ter which a
ship will draw beforehand, which is a secret the king and all admire in
him; and he is the first that hath come to any certainty beforehand of
foretelling the draught of water of a ship before she be launched."

On the 4th he describes the fight between the English and Dutch, the
news brought by a Mr Daniel, "who was all muffled up, and his face as
black as the chimney, and covered with dirt, pitch, and tar, and powder,
and muffled with dirty clouts, and his right eye stopped with okum."
The English "found the Dutch fleet at anchor, between Dunkirke and
Ostend, and made them let slip their anchors; they about ninety and we
less than sixty. We fought them and put them to the run, till they met
with about sixteen sail of fresh ships, and so bore up again. The fight
continued till night, and then again the next morning from five till
seven at night. And so, too, yesterday morning they began again, and
continued till about four o'clock, they chasing us for the most part of
Saturday, and yesterday we flying from them." Prince Rupert's fleet,
however, was seen coming, "upon which De Ruyter called a council, and
thereupon their fleet divided into two squadrons--forty in one, and
about thirty in the other; the bigger to follow the duke, the less to
meet the prince. But the prince come up with the generall's fleet, and
the Dutch come together again, and bore towards their own coast, and we
with them. The duke was forced to come to anchor on Friday, having lost
his sails and rigging."

Some days afterwards he continues the description of the fight: "The
commanders, officers, and even the common seamen do condemn every part
of the late conduct of the Duke of Albemarle; running among them in his
retreat, and running the ships on ground; so as nothing can be worse
spoken of. That Holmes, Spragg, and Smith do all the business, and the
old and wiser commanders nothing."

"We lost more after the prince came than before. The _Prince_ was so
maimed, as to be forced to be towed home." Among several commanders
killed in the action was Sir Christopher Mings.

He describes the affection the seamen entertained for those commanders
they esteemed: "About a dozen able, lusty, proper men come to the
coach-side with tears in their eyes, and one of them that spoke for the
rest begun and said to Sir W. Coventry, `We are here a dozen of us, that
have long known and loved and served our dead commander, Sir Christopher
Mings, a