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! Many thanks to David Davies for making his site available. 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 β 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 These include many reports of ship movements and several invaluable Dutch fleet lists sent to Russell by Almonde at various times. 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.
During the twentieth century some researchers and historians offered corrections and additions, [14] but more adjustments and details are still needed. The ships are given as arrayed from van to rear. 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. Incidentally, two late-arriving vessels were nearly in time to find a place on the list below. M Veluwe [24] 64 Cornelis van Brakel. N Noord Holland [24] 68 Jacob de Jonge. A Harderwijk 44 Justus van Hoogenhoeck. A Brandenburg [25] 92 Hendrik van Toll. A Anna [24] 36 Govert van Meppelen.
