[Illustration: THE THAMES ESTUARY]

Whether or not Monk was influenced by his princely colleague it
is impossible to say, but the tactics of this engagement do not
suggest the Monk of earlier battles. He followed the "Fighting
Instructions" and in spite of them won a victory, but it might
have been far more decisive. The English bore down in line abreast,
then formed line ahead on reaching gunshot, the van, center, and
rear, engaging respectively the Dutch van, center, and rear. In these
line ahead attacks the rear usually straggled. Tromp, commanding
the Dutch rear, saw his chance to attack Smith, commanding the
English rear, before his squadron was in proper formation. Smith
retreated, and Tromp, eager to win a victory all by himself, abandoned
the rest of the Dutch fleet and pursued Smith. Thus the action
broke into two widely separated parts. The English van and center
succeeded in forcing the corresponding Dutch divisions to retreat,
and if Monk had turned to the help of Smith he might have taken
or destroyed all of the 39 ships in Tromp's division. Instead,
he and Rupert went careering on in pursuit of the enemy directly
ahead of them. Eventually de Ruyter's ships found refuge in shallow
water and then Monk turned to catch Tromp. But the latter proved too
clever for his adversaries and slipped between them to an anchorage
alongside of de Ruyter.

Although the victory was not nearly so decisive as it should have
been with the opportunity offered, nevertheless it served the need
of the hour. De Ruyter was no longer able to blockade the Thames and
the Straits of Dover. And Monk, following up his success, carried
the war to the enemy's coast, where he burned a merchant fleet
of 160 vessels in the roadstead of the island of Terschelling,
and destroyed one of the towns. Early in 1666 active operations
on both sides dwindled down, and Charles, anxious to use naval
appropriations for other purposes, allowed the fleet to fall into
a condition of unreadiness for service. One of the least scandals in
this corrupt age was the unwillingness or inability of the officials
to pay the seamen their wages. In consequence large numbers of
English prisoners in Holland actually preferred taking service
in the Dutch navy rather than accepting exchange, on the ground
that the Dutch government paid its men while their own did not.

Early in June, 1667, de Ruyter took advantage of the condition of
the English fleet by inflicting perh