sailed out to join
battle. The sight of this fresh squadron flying Blake's flag, turned
the fortune of battle decisively. The Dutch escaped destruction
only by finding safety in the shallows of the Flemish coast, where
the English ships could not follow.

After this defeat the Dutch were almost at the end of their resources
and sued far peace, but Cromwell's ruthless demands amounted to
a practical loss of independence, which even a bankrupt nation
could not accept. Accordingly, every nerve was strained to build
a fleet that might yet beat the English. The latter, for their
part, were equally determined not to lose the fruits of their hard
won victories. Since Blake's active share in the battle of the
Gabbard aggravated his wound so severely that he was carried ashore
more nearly dead than alive, Monk retained actual command.

Monk attempted to maintain a close blockade of the Dutch coast
and to prevent a junction between Tromp's main fleet at Flushing
and a force of thirty ships at Amsterdam. In this, however, he was
outgeneraled by Tromp, who succeeded in taking the sea with the
greatest of all Dutch fleets, 120 men of war. The English and the
Dutch speedily clashed in the last, and perhaps the most furiously
contested, battle of the war, the "Battle of Scheveningen." The
action began at six in the morning of July 30, 1653. Tromp had the
weather gage, but Monk, instead of awaiting his onslaught, tacked
towards him and actually cut through the Dutch line. Tromp countered
by tacking also, in order to keep his windward position, and this
maneuver was repeated three times by Tromp and Monk, and the two
great fleets sailed in great zigzag courses down the Dutch coast a
distance of forty miles, with bitter fighting going on at close
range between the two lines. Early in the action the renowned Tromp
was killed, but his flag was kept flying and there was no flinching
on the part of his admirals. About one o'clock a shift of the wind
gave the weather gage to the English. Some of the Dutch captains
then showed the white feather and tried to escape. This compelled
the retirement of DeWith, who had succeeded to the command, and
who, as he retreated, fired on his own fugitives as well as on
the English. As usual in those battles with the Dutch, the English
had been forced to pay a high price for their victory. Their fleet
was so shattered that they were obliged to lift the blockade and
return home to refit. But for the Dutch