injured 'in a line abreadth.'[8] On the 3rd
the retreat was continued. So well was it managed that the Dutch
could not touch him, and towards evening he was able near the Galloper
Sand to form a junction with Rupert, who had been recalled. Together
on the 4th day they returned to the fight with as fierce a
determination as ever. Though to leeward, they succeeded in breaking
through the enemy's line, such as it was. Being in too great an
inferiority of numbers, however, they could not reap the advantage of
their manoeuvre.[9] It only resulted in their being doubled on, and
the two fleets were soon mingled in a raging mass without order or
control; and when in the end they parted after a four days' fight,
without example for endurance and carnage in naval history, the
English had suffered a reverse at least as great as that they had
inflicted on the Dutch in the last year's action.

Such a terrific object lesson could not be without its effects on the
great tactical question. But let us see how it looked in the eyes of a
French eye-witness, who was naturally inclined to a favourable view of
his Dutch allies. Of the second day's fight he says: 'Sur les six
heures du matin nous appercumes la flotte des Anglais qui revenoit
dans une ordre admirable. Car ils marchent par le front comme seroit
une armee de terre, et quand ils approchent ils s'etendent et
tournent leurs bords pour combattre: parce que le front a la mer se
fait par le bord des vaisseaux': that is, of course, the English bore
down on the Dutch all together in line abreast, and then hauled their
wind into line ahead to engage. Again, in describing the danger Tromp
was in by having weathered the English fleet with his own squadron,
while the rest of the Dutch were to leeward, he says: 'J'ai deja
dit que rien n'egale le bel ordre et la discipline des Anglais, que
jamais ligne n'a ete tiree plus droite que celle que leurs
vaisseaux forment, qu'on peut etre certain que lorsqu'on en
approche il les faux [_sic_] tous essuier.' The very precision
of the English formation however, as he points out, was what saved
Tromp from destruction, because having weathered their van-ship, he
had the wind of them all and could not be enveloped. On the other
hand, he says, whenever an English ship penetrated the Dutch formation
it fared badly because the Dutch kept themselves 'redoublez'--that is,
not in a single line. As a general principle, then, he declares that
it is safer to 'ent