Battle of Leghorn

Battle of Leghorn

The naval Battle of Leghorn (the Dutch call the encounter by the Italian name Livorno) took place on 14 March (4 March Old Style) 1653, during the First Anglo-Dutch War, near Leghorn (Livorno), Italy. It was a victory of a Dutch fleet under Commodore Johan van Galen over an English squadron under Captain Henry Appleton. Afterward an English fleet under Captain Richard Badiley, which Appleton had been trying to reach, came up but was outnumbered and fled.

In 1652 the government of the Commonwealth of England, mistakenly believing that the Dutch had been defeated at the Battle of the Kentish Knock, split their fleet between the Mediterranean and home waters. This division of forces led to a defeat at the Battle of Dungeness in December 1652, and by early 1653 the situation in the Mediterranean was critical too. Appleton's squadron of six ships was trapped in Leghorn by a blockading Dutch fleet of 16 ships, while Richard Badiley's of eight was at Elba.

The only hope for the English was to combine their forces, but Appleton sailed too soon and engaged with the Dutch before Badiley could come up to help. Three of his ships were captured and two destroyed and only "Mary", sailing faster than the Dutch ships, escaped to join Badiley. Badiley engaged the Dutch, but was heavily outnumbered and retreated.

The battle gave the Dutch command of the Mediterranean, placing the English trade with the Levant at their mercy, but Van Galen was mortally wounded, dying on 23 March.

One of the Dutch captains at the battle was son of Lieutenant-Admiral Maarten Tromp, Cornelis Tromp, who was to become a famous admiral himself.

hips involved

Netherlands (Johan van Galen)

"Vereenigde Provincien"/"Zeven Provincien" (United Provinces/Seven Provinces) 40 (flag)
"Eendracht" (Concord) 40 (Jacob de Boer)
"Maan" (Moon) 40 (Cornelis Tromp)
"Ter Goes" 40
"Zon" (Sun) 40
"Zutphen" 36
"Maagd van Enkhuysen" (Maiden of Enkhuysen) 34
"Jonge Prins" (Young Prince) 28
"Julius Caesar" 28 (hired merchantman)
"Witte Olifant" (White Elephant) 28 (hired Italian merchantman "Elefante Bianco"; captain Sijbrant Janszoon Mol)
"Madonna della Vigna" 28 (hired merchantman) - Ran aground north of Livorno harbor
"Susanna" 28 (hired merchantman)
"Zwarte Arend" (Black Eagle) 28
"Salomons Oordeel" 28 (hired merchantman)
"Roode Haes" (Red Hare) 28 (hired merchantman)
"Ster" (Star) 28 (hired merchantman)

England

Henry Appleton's squadron
"Bonaventure" 44 (Stephen Lyne) - Blown up by "Vereenigde Provincien"
"Leopard" 48 (flag) - Captured (by "Eendracht"?)
"Sam(p)son" 40 (hired merchantman, Edmund Seaman) - Burnt by fireship
"Mary" 30 (hired merchantman, Benjamin Fisher)
"Peregrine" 30 (hired merchantman, John Wood) - Captured by "Zwarte Arend"
"Levant Merchant" 28/30? (hired merchantman, Stephen Marsh) - Captured by "Maagd van Enkhuysen"
Richard Badiley's fleet
"Paragon" 52 (flag)
"Phoenix" 36 (Owen Cox)
"Elizabeth" 36 (Jonas Reeves)
"Constant Warwick" 32 (Upshott)
"Mary Rose" 32 (hired merchantman, John Turtley)
"Lewis" 30 (hired merchantman, William Elle)
"William and Thomas" 30 (hired merchantman, John Godolphin)
"Thomas Bonaventure" 28 (hired merchantman, George Hughes)
"?" (fireship, Peter Whyting)

The fireship is listed as "Charity" in "Mariner's Mirror" vol. 49, but according to "Mariner's Mirror" vol. 24 that ship was expended during an action off Plymouth on 27 August 1652.

References

*"Mariner's Mirror" volume 24 (1938)
*"Mariner's Mirror" volume 49 (1963)

External links

* [http://www.kentishknock.com/a-d-wars.htm Account]


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