The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1869-09-01

I low COusl luc. Win level anu
dykes behind, is broken only by the tall
tower of Walberswick, and the rounded
height that terminates SolebaY. At the
mouth of the Blythe, long timber piles
stretch out TO form port. while broad
tongue of single spreads across the en-
trance, and through the neck so narrowed,
the tide runs in furiously. The inland
scenery is Dutch in character. The mead
ows are surrounded by high banks, on the
tops of which run the paths. and the cOm-
mon lands are under the charge of "fen-
reeves" The town once depended on its
trade with Iceland for ling, but the South
void fishermen lone hundred boats or SOY,
now depend on the catching of soles and
shrimps, and on the visitors, who are at
tracted by the breezy crags. and the dry,
healthy gravel on which the houses are
built The fishermen congregate on the
outer side Of the bluff, round their two
shelter sheds, watching the boat-builders,
smoking beside the capstans. or on clear
nights trying to make out the Oxford light.
There are two Government batteries ~
1S-pounders), at Eyecliff, where the Danes
once had fort, and at GuDhill is battery
of six old-lashioned guns, taken at Preston
by the Pretender, and re-captured at Cul-
loden. The Duke Of Cumberland gave
them to the town. The temperature of
Southwold is so mild that it is always hon
Ored by the earliest arrival and latest de-
parture of that distinguished visitor Of ours
the swallow. Amber and jet are dredged
up here, and comedians and agates hide
themselves among the vulgar pebbles of
the beach. Beyond Southwold, the crow
discerns new features of the Suffolk coast
scenery in the Breads, as at Euston and
Covehithe, where large sheets of water
collect near the shore, and after heavy
rains are allowed to escape by sluices into
the sea.
Rough paths through scrub, rushes and
sea-holly, over q rugged beach strewn with
Humps Of shelly red crag, then single and
sand-hills, low cliffs covered with fern and
heath hollows Of loose sand and bluffs
honey-combed by sand-martins, guide the
crow to Solebay. On the calm, blue
waters, under these silent cliffs, took place
on May 2, 1872, tremendous naval battle,
when 65 English sail, commanded by :he
Duke of York, and 80 French men-of-war,
under the Count d'Etrees, encountered
81 Dutch vessels. led by the famous De
Ruyter. He and Tromp had tormented
and insulted US long enough. and we owed
HIN and Van Client one for having, in
1867, taken Sheerness, sailed up the Med
way, and burned six men-of-war. The
Dutch, too, had their wrongs, and they
were savage with us for having tried so
hard to swoop down on their Smyrna feet
and its two millions of treasure. They
were stolid. logged old enemies, who had
learned to disregard our self-assumed sove-
reignty of the seas. and they took good
deal Of punishment" De Witt was
eager to give us Gripping blow at sea,
and leave him free to pour the musketeers
of Utrecht and Cumberland on the French,
who, under Turenne and Condo, were then
taking and subduing Holland, town by
town, and preparing for the famous passage
of the Rhine. Pepys's friend, the Earl of
Sandwich, had warned the Duke of the
danger Of being Melted in Southwold Bay,
where the Dutch ire-ships could have
burnt US like so many chips in CRATE
The Duke never very sweet temperedl,
replied to the Earls cautions with sneer
Earl's soul, and he resolved to conquer or
perish. The moment the Dutch appeared,
closing their net in upon US, he bore out
of the bay to give the DHke and the
French Admiral time to debouche, and
went straight at the enemy like mad
lion. He killed our old foe Van Client,
and beat off his ship after furious fight.
He then sank a Dutch man-of-war and
three fire-ships that grappIed with him.
His own vessel was now shattered and
pierced, and two-thirds of his 900 men
were killed or wounded, yet he still con-
tinued to blaze at the enemy till fourth
fre-ship closed upon him, and refusing to
escape, he then persisted, fighting to the
last. Nor was the Duke all this time idle
He bore down on De Ruyter, and ham,
mered at him for two hours, till night
came. Two-and-thirty battles the grey
old Dutch veteran had fought, but never,
he declared, so hard one as this. In the
morning, the Duke of York certainly not
Nelson, thought it prudent to retire.
The Dutch, though disabled, beginning,
however, to harass his retreat, he turned
on them. and renewed the fight. while Sir
Joseph Jordan, who led our van, got the
weather gauge of De Ruyter, who then
fairly fed. pursued by the Duke to the
coast of Holland. We were close at his
rear, and only timely Dutch fog saved
fifteen of his leaky tagging vessels. The
French took little part in the fray their
Captains being instructed by Louis XIV.