seize the advantage. The Dutch, driven willy-nilly
into alliance with France and not too eager to embark upon desperate
adventures in the new cause, were nevertheless not restrained from
action by any kind feeling for England, who had seized their ships
and colonies and ruined their trade. When at last, during a brief
withdrawal of Duncan, their fleet under Admiral de Winter attempted
a cruise, it was in a run-down condition. Aside from small units,
it consisted of 15 ships (4 of 74 guns, 5 of 68, 2 of 64, and 4
under 60), against Duncan's stronger force of 16 (7 of 74, 7 of 64
and 2 of 50). The Dutch ships were flat-bottomed and light-draft for
navigation in their shallow coastal waters, and generally inferior
to British vessels of similar rating, even though the latter were
left-overs from the Channel Fleet.

On the morning of the Battle of Camperdown, October 11, 1797, the
Dutch were streaming along their coast on a northwest wind bent on
return into the Texel. Pressing forward in pursuit, Duncan when
in striking distance determined to prevent the enemy's escape into
shallow water by breaking through their line and attacking to leeward.
The signal to this effect, however, was soon changed to "Close
action," and only the two leading ships eventually broke through.
The two British divisions--for they were still in cruising formation
and strung out by the pursuit--came down before the wind. Onslow,
the second in command, in the _Monarch_, struck the line first
at 12:30 and engaged the Dutch _Jupiter_, fourth from the rear.
Eighteen minutes later Duncan in the _Venerable_ closed similarly
to leeward of the _Staten Generaal_, and afterward the _Vrijheid_,
in the Dutch van.

The two leaders were soon supported--though there was straggling
on both sides; and the battle that ensued was the bloodiest and
fiercest of this period of the war. The British lost 825 out of a
total of 8221 officers and men,[1] more than half the loss occurring
in the first four ships in action. The British ships were also
severely injured by the gruelling broadsides during the onset,
but finally took 11 prizes, all of them injured beyond repair.
Though less carefully thought out and executed, the plan of the
attack closely resembles that of Nelson at Trafalgar. The head-on
approach seems not to have involved fatal risks against even such
redoubtable opponents as the Dutch, and it insured decisive results.

[Footnote 1: As compared with this loss