Battle of the Slaak
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| Battle of the Slaak | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Slaak of Volkerak channel near Goeree-Overflakkee (present-day the Netherlands) 51°37′52″N 4°12′01″E / 51.6312°N 4.2004°E | |
| Result | Dutch victory |
Spain
United ProvincesJan van Nassau Siegen
Vice-Admiral Marinus Hollare35 ships,
60 vessels
1,500 killed, wounded or drowned,
4,000 prisoners
The naval Battle of the Slaak (12 and 13 September 1631) was a Dutch victory during the Eighty Years' War. The Dutch prevented the Spanish army from dividing the Dutch United Provinces in two.
Background
In reaction to an overland Dutch attempt to capture
Willemstad after William the Silent; more importantly, Spanish occupation would have allowed a blockade of the Dutch main naval port Hellevoetsluis located to the direct north of Overflakee on the island of Voorne; and the isolation of the province of Zealand
from its confederate provinces.
Battle
A Spanish fleet of ninety vessels and 5,500 men under the direction of Don
House of Orange, mostly consisting of small transports, departed from Antwerp
.
The project could not be kept a secret however and a Dutch task force of fifty ships, also largely consisting of small rivercraft but containing some larger
Eastern Scheldt. Seeing their intended route blocked, the Spanish first tried to capture the more southern island of Tholen instead, to show something for their efforts, but this attempt was thwarted by a regiment of two thousand English and Scots mercenaries under the command of Colonel Thomas Morgan from the continental fortress of Steenbergen who marched at low tide through the shallow sea to the island, arriving just in time to deter a landing. Van Nassau in his desperation then took the bold decision to attempt to sneak past the Dutch fleet during the night and so achieve the original goal after all.[1]
The Spanish movement however was noticed despite a fog; despite their small number the Dutch first allowed the enemy fleet to pass completely before cutting them off. Once this was achieved the Dutch suddenly attacked the Spanish from behind in the
Slaak of Volkerak channel and were routed. Hundreds drowned as they tried to escape the ships and those that did escape were captured by the waiting Dutch and English troops ashore. Over 4,000 troops and seamen were captured along with the majority of ships. Van Nassau himself and two ships accompanying him managed to escape to Antwerp; it is not exactly known how many others escaped, perhaps as much as a third of his fleet.[2]
Aftermath
The
Thirty Years War
waged the same time in the larger German theatre; it influenced a decision in 1632 to reach a peace settlement between the Habsburgs and the Republic — the peace talks were unsuccessful however.
Notes
- ^ Ward, Adolphus William; Leathes, Stanley Mordaunt; Prother, George Walter, eds. (1934). The Cambridge Modern History Planned by Lord Acton · Volume 4. Macmillan. p. 695.
- ^ Ward, Leathes & Prother 1934, p. 694.
Bibliography
- Dupuy, Trevor and Rachel Dupuy (1986). The Encyclopedia of Military History from 3500 B.C. to the Present. New York: Harper and Row.
- Hoeven, Marco van der, ed. (1997). Exercise of Arms: Warfare in the Netherlands, 1568-1648. Brill.
External links
Media related to Battle of the Slaak at Wikimedia Commons
