I’m delighted to be able to start the New Year with a really important guest blog from Frank Fox. Following on from his previous contributions on this site, which provided the most definitive listings of the fleets at the Battle of the Texel/Kijkduin (11/21 August 1673), Frank has now turned his attention to the twin battles of Barfleur and La Hogue in 1692. These were hugely important in both the immediate context of the ‘Nine Years War’ and the wider one of naval history as a whole: Admiral Russell’s victory both prevented probably the most realistic prospect of a full-scale pro-Jacobite invasion, and constituted one of the most spectacular and complete British naval triumphs before the age of Nelson. And yet, as Frank points out, our understanding of which ships actually fought in the battles is remarkably sketchy. That all changes right now, as I hand over to Frank!
(Note: the formatting of the lists below has been tested on two browsers, Chrome and Edge, but I can’t guarantee that they’ll retain the formatting on other platforms, especially mobile ones.)
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Many thanks to David Davies for making his site available. The series of actions known as the Battle of Barfleur/La Hogue took place in the English Channel on 19-24 May 1692 (Old Style) or 29 May-3 June (New Style) between an outnumbered French fleet under the Comte de Tourville and an Anglo-Dutch force with British admiral Edward Russell in overall command and Philips van Almonde directing the Dutch. Considering the importance of these events, it is surprising that the makeup of the fleets has been so imperfectly known. The French battle line, at least, is well recorded and not repeated here – though an accounting of frigates and fireships is still lacking. But the English and Dutch squadrons in modern printed and online works are chaotically inconsistent. I have sought to remedy this here as far as possible.
For the Dutch, I have followed (with expanded details) a mostly ignored order of battle found by A L van Schelven in the records of the Admiralty of Amsterdam and published in 1947. It is dated 17/27 May, when the fleet sailed from St Helens two days before the action.[1] Modern researcher Carl Stapel found a closely related list in the Dutch National Archives in The Hague dated 16/26 May; it omits one ship through an apparent clerical error and shows a different disposition of frigates which was evidently altered the next day.[2] Dutch journals mention no other arrivals before the fighting ended.
Van Schelven’s list is best verified from English records. Extensive correspondence with Russell and Almonde is preserved in the papers of Secretary of State Daniel Finch, Earl of Nottingham and principal strategic advisor to Queen Mary. These include many reports of ship movements and several invaluable Dutch fleet lists sent to Russell by Almonde at various times. Nottingham and the queen also communicated often with officers of the Portsmouth-based Dutch winter guard which supplied eleven vessels to Almonde’s fleet.[3] The English sources lend strong credence to Van Schelven’s list.
Numerous Dutch ships joined after the fighting ended on 24 May/3 June, and their arrival dates are nearly all recorded in Nottingham’s papers. Most of these vessels appear on one or another of the printed or online orders of battle, so I list them here showing guns and captains. As in the order of battle below, the letter before each ship’s name indicates the admiralty to which it belonged: A for Amsterdam, M for the Maas (Rotterdam), N for the Noorderkwartier (North Holland), Z for Zeeland, and F for Friesland.
Arrived St Helens 24 May/3 June, but only sailed for La Hogue the next day:[4]
Z Zierikzee 64 Jan de La Palma
M Maagd van Dordrecht 60 Matthijs Paradijs
Came to Dover 26 May/5 June requesting orders:[5]
N Wapen van Hoorn 54 Jacob van Veen (joined fleet)
N Valkenier 42 Diest Cromhout (sent to North Sea)
N fireship Brandenburg ? Andries Muijsevanger
Joined the fleet at Spithead 1/11 June after convoying (with three English ships) 60 merchantmen from Bilbao to Falmouth:[6]
A Haarlem 64 Arnold Manart
A Ripperda 50 Herman Lijnslager
Joined before 6/16 June, possibly on 1/11 June with the Haarlem and Ripperda as the third
Dutch escort of the returning Bilbao convoy, though evidence is inadequate:[7]
F Frisia 72 Hidde de Vries
Joined 6/16 June:[8]
F Prins Casimir 72 Anthonij van Lith
F Stad en Lande 52 Ross
A Gaasterland 50 Jan Middtagten
F Brack 36 ?
Z fireship Zon ? Arend Vinck
For the Dutch squadron listed below, ships are given in normal order from van to rear as shown by Van Schelven and confirmed by Captain Philips Schrijver’s account, which specifically mentions that Vice-Admiral Callenburgh commanded the van division.[9] The year built (or purchased for some fireships) is given to help distinguish the many Dutch warships with identical or similar names. Guns and manning (complements, not men aboard) for major ships are mainly from a list drawn up by Almonde on 8/18 May.[10] Other data and captains not given by Van Schelven are from various sources.[11] The abbreviation ‘S-b-N’ means schout-bij-nacht, or rear-admiral. The Dutch battle-line included twenty-four ‘capital ships’ of 50 guns or more and three heavy frigates of 40-44 guns; eight smaller frigates of 16-38 guns and seven fireships were outside the line.
On the British side, Russell established his initial order of battle on 5/15 May, but issued a slightly updated order on 14/24 May.[12] Laird Clowes printed the original or a closely related version in 1898 (in reverse order) and Clowes is still followed in some recent sources.[13] But many ships on his list did not arrive in time for the battle, while others not listed did, and he mostly omitted light frigates and other small warships. During the twentieth century some researchers and historians offered corrections and additions,[14] but more adjustments and details are still needed. I have reexamined the Admiralty’s fleet distribution lists for May and June 1692,[15] correspondence and accounts of the participants from many sources,[16] and various ships’ logs.[17] The result is the list below.
The ships are given as arrayed from van to rear.[18] Guns and complements are from the Admiralty’s fleet distribution lists,[19] while men aboard are as of 14/24 May as reported by Russell the next day.[20] Russell’s data are useful in showing the overall manning condition of the fleet, but are not the final figures for some ships because he reluctantly obeyed the Admiralty’s orders to transfer men from over-manned ships to under-manned vessels; the Vanguard, for instance, gained 32 men, making 612, by 16/26 May.[21] Asterisks indicate captains killed. The battle-line numbered 58 ships of 44 guns or more including (surprisingly) a fifth-rate. Outside the line were four more fifth-rates, six sixth-rates, and a hospital ship. There were 23 fireships on hand for the first day’s fighting, but another joined later. Incidentally, two late-arriving vessels were nearly in time to find a place on the list below. The third-rate York reached La Hogue just hours after the fighting ended on 24 May/3 June, and the third-rate Royal Oak came to St Helens the next day.[22] There is also an oddity: Vice-Admiral Sir Ralph Delavall sowed confusion by specifically naming the fourth-rate Reserve as taking part in his attack at Cherbourg, but this was a misidentification; the ship was then leaving the Thames with orders to blockade Dunkirk.[23]
WHITE SQUADRON – DUTCH
Van Division, Vice-Admiral Callenburgh
Adm Built Ship Guns Comp Captain
M 1665 Zeven Provinciën 76 400 Evert de Liefde
M 1683 Kapitein Generaal 84 500 S-b-N Philips van der Goes
M 1688 Veluwe [24] 64 335 Cornelis van Brakel
N 1691 Wapen van Medemblik 50 210 Jan Visscher
N 1690 Noord Holland [24] 68 350 Jacob de Jonge
N 1688 Kasteel van Medemblik 86 500 V-Adm Gerard Callenburgh
M 1691 Ridderschap 72 375 Johan van Convent
A 1662 Harderwijk 44 175 Justus van Hoogenhoeck
A 1688 Brandenburg [25] 92 500 Hendrik van Toll
Frigates, not in line
A 1688 Anna [24] 36 150 Govert van Meppelen
A 1692 Wakende Boij 26 100 Jan Varckenvisscher
N 1689 Herder 16 60 Meijndert de Boer
Fireships
M 1692 Fenix or Vogel Fenix ? 28 Willem Gerritsz. Klein
M 1691 Wijnbergen ? 22 Jan Freriks Presser
Centre Division, Lieutenant-Admiral Van Almonde
A 1688 Amsterdam [24] 64 325 Cornelis van der Zaan
A 1683 Prinses Maria 92 500 S-b-N Gilles Scheij
A 1672 Schattershoef [24] 50 210 Jan Barend van Wassenaar
A 1691 Elswout or Elsterwout 72 375 Louis, Graaf van Nassau
A 1687 Prins 92 540 Lt-Adm Philips van Almonde
A 1692 Slot Muijden 72 375 Gerard van der Dussen
A 1687 Edam 40 165 Christiaan Bernhard, Graaf
van Bentheim
N 1682 Westfriesland 88 475 S-b-N Jan Gerritsz. Muijs
A 1687 Leijden [24] 64 325 Pieter Klaasz. Decker
Frigates, not in line
A 1677 Raadhuijs van Haarlem 38 150 Hendrik de Veer
A 1692 Batavier 26 100 Jolle Jolleszoon
A 1675 Bruijnwis 18 75 Jan, Baron van Nieuland
Fireships
A 1688 Vesuvius 4 22 Gilles Jansz. Du Pon
A 1688 Strombolij 6 22 Jan Herman van Troijen
A 1672 Etna or Berg Etna 6 22 Cornelis Pieter Schuijt
Rear Division, Vice-Admiral Van der Putten
A 1688 Vlaardingen 42 170 Rutger Bucking
M 1666 Gelderland 64 325 Johan Willem van Rechteren
A 1663 Provincie v. Utrecht [26] 62 325 Abraham Ferdinand van Zijll
Z 1691 Eerste Edele [24] 74 400 Andries de Boer
Z 1688 Koning Willem 93 525 V-Adm Carel van der Putten
A 1690 Zeelandia 64 325 Philips Schrijver
Z 1688 Ter Goes [24] 54 225 Maarten Barentsz. Boom
Z 1682 Zeelandia 92 500 S-b-N Geleijn Evertsen
Z 1682 Veere [24] 62 325 Cornelis Mosselman
Frigates, not in line
Z 1689 Zeijst [24] 30 130 Steven Wiltschut
A 1675 Neptunis 18 75 Daniel Ronkszen
Fireships
Z 1689 Etna 4 22 Samuel Des Herbes
A 1688 Zes Gebroeders [24] 6 22 Simon Jacobs de Jongh
RED SQUADRON – BRITISH
Van Division, Vice-Admiral Delavall
Rate Ship Guns Comp Aboard Captain
2 St Michael 90 600 602 Thomas Hopson
3 Lenox 70 460 422 John Munden
4 Bonaventure 48 230 216 John Hubbard
2 Royal Katherine 82 540 510 Wolfran Cornwall
1 Royal Sovereign 100 815 840 V-Adm Sir Ralph Delavall
2nd Humphrey Sanders
3 Captain 70 460 396 Daniel Jones
4 Centurion 48 230 209 Francis Wyvell
3 Burford 70 460 422 Thomas Harlow
Fireships
Extravagant [27] 10 40 41 Fleetwood Emes
Wolf [28] 8 45 35 James Greenway
Vulcan 8 45 44 Joseph Soames
Hound [28] 8 45 43 Thomas Foulis
Centre Division, Admiral Russell
3 Elizabeth 70 460 357 Stafford Fairborne
3 Rupert 66 400 252 Basil Beaumont
3 Eagle 70 460 390 John Leake
4 Chester 48 230 172 Thomas Gillam
1 St Andrew 96 730 730 George Churchill
1 Britannia 100 780 940 Adm Edward Russell
1st David Mitchell
2nd John Fletcher
1 London 96 730 780 Matthew Aylmer
4 Greenwich 54 280 233 Richard Edwards
3 Restoration 70 460 380 John Gother
3 Grafton 70 460 380 William Bokenham
4 Dragon [29] 46 220 — William Vickars
Fireships
Flame 8 45 43 James Stewart
Roebuck 8 45 — Francis Manley
Vulture 8 45 37 Hovenden Walker
Spy 8 45 41 John Norris
Rear Division, Rear-Admiral Shovell
3 Hampton Court 70 460 434 John Graydon
3 Swiftsure 70 420 370 Richard Clarke
4 St Albans 50 280 — Richard Fitzpatrick
3 Kent 70 460 401 John Neville
1 Royal William 100 780 880 R-Adm Sir Clowdesley Shovell
2nd Thomas Jennings
2 Sandwich 90 660 606 Anthony Hastings*
4 Oxford 54 280 275 James Wishart
3 Cambridge 70 420 400 Richard Lestock
4 Ruby 48 230 200 George Meese
Fireships
Phaeton [30] 8 45 40 Robert Hancock
Fox [30] 8 45 33 Thomas Killingworth
Strombolo 8 45 31 Thomas Urry
Hopewell [30] 8 40 45 William Jumper
BLUE SQUADRON – BRITISH
Van Division, Rear-Admiral Carter
3 Hope 70 460 362 Henry Robinson
4 Deptford 50 280 240 William Kerr
3 Essex 70 460 391 John Bridges (elder)
2 Duke 90 660 640 R-Adm Richard Carter*
2nd William Wright
2 Ossory 90 660 590 John Tyrrell
4 Woolwich 54 280 270 Christopher Myngs
3 Suffolk 70 460 382 Christopher Billop
4 Crown 48 230 220 Thomas Warren
3 Dreadnought 64 365 309 Thomas Coall
3 Stirling Castle 70 460 356 Benjamin Walters
4 Tiger Prize [31] 48 230 168 Robert Sincock
Fireships
Thomas & Elizabeth [32] 10 40 33 Edward Littleton
Vesuvius 8 45 43 John Guy
Hunter 8 45 36 Thomas Rooke
Hawk 8 45 — William Harman
Centre Division, Admiral Ashby
3 Edgar 72 445 352 John Torpley
3 Monmouth 66 460 395 Robert Robinson
2 Duchess 90 660 680 John Clements
1 Victory 100 780 767 Adm Sir John Ashby
2nd Edward Stanley
2 Vanguard 90 660 580 Christopher Mason
5 Adventure 44 190 145 Thomas Dilkes
3 Warspite 70 420 340 Caleb Grantham
3 Montagu 62 355 343 Simon Foulkes
3 Defiance 64 400 324 Edward Gourney
3 Berwick 70 460 381 Henry Martin
Fireships
Speedwell 8 45 40 Thomas Symonds
Griffin 8 45 — Robert Partridge
Etna 8 45 43 Richard Carverth
Blaze [28] 8 45 45 Thomas Heath
Rear Division, Vice-Admiral Rooke
3 Lion 60 340 249 Robert Wiseman
3 Northumberland 70 460 410 Andrew Cotton
4 Advice 48 230 193 Charles Hawkins
2 Neptune 90 660 682 V-Adm George Rooke
2nd Thomas Gardner
2 Windsor Castle 90 660 750 Peregrine Osborne, Earl
of Danby
3 Expedition 70 460 430 Edward Dover
3 Monck 60 340 — Benjamin Hoskins
3 Resolution 70 420 289 Edward Good
2 Albemarle 90 660 655 Sir Francis Wheeler
Fireships
Half Moon [32] 8 35 — John Knapp
Owner’s Love 10 40 — John Perry
Cadiz Merchant [30] 12 45 — Robert Wynn
Lightning 8 45 — Lawrence Keck
Light Frigates and Small Warships, not in line
5 Falcon 42 180 — Nathaniel Browne
5 Mary Galley 34 160 — Richard Griffith
5 Charles Galley 32 180 — Joseph Waters
5 Portsmouth 32 135 — John Bridges (younger)
5 Concord hospital [33] 30 45 — Ralph Crow
6 Sally Rose 22 80 — Thomas Pound
6 Greyhound 16 75 — William Kiggins
6 Saudadoes 16 75 — William Prower
6 Fubbs yacht 12 40 — John Guy
6 Salamander bomb 10 35 — Thomas Pinder
6 Shark brigantine [34] 4+8p 30 — Jedediah Barker
Notes
- A L Van Schelven, Philips van Almonde, Admiraal in de Gecombineerde Vloot 1644-1711 (Amsterdam, 1947), 211, citing Adm. XI, 27).
- Carl Stapel, unpublished note, citing Nationaal Archieven, Archief Admiraliteitscolleges, Losse Aanwinsten, NA 1.01.47.36 inventaris 6.
- Historical Manuscripts Commission [HMC], Report on the Finch Manuscripts, vol. iv, 1692, F Bickley ed. (London, 1965). Many of the originals are in the Leicestershire Record Office [LRO], DG7 NM27, including Dutch fleet lists of 11/21 March, 8/18 May, 14/24 May, and 7/17 June. Others including Dutch letters from the Portsmouth squadron are in the National Archives at Kew [TNA], SP 42/1 (Secretary of State, State Papers Naval), with ship lists of 6/16 April (pp. 108 and 112) and one from Almonde of 1/11 May (pp. 150 and 154).
- Finch iv, 183.
- Ibid., 187.
- Ibid., 26 (listing these two ships among the winter guard at Portsmouth), 173, 198; TNA ADM 52/123, Pearl master’s log, mentioning two Dutch escorts of 64 and 50 guns.
- TNA ADM 51/3932, Pearl captain’s log, reporting three Dutch escorts; Finch iv, 26 (11/21 March) does not list the Frisia in the winter guard, but the original in LRO DG7 NM27 shows that Almonde had no information on ships of Friesland; Finch iii (1957), 265 and 286, suggests that she might indeed have been in the winter guard, as were most of the others listed with her.
- Finch iv, 211-12; the printed list of 7/17 June erroneously omits the Haarlem (see above), but she is on the original in LRO DG7 NM27.
- Europische Mercurius (Amsterdam), June 1692, 184-5.
- LRO DG7 NM27, accompanying a letter from Russell to Nottingham of 9/19 May.
- J C de Jonge, Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Zeewezen, vol. iii (Zwolle, 1869), 721-2 and 730-49 (Bijlagen I and VII-XIX); A Vreugdenhil, Ships of the United Netherlands 1648-1702 (Society for Nautical Research, London, 1938); Europische Mercurius, June 1692, 150-196; J Bender, Dutch Warships in the Age of Sail 1600-1714 (Seaforth Publishing, Barnsley, 2014); and valuable unpublished information from researchers Carl Stapel and James Bender.
- HMC The Manuscripts of the House of Lords, 1692-1693, F J H Skene and E F Taylor eds (London, 1894), 225-9 for the 14 May list, 198-237 for other relevant papers; see also Finch iv, 122.
- W Laird Clowes, The Royal Navy, A History from the Earliest Times to the Present, vol. ii (London, 1898), 348-9.
- Notably W B Rowbotham, ‘The Devonshire and the Battle of Barfleur’, in The Mariner’s Mirror, vol. 44 (1958), 252; and P Aubrey, The Defeat of James Stuart’s Armada 1692 (Leicester University Press, 1979), 175-180. More recently, researcher Razvan Lipan has posted improvements in the Battle of Barfleur entry in the Romanian Wikipedia (ro.wikipedia.org).
- TNA ADM 8/3.
- Especially Finch iv, 170-185; R Allyn, A Narrative of the Victory . . . Near La-Hogue (London, 1744); and Europische Mercurius, June 1692, 150-196.
- TNA ADM 51 and 52, many volumes.
- The order is apparent from several logs and accounts, but particularly obvious from S Martin-Leake, The Life of Sir John Leake, G Callender ed. (Navy Records Society, London, 1920), 48.
- TNA ADM 8/3.
- House of Lords, 227-9; guns and complements added by the editors were from unreliable sources.
- Ibid., 225-6; Aubrey, 84.
- Finch iv, 183-4
- Ibid., 185; TNA ADM 8/3; Delavall’s account: Allyn, 55; or London Gazette no. 2769, 23-26 May 1692.
- From the winter guard at Portsmouth. These are mostly given by Almonde in his list of 11/21 March of ships planned for the main fleet in LRO DG7 NM27 (printed in Finch iv, 26); of these, the Maas was sent home and Almonde omitted the Amsterdam and frigates Anna and Zeijst.
- Also called Keurvorst van Brandenburg.
- Guns are from 1688; in 1692 all Amsterdam ships of 62-64 guns were assigned 325 men. Captain Van Zijll was the commander in the North Sea and joined the fleet on 15/25 May “with some of that squadron” (Finch iv, 162). The frigates Harderwijk, Vlaardingen, and Herder plus the fireship Etna (of Zeeland) probably came with him from his command, but the Wapen van Medemblik that arrived about the same time had been intended for the main fleet from the start.
- Set afire by a French shot and destroyed at Barfleur 19/29 May; Aubrey, 104; D J Hepper, British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail 1650-1859 (Jean Boudriot Publications, Rotherfield, 1994), 15.
- Expended at Cherbourg 22 May/1 June; London Gazette no. 2769, 23 May 1692; Allyn, 56; Aubrey, 114; Hepper, 15.
- Station unknown but this division is implied by TNA ADM 51/269, Dragon captain’s log.
- Expended unsuccessfully at Barfleur 19/29 May; Aubrey 176-7; Hepper, 15; Allyn, 36.
- This division, station unknown; TNA ADM 51/4371, Tiger Prize captain’s log; House of Lords, 227.
- Ran ashore and burned at La Hogue 24 May/3 June; Finch iv, 300 and 514; Aubrey, 118-21 and 180; Hepper, 15. The Half Moon was not present at Barfleur 19/29 May. Late leaving the Thames, she passed through the Downs 21/31 May; TNA ADM 51/3890, Lark captain’s log.
- Hospital ships were classed as fifth-rates for officers’ pay scales.
- She had 4 carriage guns and 8 ‘pedreroes’, or light swivels; TNA ADM 8/3.
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank Carl Stapel and Jim Bender for helping with details of the Dutch squadron, Richard Endsor and Sylvia Spalding for photographing documents in the National Archives, and Paul Ambrose of the Leicester Record Office for hunting down many hard-to-find papers. Finally, I am most grateful to David Davies for his encouragement – and for his indefatigable efforts at getting the pesky columns in these tables to line up!
(Thanks Frank. A nice Speyside this time, I think. – D)