Battle of Sluys - The Battle

The Battle

The encounter took place in front of the town of Newmarket or Sluis, (French Écluse), on the inlet between West Flanders and Zeeland. In the middle of the 14th century this was an open roadstead capable of holding large fleets; it later was silted up by the river Eede.

A French fleet, which the English king Edward III, in a letter to his son Edward, the Black Prince, put at 190 sail (French sources say 213 boats), had been collected in preparation for an invasion of England. It was under the command of the Breton knight Hugues Quiéret, admiral for the king of France. Part of the fleet consisted of Genoese galleys serving as mercenaries under the command of Egidio Bocanegra (Barbavera).

Although many English historians speak of King Edward's fleet as inferior in number to the French, it is certain that he sailed from the Orwell on 22 June with 200 sail, and that he was joined on the coast of Flanders by his admiral for the North Sea, Sir Robert Morley, with 50 more. Some in this swarm of vessels were no doubt mere transports, for the king brought with him the household of his queen, Philippa of Hainault, who was then at Bruges. As, however, one of the queen's ladies was killed in the battle, it would appear that all of the English vessels were employed. According to some authors, the English had "160 to 180" sails.

Edward anchored at Blankenberge on the afternoon of 23 June and sent three squires to observe the position of the French. The Genoese Barbavera advised his colleagues to go to sea, but Nicolas Béhuchet, who as Constable exercised the general command, refused to leave the anchorage. He probably wished to occupy it in order to bar the king’s road to Bruges. The dispositions of the French were made in accordance with the usual medieval tactics of a fleet fighting on the defensive. Quiéret and Béhuchet formed their force into three or four lines chained together, with a few of the largest stationed in front as outposts. This was disastrous as it allowed the English to attack the left flank while the rest of the French fleet was paralyzed.

King Edward entered the roadstead on the morning of 24 June, and after maneuvering to place his ships to windward, and to bring the sun behind him, attacked with showers of arrows from the longbowmen on board. They could fire five times faster than the Genoese crossbowmen. In his letter to his son he says that the enemy made a noble defense "all that day and the night after". His ships were arranged in two lines, and it may be presumed that the first attacked in front, while the second would be able to turn the flanks of the opponent. The battle was a long succession of hand-to-hand fighting, boardings, or the repelling of boarders. Many French ships were successfully boarded and captured after fierce battles. Genoese crossbowmen also managed to successfully board and capture two English ships. Edward makes no mention of any actual help given him by his Flemish allies, though he says they were willing; the French claim that they joined after dark. They also assert that the king was wounded by Béhuchet, but this is not certain, and there is no testimony save a legendary one for a personal encounter between him and the French commander, though it would not be improbable. It is a sure fact, though, that the King was wounded by either an arrow or a bolt during the battle.

By the end of the battle, the French fleet had been broken with the loss of only two English ships captured, and the water was reported to be thick with blood and corpses.