[2] Ayscue with the
smaller division of the fleet remained at home to scour the Channel.[a]
Blake sailed to the north, captured the squadron appointed to protect the
Dutch fishing-vessels, exacted from the busses the duty of every tenth
herring, and sent them home with a prohibition to fish again without a
license from the English government. In the mean while Van Tromp sailed
from the Texel with seventy men-of-war. It was expected in Holland that he
would sweep the English navy from the face of the ocean. His first attempt
was to surprise Ayscue, who was saved by a calm followed by a change of
wind. He then sailed to the north in search of Blake. But
[Footnote 1: The fishery employed in various ways one hundred thousand
persons.--Le Clerc, 321.]
[Footnote 2: From a list of hired merchantmen converted into men-of-war, it
appears that a ship of nine hundred tons burthen made a man-of-war of sixty
guns; one of seven hundred tons, a man-of-war of forty-six; four hundred,
of thirty-four; two hundred, of twenty; one hundred, of ten; sixty, of
eight; and that about five or six men were allowed for each gun.--Journals,
1651, May 29.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1652. July 19.]
his fleet was dispersed by a storm; five of his frigates fell into the
hands of the English; and on his return he was received with murmurs and
reproaches by the populace.
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