Battle of Vågen
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| Battle of Vågen | |||||||
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| Part of Second Anglo-Dutch War | |||||||
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| Combatants | |||||||
| Dutch Republic (supported by Norwegian fortress) | England | ||||||
| Commanders | |||||||
| Dutch: Pieter de Bitter Norwegian: Claus von Ahlefeldt | Sir Thomas Teddiman | ||||||
| Casualties | |||||||
| 100 Dutch casualties, 8 Norwegian casualties, 10 civilians | 500 | ||||||
The Battle of Vågen was a naval battle between a Dutch merchant and treasure fleet and an English flotilla of warships in August 1665 as part of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The battle took place in Vågen bay, the main port area of neutral Bergen, Norway. Due to a delay in orders the Norwegian commanders took the side of the Dutch, contrary to the secret intentions of the Danish king. The battle ended with the defeat of the English fleet, which retreated, much damaged but without losing any ships. The treasure fleet was relieved by the Dutch home fleet seventeen days later.
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[edit] Arrival in Bergen
The Dutch merchant fleet consisted of about sixty vessels. About seven of them were large and heavily armed VOC- vessels under command of Rear-Admiral Pieter de Bitter which were returning from the East Indies. Twice each year the Dutch East India Company sent a Return Fleet back to the Netherlands. This one had departed on Christmasday 1664 and had one of the richest cargoes ever. It was laden with many luxury goods, typical for the "rich trade": spices, among which 24 million ounces of pepper, 440,000 pounds of clove, 314,000 pounds of nutmeg, 121,600 pounds of mace and about half a million pounds of cinnamon; 18,000 pounds of ebony; 51,540 ounces of silk and about 200,000 other pieces of cloth; 22,000 pounds of indigo; 18,151 pearls; 2,933 rubies, 3,084 raw diamonds and 16,580 pieces of porcelain, a total value of about eleven million guilders or three million rigsdaler, more than the total annual revenues of the Danish crown. The Dutch had paid 36 tons of gold to buy this cargo. In order to avoid the English fleet controlling the English Channel after its victory in the Battle of Lowestoft, they had sailed north of Scotland in order to reach the Dutch Republic from the north over the North Sea. The ships gathered in neutral Bergen harbor for shelter during July to wait for the repair of the Dutch home fleet after its defeat.
The English navy did learn about the Dutch shipment however, and quickly sent a small task force to capture or at least block the convoy. The main home fleet tried at the same time to intercept the squadron of Vice-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter of which it was known that it was about to arrive from America, but failed and had to turn to the home ports for supplies. When the flotilla under Rear-Admiral Thomas Teddiman, first consisting of 22 warships but reduced to fourteen (and further the fireships Bryar, Greyhound and Martin Gally), reached Bergen at four in the evening of 1 August, they blocked the entry to the bay. The beginning of the English action was inauspicious: Teddiman's flagship the Revenge ran aground that same evening at Cape Nordnes and only with much effort managed to work itself free. The entrance of the bay being only about 400 metres wide, the English could position but seven ships, from north to south: the Prudent Mary, Breda, Foresight, Bendish, Happy Return, Saphire and the Pembroke. The others pointed their guns at the coastal batteries.
[edit] Missed orders
At Vågen were the fortresses of Bergenhus and Sverresborg. Representatives from both fleets sought counsel with the Norwegian fortress commandant, Johan Caspar von Cicignon and the commander of the Norwegian forces Claus von Ahlefeldt, who for now decided to remain out of the dispute. He had heard rumors of a secret deal between the English King Charles II of England and King Frederick III of Denmark (Norway was at this time in union with Denmark), but no concrete orders had arrived. By treaty a force of five warships of any nation might enter the harbour; Von Ahlefeldt indicated he wouldn't allow anything else.
In fact a secret agreement had been made a week earlier between the English envoy, Talbot and the king of Denmark that Denmark-Norway would allow the English fleet to assault the Dutch convoy and that the loot would be shared. This despite the fact that the Danish king was officially the ally of the Dutch. The king sent an order to von Ahlefeldt that he should protest the English attack, but take no action against it. This order did not reach Bergen in time. The English sent an order to their fleet to postpone their attack until Ahlefeldt had received his orders, but the messenger was intercepted en route by the Dutch. Teddiman had, however, been told that a deal was in the making. Both the English as the Danish king hoped to get a personal hold on much of the bounty, without the money flowing into their official national treasuries. Charles had instructed Lord Sandwich in a personal secret meeting to arrange for this. Lord Sandwich therefore sent his nephew, his namesake the courtier and adventurer Edward Montagu (1635-1665), with Teddiman to ensure everything would proceed according to plan. Teddiman had been ordered to act as quickly and forcefully as possible to avoid an involvement of the main English fleet which would compromise secrecy.
[edit] Eve of the battle
When Teddiman sent Montagu to Bergen to coordinate the attack, to his great disappointment the Danish commanders refused to cooperate. At 4:00 AM Montagu returned but was immediately sent back by Teddiman, now to threaten the fortresses with violence should they remain obstinate. Montagu claimed the English fleet had 2000 cannon and 6000 men, a claim which made little impression, as it was obvious he was exaggerating the true size by about three times. He was taken even less seriously when he offered the Order of the Garter in exchange for compliance. When he was again refused, Montagu made a little detour and let his boat row alongside the Dutch fleet to inspect their preparations. The Dutch respected the neutrality of the port, played the Wilhelmus and saluted Montagu three times with white smoke. His vessel saluted back.
Meanwhile the city was in an uproar as English sailors had entered it to intimidate the population. Many citizens fled. De Bitter hastily called back the Dutch crews, most of them on shore leave in Bergen, by ringing the church bells. As few of them had much fighting experience — and many even weren't really Dutch — he raised their spirits by promising three months of extra wages in case of a victory. Such promises were legally binding under Dutch law and the news was met with great enthusiasm. When he ended his speech by asking: "Do you have the courage to stand up to the enemy or not?", the men according to the Dutch reports cheered: "Yes, sir! We'll remain firm until we'll have defeated the enemy and rather die than surrender such rich treasure or ourselves to the English!"
Most Dutch ships were very deep in the bay; at about 300 metres from the English line De Bitter positioned from north to south the Slot Hooningen, Catherina, his flagship the Walcheren, the Gulden Phenix and the Rijzende Zon. Thousands of sailors from the lighter ships were sent to reinforce the fortresses.
[edit] Battle
Early in the morning the English beat their drums and sounded their trumpets and the Dutch knew hostilities would soon begin. Their crews bared their heads for a short prayer and then hastily manned the guns.
When violence erupted at six in the morning of August 2 Old Style, both fleets engaged at merely some hundreds of metres distance of each other. Teddiman decided against using fireships in order not to endanger the precious cargo. Besides he didn't have the weather gage and simply couldn't execute a direct attack. The Dutch had positioned their eight heaviest ships so that they could give broadsides at the English; most smaller guns had been moved to point at the enemy as manoeuvring would be impossible anyway. The English fleet was in a leeward position and thus had a better range, but the English gunners overcompensated for this, and so their shots mostly fell short. Fierce southern winds and rain blew the smoke from the English guns back to the ships, blinding them, and they were unaware the Dutch ships were rarely hit. As Bergen protrudes somewhat into the bay from the north, the most northern English vessels had to shoot just along it to reach the Dutch. An English shot landed in the fortress, killing four people. The commandant responded by firing back at the English fleet. The English fleet which in total possessed about 600 cannon and 2000 men was in itself far superior to the Norwegian arsenal which had only 125 guns and 200-300 men. However the ships facing the Dutch were poorly positioned to answer the Norwegian fire. Besides most English vessels were frigates and unable to take as much damage as the large Dutch merchantmen, while the Dutch actually had some superiority in firepower. Teddiman had hoped Dutch morale would quickly break and made the mistake not to break off action when this didn't happen. After three hours of being mercilessly pounded, the English blocking ships were routed. Their panicked crews cut the anchor ropes, but some ships remained entangled and threatened to capsize because of the weight of the broken masts, so they had to anchor again under fire to cut them off. The English were forced to retreat, to Herdla, at around ten in the morning.
The English had 500 casualties. Andrew Marvell wrote in his long ironic poem about the "Dutch War":
- Six Captains bravely were shot,
- And Mountagu, though drest like any bride,
- Aboard the Admiral, was reacht, and died
The "reached" was a typical sneer from Marvell, alluding to the fact Teddiman hadn't placed his flagship in the blocking line, though it was by far the most powerful ship he could employ.
In the biography of John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester the story is told that Rochester, Montagu and George Windham, three young noblemen, had had a strong premonition of their death. They made a pact that whoever should perish first would appear to the other in spirit form. Late in the battle, George suddenly began to shake with fear. Edward embraced him for consolation and then both were slain by the same cannonball.
The Dutch convoy suffered some damage to their ships, especially the Catherina, a Mediterranean fleet vessel, and about 25 dead and seventy wounded. Eight men died in the fortress, and another ten died in the city.
[edit] Ships involved
| United Provinces
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| Ship name (Commander) | Guns | Notes |
| Slot Hooningen | 60 | |
| Catharina | 40 | Ran aground |
| Walcheren (De Bitter) | 60 - 70 | |
| Jonge Prins | 60 - 66 | |
| Gulden Phenix | 60 | |
| Rijzende Zon | ? | |
| Wapen van Hoorn | 60 - 66 | |
| England
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| Ship name | Guns | Notes |
| Prudent Mary | 28 | |
| Breda | 40 - 48 | |
| Foresight | 34 - 48 | |
| Bendish | ? | |
| Happy Return | 52 | |
| Sapphire | 36 - 40 | |
| Pembroke | 22 - 34 | |
| Guernsey | 22 - 30 | |
| Revenge (Teddiman) | 60 | |
| Golden Lyon | ? | |
| Society | 44 | |
| Norwich | 24 - 30 | |
| Guinea | 34 - 40 | |
[edit] Aftermath
The orders from Denmark reached Ahlefeldt four days later, on August 6. With the Dutch merchant vessels still in Bergen, Ahlefeldt travelled to the English fleet at Herdla the next day to try and repair the damage, offering them a chance to attack again without interference from the fortress. The offer was rejected however as Teddiman knew he couldn't be ready in time before the actions of the main fleets had decided the outcome of the entire enterprise. In the days after the Dutch strongly fortified their position: a chain was positioned in the entry of the bay and their sailors improved the fortifications. As the wind turned north they expected a direct attack from Teddiman, but the British Rear-Admiral limited himself to observing the harbour. On 19 August a Dutch relief fleet of ninety under Lieutenant-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter arrived, having evaded the British main fleet and on 23 August the Dutch merchant fleet left the harbour and eventually for the most part returned to the Dutch Republic safely, though some ships were dispersed by a storm and would be captured by the English, among them the Slot Hooningen and Gulden Phenix, that would again be lost by them during the Raid on the Medway.
For the British the escape of the Dutch Return Fleet from the Indies was an enormous blow: they could only finance the war by capturing it. But the blow was somewhat softened by the later capture of the two VOC-merchantmen. Lord Sandwich was blamed for the failure and fell into disgrace. He thought he had been tricked by the Danish king, as Samuel Pepys recounts in his diary entry of 18 September: "But the main thing my Lord wonders at, and blames the Dane for, is, that the blockhead, who is so much in debt to the Hollander, having now a treasure more than much than all his Crowne was worth, and that which would for ever have begarred the Hollander, should not take this time to break with the Hollander, and thereby pay his debt that must have been forgiven him and have got the greatest treasure into his hands that ever was together in the world". In February 1666 the Danish king would declare war against England, after receiving large Dutch subsidies. Pieter de Bitter received an honorary golden chain from the States-General.
Today, the Bergen Cathedral has a cannonball from the battle imbedded in the wall of its tower . Two wooden figures, depicting the head of a lion and the head of a unicorn, which were part of the decoration on the English vessels are kept in the Bergen Maritime Museum.
[edit] References
- Vrakrestene etter slaget på Vågen (Wreckage after the battle of Vågen) Article in Bergens Tidende, January 7, 2005. (in Norwegian)
- Steen, Sverre (1969). Bergen - byen mellom fjellene.
- Slag in de Baai van Bergen, 12 augustus 1665 (in Dutch)
- Warnsinck, JCM, Van Vlootvoogden en Zeeslagen, PN van Kampen & Zoon, 1940
- List of sailing warships
