shot and sank.
Because of Spragge's preoccupation with duelling Tromp, the English centre had separated from the rear, clashing with the Dutch centre under De Ruyter and Lieutenant-Admiral
Aert Jansse van Nes . The fight raged for hours, due to turnings of the wind each side suddenly gaining or losing the advantage of the weather gauge. Banckert managed to disengage from the French and joined the Dutch centre, upon which Rupert decided to move north to the rear squadron to prevent that he would have to fight a superior Dutch force, followed by De Ruyter with the mass of his ships. The fight then focused on an attempt by the Dutch to capture Spragge's abandoned flag ship, the "Royal Prince", which in the end failed.With both fleets exhausted, the English eventually abandoned their attempt to land troops (the landing force was still waiting in England to be shipped), and both sides retired. No ship was sunk, but many were seriously damaged and about 3,000 men died: two-thirds of them English or French. After the battle Prince Rupert complained that the French had not done their share of the fighting, but historians ascribe the lack of French impact on the battle to de Ruyter's brilliant fleet handling. It's true however that Count d'Estrées had strict orders from Louis XIV not to endanger the French fleet, as he himself admitted after the battle. Despite its inconclusive finish, the battle was a clear strategic victory for the Dutch.
In the months following, the Netherlands formed an alliance with Spain and the French withdrew from the territory of the Republic. The Third Anglo-Dutch War came to an end with the signing of the Treaty of Westminster between the English and the Dutch in
1674 . Only in1781 would the Dutch and British fleets fight each other again.Ships involved:
England
? [cf "Journals and Narratives of the Third Dutch War", Roger Charles Anderson, Naval Records Society, London. Complete English ship lists are given for the naval battles of this war.] John Winkler
The Netherlands
"Admiralty of Amsterdam"
Ships of the line:
"Akerboom" 62 (Jacob Teding van Berkhout)
"Stad Utrecht" 66 (Jan Davidszoon Bondt)
"Prince te Paard" 55 (Adam van Brederode)
"Wakende Kraan" 44 (Pieter Claesz Dekker
"Zeelandia" 44 (Daniël Elsevier)
"Steenbergen" 68 (Jan Paulusz van Gelder, killed in battle)
"Hollandia" 80 (Rear Admiral Jan de Haen)
"Gideon" 62 (Barend Hals)
"Provincie van Utrecht" 60 (Jan Janszoon de Jongh)
"Leeuwen" 50 (Jan Gijsels van Lier)
"Spiegel" 70 (Commodore Jacob van Meeuwen)
"Komeetstar" 68 (Pieter Middelandt)
"Essen" 50 (Philips de Munnik)
"Wapen van Holland" 44 (Matthijs Dirkszoon Pijl)
"Waesdorp" 68 (Engel de Ruyter)
"Tijdverdrijf" 56 (Gilles Schey)
"Agatha" 50 (Pieter Cornelisz de Sitter)
"Kalantsoog" 68 (Volkert Hendrickszoon Swart, died from wounds)
"Beschermer" 50 (David Swerius (Sweers), killed in battle)
"Oliphant" 82 (Vice-Admiral Isaac Sweers, killed in battle)
"Geloof" 56 (Cornelis Tijloos)
"Gouden Leeuw " 82 (Lt-AdmiralCornelis Tromp , captain Thomas Tobiaszoon)
"Zuiderhuis" 45 (Isaak Uitterwijk)
"Amsterdam" 60 (Cornelis van der Zaan)
Frigates:
"Oudkarspel" 34 (Jan van Abkoude)
"Bommel" 24 (Jan Bogaart)
"Edam" 36 (Willem van Ewijk)
"Haas" 24 (Hans Hartwich)
"Damiaten" 32 (Mattheus Megank)
"Popkensburg" 24 (Jan Noirot)
"Middelburg" 36 (Hendrik Span)
"Brak" 22 (Roemer Vlacq )
Advice yachts:
"Egmond" 10 (Jan Kramer)
"Triton" 10 (Nicolaas Portugaal)
"Kits" 4 (Gilles Saloy
"Kater" 10 (Abraham Taalman)
Fireships:
"Zaaier" 4 (Wijbrand Barendszoon)
"Jacob en Anna" (Jan Boomgaard)
"Leidster" 4 (Pieter van Grootveld)
"Vrede" 4 (Dirk Klaaszoon Harney)
"Wapen van Velsen" 4 (Jan van Kampen)
"Zalm" 4 (Cornelis Jelmertszoon Kok)
"Kasteel van Loon" 4 (Pieter Hendrikszoon Pop)
"Melkschuit" 4 (Jacob Schenk)
"Salvador" 4 (Jacob Vroom)
"Draak" 4 (Willem Willemszoon)
"Admiralty of the Maas"
Ships of the line:
"De Zeven Provinciën " 80 (fleet flag, Lt-Admiral-GeneralMichiel de Ruyter , flag captainsGerard Callenburgh and Pieter de Liefde)
"Delft" 62 (Philips van Almonde )
"Ridderschap" 64 (Eland du Bois)
"Voorzichtigheid" 84 (Jan van Brakel)
"Gelderland" 63 (temporary Rear-Admiral Cornelis de Liefde, mortally wounded)
"Vrijheid" 80 (Vice-Admiral Jan Evertszoon de Liefde, killed in battle)
"Eendracht" 72 (Lt-Admiral Aert Jansse van Nes)
"Maagd van Dordrecht" 68 (Vice-Admiral Jan Jansse van Nes)
"Dordrecht" 44 (Frans van Nijdek)
"Zeelandia" 42 (Simon van Panhuis)
"Schieland" 58 (Adriaan Poort)
"Wassenaer" 59 (Barend Rees)
Frigates:
"Schiedam" 20 (Cornelis van der Hoevensoon
"Utrecht" 34 (Jan Snellensoon)
"Rotterdam" 30 (Jacob Pieterszoon Swart
"Harderwijk" 24 (Mozes Wichmansoon)
Advice yachts:
"Hoop" 6 (Isaac Anteuniszoon van Anten)
"Rotterdam" 6 (Wijnand van Meurs)
Fireships:
"Sint Pieter" (Gerrit Halfkaag)
"Jisper Kerk" 4 (Lens Harmenszoon)
"Blackmoor" 4 (Abraham van Koperen)
"Maria" 4 (Dirk de Munnik)
"Eenhoorn" (Willem de Rave)
"Louise" 4 (Jan Daniëlszoon van Rijn)
"Admiralty of the Northern Quarter"
Ships of the line:
"Pacificatie" 76 (Cornelis Bakker)
"Jupiter" 42 (Pieter Bakker)
"Gelderland" 45 (Maarten de Boer)
"Eenhoorn" 70 (Rear-Admiral Jan Janszoon Dick)
"Westfriesland" 78 (Jan Heck)
"Wapen van Nassau" 58 (Pieter Karseboom)
"Wapen van Alkmaar" 63 (Jan Krook)
"Wapen van Enkhuizen" 72 (Leendert Kuiper)
"Justina van Nassau" 66 (Jan Gerritszoon van Muis)
"Noorderkwartier" 60 (Jacob Roos)
"Prins van Oranje" 64 (Claes Corneliszoon Valehaen)
"Wapen van Medemblik" 44 (Hendrik Visscher, killed in battle)
"Caleb" 50 (Claes Pietersz Wijnbergen)
Fireships:
"Vis" (Harmen de Boer)
"Catharina" 2 (Pieter Sievertszoon Bouckertsen)
"Witte Mol" 4 (Hendrik Munt)
"Admiralty of Zealand"
Ships of the line:
"Walcheren" 70 (Lt-admiral Adriaen van Trappen Banckert)
"Zierikzee" 60 (Vice-admiralCornelis Evertsen de Jonge )
"Dordrecht" 50 (Willem Hendrickszoon)
"Ter Veere" 50 (Dirk Jobszoon Kiela, killed in battle)
"Utrecht" 50 (Simon Loncke)
"Domburg" 60 (Carel van der Putte)
"Vlissingen" 48 (Salomon Le Sage)
Frigates:
"Delft" 34 (Adriaen van Trappen Banckert de Jonge)
"Ter Goes" 34 (Anteunis Matthijszoon)
Advice yachts:
"Hazewind" 7 (Tobias Adriaanszoon)
"Goes" 8 (David van Geerstdale)
"Waterhond" 4 (Jacob Hamers)
"Zwaluw" 6 (Matthijs Lauwerens)
"Jonge Maria" 10 (Arnoud Leunissen)
"Tonijn" 6 (Pieter de Moor)
"?" (Hendrik Pieterszoon)
"Bruinvis" 6 (Jan Corneliszoon Poot)
"Parel" 6 (Teunis Post)
"Lapmande" 8 (Schuyen)
Fireships:
"Samuel en Jacob" 4 (Simon Arendszoon)
"Dadelboom" 2 (Reinier Dirkszoon)
"Catharina" 4 (Frederik Konvent)
"Sevellie" 2 (Anteunis Janszoon Schalje)
"Burg" 2 (Huibrecht Wolfertszoon)
"Admiralty of Frisia"
Ships of the line:
"Elf Steden" 50 (Witzo Johannes Beima)
"Prins Hendrik Casimir" 70 (Rear-Admiral Hendrik Bruynsvelt)
"Groningen" 70 (Vice-Admiral Enno Doedes Star)
"Oostergo" 58 (Jan Janszoon Vijselaer)
Frigate:
"Windhond" 30 (Jan Pieterszoon Vinckelbos)
Advice yachts:
"Hoop" 6 (Cornelis Reindertszoon Eenarm)
"Liefde" (Jochem Jansen)
Fireship:
"Welkomst" (IJsbrand Albertszoon)
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