Battle of Vågen 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 ( meaning " the bay , voe " in Norwegian ) , 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 defeat of the English fleet , which retreated , much damaged but without losing any ships . The treasure fleet was relieved by the Dutch home fleet seventeen days later . Arrival in Bergen . The Dutch merchant fleet consisted of about sixty vessels . Ten of them were Dutch East India Company ( VOC ) vessels under command of Commodore Pieter de Bitter which were returning from the East Indies . Twice each year the Dutch East India Company sent a Return Fleet back to the Netherlands . This one had departed on Christmas Day 1664 and had at that time the richest cargo ever . It was laden with many luxury goods , typical for the " rich trade " : spices , among which 4 million catty of pepper , 440 , 000 pounds of clove , 314 , 000 pounds of nutmeg , 121 , 600 pounds of mace and about half a million pounds of cinnamon ; 18 , 000 pounds of ebony ; 8690 catty of silk and about 200 , 000 other pieces of cloth ; 22 , 000 pounds of indigo ; 18 , 151 pearls ; 2 , 933 rubies , 3 , 084 raw diamonds and 16 , 580 pieces of porcelain , with a total European market value of about eleven million guilder s or three million rigsdaler , more than the total annual revenues of the Danish crown . The Dutch had paid the equivalence of 36 tons of gold , or 3 , 648 , 490 guilders , to buy this cargo . In order to avoid the English fleet controlling the English Channel after its victory in the Battle of Lowestoft , the merchant fleet had sailed north of Scotland in order to reach the Dutch Republic from the north over the North Sea . After having been dispersed by a storm on 29 June , most ships gathered in neutral Bergen harbor for shelter during July to wait for the repair of the Dutch home fleet after its defeat . The first three VOC - vessels , the yacht " Kogge " ( cargo purchase value : 67 , 972 guilders ) , the fluyt " Diemermeer " ( cargo value 272 , 087 guilders ) and the " Jonge Prins " ( cargo value : 438 , 407 guilders ) arrived on 19 July ( Julian calendar ) . On 29 July another seven vessels entered the harbour : the " Walcheren " ( cargo value 346 , 964 guilders ) , " Phoenix " ( cargo value 297 , 326 guilders ) , " Slot Hooningen " ( cargo value 386 , 122 guilders ) , " Brederode " ( cargo value 296 , 773 guilders ) , the yacht " Rijzende Zon " ( cargo value 288 , 400 guilders ) and the fluyts " Wapen van Hoorn " ( cargo value 300 , 464 guilders ) and " Amstelland " ( cargo value 282 , 785 guilders ) . Not all of the VOC - fleet was present : the " Muskaatboom " ( cargo value : 293 , 688 guilders ) had disappeared in a storm near Madagascar and the yacht " Nieuwenhoven " ( cargo value : 77 , 251 guilders ) and the fluyt " Ooievaar " ( cargo value : 300 , 246 guilders ) had found refuge in Trondheim . Except for the " Diemermeer " and " Amstelland " , the Dutch ships were heavily armed ; many were specially built company vessels with the dual function of warship and merchantman . The English battle fleet was from 4 July present in the North Sea to intercept the squadron of Vice - Admiral Michiel de Ruyter of which it was known that it was about to arrive from America , having raided the English possessions there . The English fleet learned about the arrival the first ships of the VOC - fleet , already announced by the English ambassador in the Republic , George Downing , from a merchantman from Rostock on 22 July . This caused a heated discussion about which target should have priority . The fleet commander , Lord Sandwich , against the advice of most of his flag officers decided to split the fleet . On 30 July , after a merchantman from Ostend had reported the other VOC - ships had also arrived , a small task force was dispatched to Bergen to capture or at least block the convoy . The flotilla under Rear - Admiral Thomas Teddiman first consisted of 22 warships but it was reduced to fourteen when eight ships sailed too westerly , were swept beyond Bergen and could not beat up the wind to the south . Besides the gunships , the fireship s " Bryar " , " Greyhound " and " Martin Gally " were present . Teddiman reached Bergen at six in the evening of 1 August , and blocked the entry to the bay . The beginning of the English action was inauspicious : Teddiman ' s flagship the " Revenge " ran aground that same evening at Cape Nordnes and only with much effort managed to work itself free . The entrance of the bay being only about 400 metres wide , the English could position but seven ships , from north to south : the " Prudent Mary " , " Breda " , " Foresight " , " Bendish " , " Happy Return " , " Sapphire " and the " Pembroke " . The others pointed their guns at the coastal batteries . Missed orders . At Vågen were the fortresses of Bergenhus and Sverresborg . Representatives from both fleets sought counsel with the Norwegian fortress commandant , Johan Caspar von Cicignon and the commander of the Norwegian forces Claus von Ahlefeldt , who for now decided to remain out of the dispute . He had heard rumors of a secret deal between King Charles II of England and King Frederick III of Denmark - Norway , but no concrete orders had arrived . By treaty a force of five warships of any nation might enter the harbour ; Von Ahlefeldt indicated he wouldn ' t allow anything else . In fact a secret , purely oral , agreement had been made a week earlier between the English envoy , Sir Gilbert Talbot and the king of Denmark that Denmark - Norway would allow the English fleet to assault the Dutch convoy and that the loot would be shared in equal parts . This despite the fact that the Danish king was officially the ally of the Dutch . The king sent an order to von Ahlefeldt that he should protest the English attack , but take no action against it . This order did not reach Bergen in time . The English sent an order to their fleet to postpone their attack until Ahlefeldt had received his orders , but the messenger was intercepted en route by the Dutch . Teddiman had , however , been told that a deal was in the making . Both the English and the Danish king hoped to get a personal hold on much of the bounty , without the money flowing into their official national treasuries . Charles had instructed Lord Sandwich in a personal secret meeting to arrange for this . Lord Sandwich therefore sent his nephew , his namesake the courtier and adventurer Edward Montagu ( 1635 – 1665 ) , with Teddiman to ensure everything would proceed according to plan . Teddiman had been ordered to act as quickly and forcefully as possible to avoid an involvement of the main English fleet which would compromise secrecy . Eve of the battle . When Teddiman sent Montagu to Bergen to coordinate the attack , to his great disappointment the Danish commanders refused to cooperate . At 4 : 00 AM Montagu returned but was immediately sent back by Teddiman , now to threaten the fortresses with violence should they remain obstinate . Montagu claimed the English fleet had 2000 cannon and 6000 men , a claim which made little impression , as it was obvious he was exaggerating the true size by about three times . He was taken even less seriously when he offered the Order of the Garter in exchange for compliance . When he was again refused , Montagu made a little detour and let his boat row alongside the Dutch fleet to inspect their preparations . The Dutch respected the neutrality of the port , played the Wilhelmus and saluted Montagu three times with white smoke . His vessel saluted back . Meanwhile the city was in an uproar as English sailors had entered it to intimidate the population . Many citizens fled . De Bitter hastily called back the Dutch crews , most of them on shore leave in Bergen , by ringing the church bells . As few of them had much fighting experience — and many weren ' t even Dutch — he raised their spirits by promising three months of extra wages in case of a victory . Such promises were legally binding under Dutch law and the news was met with great enthusiasm . When he ended his speech by asking : " Do you have the courage to stand up to the enemy or not ? " , the men according to the Dutch reports cheered : " Yes , sir ! We ' ll remain firm until we ' ll have defeated the enemy and rather die than surrender such rich treasure or ourselves to the English ! " Most Dutch ships were very deep in the bay ; at about 300 metres from the English line De Bitter positioned from north to south the " Slot Hooningen " , " Catherina " , his flagship the " Walcheren " , the " Gulden Phenix " and the " Rijzende Zon " . Thousands of sailors from the lighter ships were sent to reinforce the fortresses . Battle . 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 violence erupted at six in the morning of 2 August Old Style , both fleets engaged at merely some hundreds of metres distance of each other . Teddiman 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 English shot landed in the fortress , killing four people . 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 . Teddiman 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 mercilessly 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 " : The " reached " was a typical sneer from Marvell , alluding to the fact Teddiman 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 . Aftermath . The orders from Denmark reached Ahlefeldt six days later , on 8 August . With the Dutch merchant vessels still in Bergen , Ahlefeldt travelled to the English fleet at Herdla the next day to try to repair the damage , offering them a chance to attack again without interference from the fortress . The offer was rejected however as Teddiman knew he couldn ' t be ready in time before the actions of the main fleets had decided the outcome of the entire enterprise . Also Von Ahlefeldt refused to attack the Dutch himself . In the days after the battle the Dutch had strongly fortified their position : a defensive chain was positioned in the entry of the bay and their sailors improved the fortifications , adding another hundred guns . As the wind turned north they expected a direct attack from Teddiman , but the British Rear - Admiral , though now rejoined with the eight vessels that had got separated , limited himself to observing the harbour ; on 10 August he left to join the main fleet , that however had already been forced by lack of supplies to depart for England on 6 August , ignorant that it had failed to intercept De Ruyter . On 13 August Sandwich , learning that De Ruyter had reached the Republic on 27 July , took sea again , sailing to the east , but failed to meet Teddiman ' s flotilla though it was but thirty miles to the north of him ; both English forces were unaware of each other and of the fact that not fifty miles east of them , De Ruyter was heading north , having on arrival been appointed Lieutenant - Admiral and supreme commander of the rebuilt combined Dutch fleet , that was now out in force with 93 warships , 20 yachts , 12 fireships , 15 , 051 sailors , 4583 marines and 4337 cannons . Again returning to England , Sandwich joined Teddiman near Flamborough Head on 18 August , anchoring at Solebay on the 22nd to resupply and departing on the 28th . Meanwhile on 19 August De Ruyter ' s relief fleet had arrived at Bergen ; on 23 August he left again to shield a planned escape by the merchant fleet , but adverse gales forced him to return two days later . Only on 29 August did the Dutch merchant fleet leave the harbour . The very next day the convoy of 184 ships was struck by a hurricane , lasting till the afternoon of 1 September , that completely dispersed it . When the storm subsided De Ruyter had only 37 warships and eight merchantmen with him . Sandwich , now to the east of De Ruyter , on 3 September managed to intercept and take a straggling group of four warships , the " Zevenwolden " , " Westvriesland " , " Groningen " and " Hoop " and , much more important , two VOC - vessels : the " Slot Hooningen " and " Gulden Phenix " , that would again be lost by them during the Raid on the Medway . Receiving the false news that De Ruyter was east of him with the mass of the Dutch fleet , Lord Sandwich retreated to the west to bring his prizes to safety , again narrowly missing De Ruyter , moving to the east . Montague would afterwards be severely criticised for this as he thus forwent an excellent opportunity to destroy the Dutch in detail or at least capture more of the treasure ships . He on 9 September managed however to intercept and capture a second group with two WIC - vessels , four warships and seven fluyt naval supply ships . After breaking off a chase of another thirty vessels , for fear of the shoals of the Frisian Isles , he finally returned to Solebay on 11 September . The other Dutch vessels returned to the Dutch Republic safely , mostly reassembled by De Ruyter . For the English the escape of the Dutch Return Fleet from the Indies was an enormous blow : they could only finance the war by capturing it . But the blow was somewhat softened by the later capture of the two VOC - merchantmen . Lord Sandwich was blamed for the failure and fell into disgrace . After his arrival in the Thames he illegally , but perhaps with connivance of Charles , took goods of considerable value from the hulls of the " Slot Hooningen " and " Gulden Phenix " , sold these in secret and divided the gain among his nine flag officers , reserving for himself ₤4000 . When this came to light , Charles had no choice but to cashier him , though Sandwich defended his conduct by pointing out he took only a small part of the booty , the value of which was estimated by him at ₤500 , 000 . Samuel Pepys thus describes the impression of wealth when visiting one of the captured ships , in his diary entry of 16 November : " So I on board my Lord Bruncker ; and there he and Sir Edmund Pooly carried me down into the hold of the India shipp , and there did show me the greatest wealth lie in confusion that a man can see in the world . Pepper scattered through every chink , you trod upon it ; and in cloves and nutmegs , I walked above the knees ; whole rooms full . And silk in bales , and boxes of copper - plate , one of which I saw opened ( . . . ) which was as noble a sight as ever I saw in my life ( . . . ) " . Lord Sandwich also thought he had been tricked by the Danish king , as Pepys recounts in his diary entry of 18 September : " But the main thing my Lord wonders at , and blames the Dane for , is , that the blockhead , who is so much in debt to the Hollander , having now a treasure more than much than all his Crowne was worth , and that which would for ever have begarred the Hollander , should not take this time to break with the Hollander , and thereby pay his debt that must have been forgiven him and have got the greatest treasure into his hands that ever was together in the world " . In February 1666 the Danish king would declare war against England , after receiving large Dutch subsidies . Pieter de Bitter received an honorary golden chain from the States - General . Today , the Bergen Cathedral has a cannonball from the battle imbedded in the wall of its tower . Two wooden figures , depicting the head of a lion and the head of a unicorn , which were part of the decoration on the English vessels are kept in the Bergen Maritime Museum . Sources . Bergen Cathedral