page_title: Battle of Vågen
section_title: Battle
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Vågen / Battle
caption_attribution_description: Map of the Battle in the Bay of Bergen (Norway), August 12th, 1665 (English Version)
context_page_description: The Battle of Vågen was a naval battle between a Dutch merchant and treasure fleet and an English flotilla of warships in August 1665 as part of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The battle took place in Vågen, the main port area of neutral Bergen, Norway. Due to a delay in orders the Norwegian commanders took the side of the Dutch, contrary to the secret intentions of the King of Norway and Denmark. The battle ended with the retreat of the English fleet, much damaged but without losing any ships. The treasure fleet was relieved by the Dutch home fleet seventeen days later.
context_section_description: Early in the morning the English beat their drums and sounded their trumpets and the Dutch knew hostilities would soon begin. Their crews bared their heads for a short prayer and then hastily manned the guns.
  When canno fire erupted at six in the morning of 2 August Old Style, both fleets engaged at merely some hundreds of metres distance of each other. Teddeman decided against using fireships in order not to endanger the precious cargo. Besides he didn't have the weather gage and simply couldn't execute a direct attack. The Dutch had positioned their eight heaviest ships so that they could give broadsides at the English; most smaller guns had been moved to point at the enemy as manoeuvring would be impossible anyway. The English fleet was in a leeward position and thus had a better range, but the English gunners overcompensated for this, and so their shots mostly fell short. Fierce southern winds and rain blew the smoke from the English guns back to the ships, blinding them, and they were unaware the Dutch ships were rarely hit. As Bergen protrudes somewhat into the bay from the north, the most northern English vessels had to shoot just along it to reach the Dutch. An stray English cannon shot landed in the fortress, killing four soldiers. The commandant responded by firing back at the English fleet. The English fleet which in total possessed about 600 cannon and 2000 men was in itself far superior to the Norwegian arsenal which had only 125 guns and 200-300 men. However the ships facing the Dutch were poorly positioned to answer the Norwegian fire. Besides most English vessels were frigates and unable to take as much damage as the large Dutch merchantmen, while the Dutch actually had some superiority in firepower. Teddeman had hoped Dutch morale would quickly break and made the mistake not to break off action when this didn't happen. After three hours of being pounded, the English blocking ships were routed. Their panicked crews cut the anchor ropes, but some ships remained entangled and threatened to capsize because of the weight of the broken masts, so they had to anchor again under fire to cut them off. The English were forced to retreat, to Herdla, at around ten in the morning.
  The English had 421 casualties: 112 dead (among them most of the captains of the blocking ships) and 309 wounded. Andrew Marvell wrote in his long ironic poem about the "Dutch War":
  Six Captains bravely were shot,
  And Mountagu, though drest like any bride,
  Aboard the Admiral, was reacht, and died
  The "reached" was a sneer from Marvell, alluding to the fact Teddeman hadn't placed his flagship in the blocking line, though it was by far the most powerful ship he could employ.
  In the biography of John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester the story is told that Rochester, Montagu and George Windham, three young noblemen, had had a strong premonition of their death. They made a pact that whoever should perish first would appear to the other in spirit form. Late in the battle, George suddenly began to shake with fear. Edward embraced him for consolation and then both were slain by the same cannonball.
  The Dutch convoy suffered some damage to their ships, especially the Catherina, a Mediterranean fleet vessel, and about 25 dead and seventy wounded. Eight men died in the fortress, and another ten died in the city.
caption: The battle site
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