Battle of Beachy Head (1690) - Battle

Battle

The following day, 10 July, off Beachy Head near Eastbourne Torrington advanced towards the French in line of battle. He placed the Dutch white squadron with 21 ships – commanded by Cornelis Evertsen – in the van. Torrington himself was in the centre red squadron; the rear blue squadron, commanded by Vice-Admiral Ralph Delaval, comprised both English and Dutch ships.

The French Admiral divided his force into the customary three squadrons, with white and blue, white, and blue pennants respectively. Tourville, aboard the Soleil Royal, commanded the centre, white squadron. The blue squadron in the French van was commanded by Château-Renault; Victor-Marie d'Estrées commanded the rear white and blue squadron. In each fleet the squadron commanders were in the centre of their respective squadrons, and the division flag officers in the centre of their divisions.

At about 08:00 the Allies, being to windward, ran down together in line abreast, elongated in order to cover the whole French fleet and prevent doubling at either end. The Dutch squadron bore down on the leading French squadron to engage on a parallel course, but left the leading division of Château-Renault's squadron unmarked. This division cut across Evertsen's path and, doubling on the Dutch squadron, was able to inflict heavy losses.

Vice Admiral Ashby of the red squadron failed to help the Dutch, as the Marquis de Villette succeeded in tacking ahead, placing Ashby between two fires. When Torrington brought the remainder of the red squadron into action, he found difficulty in getting close enough because of the sag in the French line, and came no closer than twice gunshot range. Admiral Tourville, finding himself with few adversaries in the centre, pushed forward his own leading ships which Torrington's dispositions had left without opponents, further strengthening the French attack in the van. The Dutch were now opposed by the whole of Château-Renault's squadron, and the van and centre divisions of Tourville's squadron.

Delaval's greatly outnumbered blue squadron fought a desperate battle with d'Estrées in the rear. Evertsen in the van, however, having lost his second-in-command and many other officers, was forced to withdraw. The Dutch had maintained the unequal contest with very little assistance from the rest of the Allied fleet; he left two Dutch ships sunk, one shattered and dismasted vessel captured, and many badly damaged. Outmatched, Torrington ended the battle late in the afternoon, taking advantage of the tide and the drop in wind; while his ships dropped anchor, the French – who were not sufficiently alert – were carried off by the current and out of cannon range.

The eight-hour battle was a complete victory for the French, but was far from decisive. When the tide changed at 21:00, the Allies weighed anchor. Tourville pursued, but instead of ordering a general chase, he maintained the strict line-of-battle, reducing the speed of the fleet to that of the slower ships. Nevertheless, Torrington burnt seven more badly-damaged Dutch ships and one English ship to avoid capture before gaining the refuge of the Thames; as soon as he was in the safety of the river, he ordered all the navigation buoys removed, making any attempt to follow him too dangerous.