The First Anglo-Dutch War, or First Dutch War, was a naval conflict between the Commonwealth of England and the Dutch Republic. Largely caused by disputes over trade, it began with English attacks on Dutch merchant shipping, but expanded to vast fleet actions. Despite a series of victories in 1652 and 1653, the Commonwealth was unable to blockade Dutch trade, although English privateers inflicted serious losses on Dutch merchant shipping.
The economic damage eventually led to the Treaty of Westminster in 1654 where the Dutch were forced to make minor concessions to the Commonwealth. Both sides agreed to the exclusion of the House of Orange from the office of Stadtholder, but failed to resolve underlying commercial issues. In 1665, Dutch objections to the Navigation Acts and English concerns over their rival's trading practices led to the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
Background
In the 16th century, England had supported the Dutch Republic in the Eighty Years' War against Spain. They cooperated in fighting the Spanish Armada and England supported the Dutch in the early part of the Eighty Years' War by sending money and troops and maintaining garrisons in key ports and a permanent English representative to the Dutch government to ensure coordination of the joint war effort, under the Treaty of Nonsuch. The separate peace in 1604 between England and Spain strained this relationship, although an Anglo-Dutch treaty of 1625, due to remain in force until 1640 was the basis of officially cordial relations between the two countries, and also formed the basis of Charles I of England's Dutch policy.
The weakening of Spanish power at the end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648 also meant that many colonial possessions of the Portuguese and some of the Spanish Empire and their mineral resources were effectively open to conquest by a stronger power. The ensuing rush for empire brought the former allies into conflict, and the Dutch, having made peace with Spain, quickly replaced the English as dominant traders with the Iberian Peninsula, adding to an English resentment about Dutch trade that had steadily grown since 1590. Although the Dutch wished to renew the 1625 treaty, their attempt to do so in 1639 was not responded to, so the treaty lapsed.
By the middle of the 17th century, the Dutch had built by far the largest mercantile fleet in Europe, with more ships than all the other states combined, and their economy, based substantially on maritime commerce, gave them a dominant position in European trade, especially in the North Sea and Baltic. Furthermore, they had conquered most of Portugal's territories and trading posts in the East Indies and Brazil, giving them control over the enormously profitable trade in spices. They were even gaining significant influence over England's trade with her as yet small North American colonies.
The economic disparity between England and the United Provinces increased in part because unlike the English, the Dutch system was based on free trade, making their products more competitive. For example, an English wool trader, who dealt largely with ports in English-speaking America, complained in 1651 that although his English ships would take wool cloth to America to be sold, they could expect to leave American ports with 4,000 to 5,000 bags of wool cloth unsold. Dutch ships, on the other hand, would leave American ports with barely 1,000 bags of wool cloth unsold. Because of this disparity, English trade with her traditional markets in the Baltic, Germany, Russia and Scandinavia withered. During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, the States General was officially neutral, a policy that antagonised both Parliamentarians and Royalists but which the powerful province of Holland considered most advantageous.
The Dutch also benefitted from the 1648 Peace of Münster which confirmed their independence from Spain and ended the Eighty Years' War, although the Imperial Diet did not formally accept that the Dutch Republic was no longer part of the Holy Roman Empire until 1728. The peace agreement's provisions included a monopoly over trade conducted through the Scheldt estuary, confirming the commercial ascendancy of Amsterdam; Antwerp, part of the Spanish Netherlands and before 1585 the most important port in Northern Europe, would not recover until the late 19th century. This translated into cheaper prices for Dutch products due to a steep and sustained drop in freight charges and insurance rates.
Following the outbreak of the First English Civil War in August 1642, Parliamentarians and Royalists placed an embargo on Dutch ships trading with the opposing side. Since the vast majority of English ports were held by Parliament and the Royalist navy was weak, few Dutch ships were seized although the number steadily rose from 1644 to 1646, causing considerable tension. Despite these embargoes and their extension to Ireland and English colonies in Royalist hands, as late as 1649 the States General, and particularly the maritime provinces of Holland and Zeeland, wished to maintain their lucrative trade with England. Until 1648, Dutch naval vessels also inspected convoys of English ships which, as neutrals, were able to trade with the Spanish Netherlands. They sometimes brought ships into Dutch ports for more thorough examination and, very rarely, confiscated ships and cargoes as contraband.
The Execution of Charles I in January 1649 resulted in the formation of the Commonwealth of England, which continued to fight Royalists at home and in some of their colonies, leading to an expansion in the English Navy. At the same time, the war played havoc with English trading and shipping. To broadly study their commercial condition, the first Commission of Trade to be established by an Act of Parliament was erected on 1 August 1650. In October 1650, as part of the act to subdue their Royalist colonies and prevent Royalists from fleeing England, Parliament prohibited foreign ships from visiting or trading with any English plantations in America, without license; the act also allowed the seizure of ships violating the prohibition by both the English navy and merchant ships. The act was a temporary war measure hastily enacted and, while it was enacted in general terms to include all countries, it was aimed primarily at the Dutch, and was superseded the following year by a carefully prepared Navigation Act. Writing a century later, Adam Anderson relates of the period that "It had been observed with concern, that the merchants of England for several years past had usually freighted the Hollanders shipping for bringing home their own merchandize, because their freight was at a lower rate than that of English ships. The Dutch shipping were thereby made use of even for importing our own American products; whilst our shipping lay rotting in our harbours; our mariners also for want of employment at home, went into the service of the Hollanders." The English accused the Dutch of profiting from the turmoil of the English Civil War.
Opposing fleets
The Dutch fleet in the Eighty Years' War had three tasks: as a Battle Force against major Spanish fleets, to convoy Dutch merchant ships and protect its fishing fleet and to actively oppose privateers, particularly those of Dunkirk. In that war, the two latter tasks were more important than major fleet actions, and they required more numerous but smaller warships than the Battle Force, although these smaller ships could also be used in mêlée battles, where boarding rather than gunfire might decide the result. Following their victory over the Spanish fleet at the Battle of the Downs on October 21, 1639, and after peace was made with Spain in 1648, the need for major warships lessened, although smaller ones were still required for convoy service, particularly to the Mediterranean, the East Indies and later to the Caribbean. The financially exhausted Dutch Admiralties allowed their squadrons, and particularly their major warships, to deteriorate.
In the period up to the First Anglo-Dutch War, the Dutch Republic had four sources of warships. The first was the ships of five autonomous Admiralties ("colleges"), three in the province of Holland, which were supported by local taxes on commerce and contributions from the inland provinces. Each Admiralty was responsible for the design, construction, armament and manning of its own ships and the appointment of flag officers for its squadron. The second was the so-called "director's ships" (directieschepen), convoy escorts provided by the burgomasters and merchants of six cities including Amsterdam and Hoorn to protect their Baltic trades. The cities were responsible for providing what were in effect modified and armed merchant ships, appointing their captains and providing crews. The next group were hybrid ships of the Dutch East India Company, which could act as warships or cargo carriers and the last were hired merchant vessels, whose owners had little interest in risking their property. Although captains of the East India Company were generally competent, they were unused to naval discipline, as were the more variable in quality commanders of director's ships and hired merchant ships.
After 1648 the Admiralties sold off many of their larger ships, including Dutch Admiral Maarten Tromp's own flagship, the Aemilia, of 600 tons and fitted with 57 guns. Admiral Tromp was forced to shift his flag to the 600-ton Brederode, of 54 guns. By 1652, the Dutch Admiralties had only 79 ships at their disposal. Many of these ships were in bad repair, with fewer than 50 being seaworthy. All these ships were inferior in firepower to the largest English first and second rate ships. The numerical deficiency in the Dutch navy was to be made up by arming merchantmen.
The strongest restraint on the number of sailing warships was the large crews required, so fleets were limited by the number of seaman that could be induced or compelled to serve. England had a greater population and employed impressment to make up crew numbers, so could generally maintain more fully crewed ships than the Dutch could. The Dutch partly compensated by hiring foreign sailors from Scandinavia and the Baltic. The English navy of the Commonwealth period was in better condition and was still improving. The Commonwealth had won the English Civil War in 1652 with a strong and effective navy that had supported and supplied Cromwell's army in the wars in Scotland and Ireland; blockaded the Royalist fleet of Prince Rupert in Lisbon; and organised a system of convoys to protect the commerce of the Commonwealth against the numerous privateers based in European ports.
Compared to the Dutch fleet, the English fleet had larger ships of the first and second rates, but proportionately fewer frigates, as the English fleet was principally designed to fight in major actions, whilst providing convoy escorts or fighting privateers was a secondary task. The first and second rate ships included the ageing Resolution and Victory which dated from James I's reign, along with the Sovereign and others from Charles I's navy. However, the Naseby, Richard, Dunbar, and several others were built during the Commonwealth. These were part of a naval expansion financed by an Act of Parliament on 10 November 1650 which imposed a 15% tax on merchant shipping. Between 1649 and 1651 the English fleet included 18 ships that were each superior in firepower to Dutch Admiral Tromp's new flagship Brederode, the largest Dutch ship. All the English ships intended to fight in the battle line were more heavily armed than their equivalents in other European navies, sacrificing freeboard and the ability to use their lower guns in adverse weather in exchange for more powerful ordnance. English ships could fire and hit the enemy at a greater range, and favoured the use of round shot over the chain shot which was popular in other navies.