Four Days' Battle - Results

Results

The biggest sea battle of the Second Anglo-Dutch War and in the age of sail was a Dutch victory. However, the outcome is sometimes described as inconclusive, because both sides initially claimed victory. Immediately after the battle the English captains of Rupert's squadron, not having seen the final outcome, claimed De Ruyter had retreated first, then normally seen as an acknowledgement of the superiority of the enemy fleet. Though the Dutch fleet was eventually forced to end the pursuit, they had managed to cripple the English fleet, and lost but four smaller ships themselves, for the Spieghel refused to sink and was repaired. The contemporaneous Dutch view on this matter is expressed in a famous epigram by the poet Constantijn Huygens:

Two fight — and for their lives

The one that caused the row

is beaten — but survives

And boasts: "I've won it now!

As master of the field!"

And did he win? For sure!

Face-down he couldn't yield:

His victory was pure

The other took his hat,

his rapier and his gold

And left him lying flat,

The glorious field to hold

So master he has been:

Our Neighbours are the same:

If thus they like to win,

we wish them lasting fame

Two months later the recuperated English fleet challenged the Dutch fleet again, now much more successfully at North Foreland in the St. James's Day Battle. This proved to be a partial victory as the Dutch fleet wasn't destroyed. The enormous costs of repair after both battles depleted the English treasury, so the Four Days Battle is usually seen as both a tactical and important strategic victory for the Dutch.