All at Sea - Battle of Camperdown Fleet Review

The Battle of Camperdown - Thomas Luny
The pell-mell battle between the two vanguard divisions is well under way as the two opposing flagships, Vrijheid, about to lose her mainmast, and Venerable exchanging close in broadsides, as the burning Dutch 64-gun Hercules drifts out of the action as her crew fight to extinguish the flames.

Last weekend a ten-month project was completed when the last models needed to finish off both fleets for the Camperdown collection were showcased and added to their respective line-ups and as promised I thought I would show the first pictures of the two fleets arrayed for the first time together, rather as I did with the Trafalgar collection back in 2021, together with a summary of the history behind the battle and plans for games with the collection.

In 1795 Holland was added to the number of Britain's enemies. The country had been overrun by the French, whose cavalry captured a frozen-in Dutch fleet by galloping over the ice.

The French cavalry take the battle fleet caught in the ice in the waters of Texel, 21 January 1795 - Charles Mozin

The commander given the task of blockading the Dutch fleet was the impressive figure of Admiral Adam Duncan, commanding very much a Cinderella force scraped together at a time when most ships of the line in good condition were already allocated to the Channel, Mediterranean or West Indies stations; with most of the North Sea ships not only in a poorer state but also tending to be older and smaller vessels.

Admiral Adam Duncan in 1798 by Henri-Pierre Danloux 

Much of this squadron was made up of 64-gun ships and fourth-rate 50's, the latter definitely too weak for the line of battle, and the former now widely regarded as less than ideal. 

Apart from the stretched nature of the Royal Navy's resources, the main argument for the allocation of such ships to Duncan's command were that his cruising ground was never far from a British base, and its maintenance facilities, easily accessible for his old and decrepit ships, but also because the Dutch navy was itself comprised of ships that were small for their rate. 

This period chart from the London Gazette, October 16th 1797, produced at the time to illustrate the position of the Battle of Camperdown, also shows well the proximity to the British mainland from the Dutch coast that helped Duncan's squadron maintain its ships cruising these waters between the North Sea and English Channel.

The summer of 1797 saw most of Duncan's ships in a state of mutiny, and at one time he only had his own flagship, the Venerable 74-guns, the Adamant 50-guns and a cutter to maintain the blockade, and he was forced to maintain the pretence of signalling to imaginary ships over the horizon to keep the Dutch in port, where fortunately they remained until well into the autumn.

The two opposing fleets for Camperdown assembled, with the British fleet to the left of picture, from the range stick and the Dutch to the right of picture. Fifty vessels in all, twenty-four British and twenty-six Dutch.

French plans for 1797 had included an invasion of Ireland covered by the Brest fleet initially to be joined by the Spanish, but they were defeated at the Battle of Cape St Vincent on February 14th and returned to Cadiz, which left the Batavian-Dutch Republic and its fleet based in the Texel.

The Battle of Cape St Vincent, February 14th 1797 - Derek Gardner

By October 1797 the plan was in abeyance, but the Dutch fleet, under Admiral De Winter, left the Texel notwithstanding, and it is not clear whether he was raiding int the North Sea, or going to join the Brest fleet, or merely to try conclusions with Duncan's fleet, most of which had been in a mutinous state; or perhaps he was under orders to sail from a Dutch higher command determined to make a gesture, against their commanding admiral's better judgement.

The Batavian-Dutch fleet was not in the happiest of states either, following an aborted revolution in the Netherlands just before the French Revolution, which left a strong republican faction in the country that was more than prepared to throw in its lot with the invading French.

Admiral Jan Willem de Winter

A large proportion of Dutch naval officers including De Winter were of the republican persuasion, but a great many of the sailors were of the traditionalist party which supported the rule of the exiled Orange family, however in the event the fighting power of both fleets does not seem to have been affected by these ideological splits, and both fought with the wholehearted (but far from vindictive) pugnaciousness that seems to have characterised battles between the British and Dutch.

Orangists taunt Elsevier's Free Corps in Rotterdam, 1785 - Charles Rochussen

In early October 1797 most of Duncan's fleet were forced to victual and refit at Yarmouth Roads, leaving a small observation squadron, and were there on the 9th October when the hired armed cutter, Active arrived to signal the news that the Dutch were out, that saw Duncan get underway immediately, sighting the enemy fleet off their own coast early on the 11th of October near the village of Kamperduin, later anglicised to Camperdown that lends its name to the battle that followed.

HM Armed Cutter Active, under Commander J Hamilton, signals to Admiral Duncan in Yarmouth Roads the intelligence of the Dutch fleet being at sea, which led to the Battle of Camperdown - John William Huggins circa 1830.

Neither fleets were in a neat formation, so both began forming a line of battle, with the Dutch edging away into shallow water, that forced Duncan to conclude that he didn't have time for careful manoeuvring and signalled for his fleet to 'pass through the Enemy's Line and Engage from Leeward', after first hoisting the signal flags for 'General Chase', which resulted in, with one exception (Agincourt, whose captain was subsequently court-martialled) his ships proceeding to engage the enemy as closely as possible.

A representation by an unknown artist of the British and Dutch fleets five minutes before the action commenced on the 11th October 1797 - National Museum of Scotland.    

In his letter to Lord Spencer at the Admiralty, after the battle, Duncan reported that he; 

'. . . immediately gave chase and soon got sight of them, forming line on the larboard tack to receive us, the wind at the NW. As we approached them I made the signal for the squadron (fleet) to shorten sail, in order to connect them; soon after I saw land between Camperdown and Egmont, about nine miles to leeward of the enemy, and finding there was no time to be lost in making the attack, I made the signal to bear up, break the enemy's line, and engage them to leeward, each ship her opponent, by which I got between them and the land, whither they were fast approaching. My signals were obeyed with great promptitude.'

 

Admiral Duncan's fleet at Camperdown, with the seven 74-gun third-rates, extreme left, the seven 64-gun third rates next, with Duncan's division of six ships to the fore and his second in command, Vice Admiral Richard Onslow's eight in the second rank. Next are the two 50-gun fourth-rates, Adamant and Isis that were both technically part of Duncan's division, but Adamant re-joined the fleet from a prior reconnaissance, and ended up attaching to Onslow's division in the approach to battle. Next in line are the two fifth-rates, Beaulieu and Circe, then the sixth-rate Martin, the lugger Speculator and the four cutters, King George, Rose, Diligent and Active.

He further added;

'For the particulars of our victory, I shall leave your Lordship to my public letter, and shall just say I was obliged to lay all regularity and tactics aside, we were so near the land, or we should have done nothing.'

Battle of Camperdown - Derek Gardner

Thus as can be deduced from Duncan's account that any suggestion that Camperdown anticipated Nelson's very deliberate and calculated attack at Trafalgar, eight years later is in error in that Duncan's plan of attack was one that was a response to a situation developing that he observed prior to his decision to steer for the enemy to quickly put his fleet between them and the land; this would see his fleet form loosely into two distinct groups, as depicted above with his own division less Adamant which had previously been detached to observe and was now with Onslow.

Yet his need for a speedy approach needed to avoid confusion and to break through the Dutch line successfully each ship had to steer for her opposite number in such a way as to not block the fire or movement of flanking ships, thus Duncan's approach was anything but headlong, nor could it be as the speed of his ships could scarcely have exceeded three knots in the fresh or moderate breezes recorded in the ships logs, and the thirty signals he sent to the fleet in the space of about three hours were all intent on speeding up the battle by way of making adjustments of distance and bearing so as to avoid the need for bringing to and dressing his line during the approach.

The seven British 74's with from nearest to camera, Triumph, Venerable and Bedford in the forward line of three, and the four ships of Onslow's division similarly,  Russel, Montagu, Monarch and Powerful.

Admiral Jan Willem de Winter put to sea from the Texel with fifteen ships of the line, very weak in firepower. He made no attempt to manoeuvre when approached by the British fleet but simply formed in line ahead on the larboard tack on a north-easterly course with the wind NW by N, within sight of the Dutch coast, supported by three heavy frigates and four brigs used to support his line from the impending attack by Duncan's sixteen ships of the line.

When Onslow opened the battle at about 12.40pm, he succeeded in breaking through the Dutch line, raking bow and stern respectively of the ships he passed between, and was followed in a similar fashion by roughly half the British fleet in some measure; that saw two separate pell-mells resulting, with the Dutch ships in the centre not fully engaged.

The four British hired armed cutters can be seen alongside the lugger Speculator, sloop Martin, and frigates Circe and Beaulieu.

The Dutch fought with all their accustomed bravery but were heavily worsted by the superior British gunnery and mutual support tactics of the pell-mell, with the Dutch doing what they could to assist ships nearest to them, but with the British showing marked superiority in their in-fighting changes of position.

They also showed superiority in preventing the Dutch doing the same thing, and by 3pm the battle was over and many Dutch ships had struck, with nine of the line and two other ships eventually secured, with the prisoners including Admiral de Winter and another flag officer.

In the centre are the seven British 64s, with Duncan's forward three comprising, nearest to camera, Belliqueux, Lancaster and Ardent, and to the rear similarly, Agincourt, Monmouth, Veteran and Director, and to the left of the picture, the two 50-gun fourth-rates, Isis, extreme left and Adamant

The fleets had been carried to leeward in the fighting and many of them were now close in shore so that Duncan had great difficulty in getting off the coast with his prizes.

In terms of percentage of captures to total of enemy force, this was the most complete victory achieved by British Royal Navy in the whole of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars with the exception of the Nile.

In the captured Dutch naval personnel was their commander Vice-Admiral de Winter who had this to say after his capture to a comment from Admiral Duncan about the result of the battle;

Duncan Receiving the Surrender of de Winter at the Battle of Camperdown, 11 October 1797 - Daniel Orme (NMM)

"Your not waiting to form line ruined me: if I had got nearer the shore and you had attacked, I should probably have drawn both fleets on it, and it would have been a victory for me, being on my own coast.".

The four Dutch 74-gun third-rate flagships can be seen in the forward line comprising Vrijheid, nearest camera, Staaten Generaal, Brutus and Jupiter, note all Dutch ships of the line have lateen rigged mizzens. In the rear line are the five 68-gun third-rates, with Gelijkheid, nearest camera, next to De Vries, Leijden, Cerberus and Haarlem.

The two Dutch 64's Wassanaer (11) and Hercules (3) with forward of them, the 44-gun razee Mars, and alongside obscured beyond the four Dutch fourth-rate 56-gun Beschermer, Batavier, Alkmaar and Delft.

The Dutch light ship line up comprising from right to left the frigates Monnikkendam, Embuscade and Heldin, then the two corvettes, Waakzaamheid and Minerva, the four brigs Atalante, Ajax, Galatee and Daphne and finally the aviso Het Hassje.

As well as running the collection at the Naval Wargames Society Meeting at the Fleet Air Arm Museum on Saturday 28th September, for a play through of the complete battle using David Manley's fleet action rules, 'Far Distant Ships', 

I've also put together a new scenario for Kiss Me, Hardy just looking at the battle between the British and Dutch vans, prior to the arrival of support from the British rearward or leeward division having defeated the Dutch rear and centre.

All the models seen are using the small and large third-rates from Warlord Games Black Seas range of models, together with the fourth-rates, whilst the frigates and cutters are also using models from the Warlord range, several of the smaller ships are 3-D prints from Turner Miniatures and Only Games, whilst the British lugger Speculator is a scratch build based on the hull of the Warlord Schooner.

The seven British 74's closest to camera with HMS Venerable prominent and her signal No.5 flying at the mizzen 'Engage the Enemy Closely'.

Those that have followed in the build of this collection over a series of fourteen separate posts will know that I have covered the individual histories of the ships as they were built, together with the information around the changes made to models to better make them fit the look of their historical counterparts, and for those who would like to look back at those posts I will add links to each of them individually at the bottom of this post.

The seven British 64's seen bow on. All these models are based on the Warlord Games 'Small Third-Rate' designed to generically represent the various 64's, 68', and 70's found among many of the European navies at this time, with the models coming with a range of figureheads and capable of being fitted with the plastic options from the generic plastic third-rates.

As mentioned, as well as the fleet action using Far Distant Ships, I am working up a new scenario from the battle entitled 'Nailing the Colours – Battle of Vanguards' focussing n the attack by Admiral Duncan's van on Admiral de Winter and the van of the Dutch fleet

The two British fourth-rates Adamant (closest to camera) and Isis. Both using the generic option from the Warlord range and fitted out with plastic fifth-rate masts, sails and bowsprits.

Thoughts have now turned back to scenario and battle planning to arrange the required table space to facilitate the whole battle and parts of it in 1:700 or about one inch to twenty yards.

The British 'small-ships' with HMS Beaulieu heading up the line from the left, followed by Circe, Martin, the lugger Speculator and the four cutters Diligent, Active, King George and Rose.

The Dutch line up with the four 74-gun flag-ships with Venerable closest to camera, flying Admiral de Winters flag on a jackstaff on the mainmast, and with the five 68-gun third-rates in line behind.

The Dutch razee Mars, closest to camera with the two 64's Hercules and Wassenaer directly behind, and to the right, the four 56-gun fourth-rates Beschermer, Batavier, Alkmaar and Delft.

The Dutch 'small-ships' with from left to right the fifth-rate frigates, Monnikkendam, Embuscade and Heldin, the two sixth-rate corvettes, Minerva and Waakzaamheid, the four brigs, Atalante, Ajax, Daphne and Galatee, and at the far end of the line, the little aviso (dispatch boat) Het Hassje.

The Dutch small-ships seen from the other end of the line.

If you would like to see a video review of the collection on JJ's Wargames YouTube channel, click on the link below;

In addition I have attached the links to the project build posts by subject matter below.

By subject the posts cover the the following:

Part One - The Dutch 74's (note I mistakenly painted these in the late-Napoleonic war white scheme but changed them later to the more appropriate puke-yellow for Camperdown.

All at Sea, Battle of Camperdown Build Project, Part One

Part Two - British 64's of the Leeward Division

All at Sea, Battle of Camperdown Build Project, Part Two

Part Three - British 74's of the Leeward Division

All at Sea, Battle of Camperdown Build Project, Part Three

Part Four - The Leeward Division Completed (HMS Powerful 74-guns, HMS Agincourt 64-guns and HMS Adamant 50-guns).

All at Sea, Battle of Camperdown Build Project, Part Four

Part Five - The Dutch Rear Completed (Cerberus 68-guns, Haarlem 68-guns and Alkmaar 56-guns).

All at Sea, Battle of Camperdown Build Project, Part Five

Part Six - Leijden 68-guns, Wassenaer 64-guns and Batavier 56-guns.

All at Sea, Battle of Camperdown Build Project, Part Six

Part Seven - Hercules 64-guns, Admiraal Tjerk Hiddes De Vries 68-guns and the razee Mars 44-guns.

All at Sea, Battle of Camperdown Build Project, Part Seven

Part Eight - Batavian Battle Line Completed (The 68-gun Gelijkheid and 56-gun Beschermer).

All at Sea, Battle of Camperdown Build Project, Part Eight

Part Nine - Duncan's Spearhead (The British 74's Venerable, Triumph and Bedford)

All at Sea, Battle of Camperdown Build Project, Part Nine

Part Ten - The British Battle Line Completed ( HMS Belliqueux, HMS Lancaster and HMS Ardent each 64-guns and the veteran old lady, HMS Isis 50-guns).

All at Sea, Battle of Camperdown Build Project, Part Ten

Part Eleven - The Small Ships (1) Minerva, Waakzaamheid, Circe and Beaulieu

All at Sea, Battle of Camperdown Build Project, Part Eleven

Part Twelve - The Small Ships (2) The Dutch 32-gun frigate Heldin and the four British cutters, Rose, King George, Active and Diligent.

All at Sea, Battle of Camperdown Build Project, Part Twelve

Part Thirteen - The Small Ships (3) 'Let's Build a Lugger'. - His Majesty's Hired Armed Lugger Speculator

All at Sea, Battle of Camperdown Build Project, Part Thirteen

Part Fourteen - The Small Ships (4) Sloop, Brigs and Aviso - The 16-gun British sloop, Martin, the 6-gun Batavian Dutch aviso (dispatch or advice boat) Het Hassje and the four Batavian-Dutch brigs, Galatée, Daphné, Ajax and Atalante

All at Sea, Battle of Camperdown Build Project, Part Fourteen

I hope you have enjoyed this Project Build and I look forward to posting AAR's on the games to be played with this collection going forward.

In the meantime, JJ's continues with lots of other stuff to come.

As always, more anon 

JJ