Battle of Sandwich (1217) - Battle

Battle

On 24 August, in clear weather, the French fleet set out from Calais. Though the ships were equipped by Eustace the Monk, command of the knights and soldiers was held by Robert of Courtenay. The wife of Prince Louis, Blanche of Castile was also an important organizer of the relief effort. Opposing the French was Philip d'Aubigny, commander of the southeastern coast. The Earl of Pembroke had arrived at New Romney on 19 August and summoned the sailors of the Cinque Ports. The English mariners complained bitterly of bad treatment at the hands of King John, but Pembroke convinced them to fight with the promise of great spoils should they defeat the French.

Eustace's own vessel, the Great Ship of Bayonne led the French squadron. Robert de Courtenay held the top command while Eustace served as his deputy. Ralph de la Tourniele and William des Barres were third and fourth in command, respectively. All told, there were 36 knights on the flagship. The next three troopships were commanded by Mikius de Harnes, William V of Saint-Omer, and the Mayor of Boulogne. Altogether, the first four ships, including the flagship, contained between 100 and 125 knights. Men-at-arms manned the remaining six troopships. There were 70 smaller vessels which carried supplies. All eleven troopships were overloaded, particularly the flagship which carried a large trebuchet and horses destined for Prince Louis.

The English ships were generally smaller than the French, except for a substantial cog (ship) provided by the Earl of Pembroke, who was persuaded to stay ashore. As justiciar, Hubert de Burgh claimed leadership of the fleet, which included between 16 and 18 large ships and 20 smaller vessels. All told, there were no more than 40 English ships. A bastard of King John, Richard Fitz-John commanded one ship.

The English, who had recovered Sandwich from Louis' forces, determined to let the French armada pass by before attacking. When the French sailed past Sandwich, de Burgh's fleet issued from the port. The French fleet, which sailed in close order toward the Thames estuary, held the windward position at first. De Burgh's ship, which was in the lead, lunged at the French in a feint attack, but veered away when threatened. Against the advice of his admiral Eustace, the overconfident Robert of Courtenay ordered the French to attack. As the French shortened sail, the English ships gained the windward position and attacked. Meanwhile, de Burgh's flagship sailed independently to attack the French from the rear, eventually capturing two French vessels.

Aided by their upwind position, the English archers inflicted considerable execution on the enemy sailors and soldiers before the French bowmen were able to effectively reply. The English also opened pots of lime which blew in the faces of the French. Early in the battle, the French flagship engaged Richard Fitz-John's ship. As more English ships came up, they joined the fight against the flagship, while the other French ships maintained their tight formation, but failed to assist their flagship.

Pembroke's cog and Fitz-John's ship grappled Eustace's flagship, one on each side. After a one-sided melee, Robert of Courtenay and the French knights were captured for ransom, while the French sailors and common soldiers were massacred. Eustace, dragged from his hiding place in the bilge, offered to pay 10,000 marks as ransom. Though his very high price was tempting, Fitz-John and the other English leaders considered Eustace a turncoat because of the pirate's employment by King John. Marked for execution by the enraged English, Eustace was tied down and a man named Stephen Crabbe struck off his head with one blow.

With their flagship taken, the French fleet headed back to Calais. Encouraged, the English attacked, using ramming, grappling, and rigging-cutting to disable the enemy vessels. The nine surviving troopships got away, but most of the smaller vessels fell prey to the English mariners. As few as 15 ships escaped from the rampaging English. The French troopships owed their deliverance to their train of supply vessels because the English turned aside to plunder the smaller craft. The French sailors were slaughtered or thrown into the Channel, except for two or three men on each captured vessel who were spared.