page_title: Batavian Navy
section_title: Surrender in the Vlieter
hierarchical_section_title: Batavian Navy / Naval calamities: causes and consequences / Surrender in the Vlieter
caption_attribution_description: 'Portrait of Rear-Admiral Samuel Story
context_page_description: The Batavian navy was the navy of the Batavian Republic. A continuation of the Staatse vloot of the Dutch Republic, though thoroughly reorganized after the Batavian Revolution of 1795, the navy embarked on several naval construction programs which, at least on paper, made her a serious rival of the Royal Navy during War of the Second Coalition. However, the Capitulation of Saldanha Bay, the Battle of Camperdown and the Vlieter Incident showed that she did not measure up to that expectation. Nevertheless, the organisational reorganizations proved durable, when the Batavian Republic was succeeded by the Kingdom of Holland, and later, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, so that the present-day Royal Netherlands Navy should trace its ancestry through her.
context_section_description: The National Assembly, and the French Directorate, felt that the losses of Camperdown needed to be made good as soon as possible. This necessitated a fresh dose of "extraordinary taxation". The Committee on Finance of the National Assembly, therefore, proposed an eight percent tax on income, based on a sliding scale, and starting with annual incomes over 300 guilders, in November 1797. This was a complete novelty, as this was to be a national tax, whereas heretofore all taxes were apportioned and levied at the provincial level. This novelty was only possible because the defeat at Camperdown had caused a "national emergency". This proposal was as gasoline on the already raging fire of the fight between Unitarists and Federalists for the soul of the Batavian Republic. The tax was adopted on 2 December 1797, but the fight exacerbated the already strained relations between "radicals" and "conservatives", which eventually led to the Coup of 21–22 January 1798.
  The Committee for Naval Affairs took the necessary steps to rebuild the navy. The ships that had returned to the Texel were repaired; two coastal-defense guard ships were converted to ships of the line; the new ships that were still in the stocks were ordered to be expeditiously finished; the construction of four new ships of the line of 68 guns was ordered; and three new frigates started. Early in the Spring of 1798 two ships of the line of 76 guns, seven of 68 guns, two of 56 guns, and two razees of 44 guns, six frigates of 22 to 36 guns, and four brigs of 16 to 18 guns were operational. And in the course of 1798 several more ships of the line were launched.
  Despite these good results, after the Coup of January 1798 the new Uitvoerend Bewind (Executive Authority) decided to replace the Committee for Naval Affairs (like all standing committees of the National Assembly) with a so-called Agent for the Navy (like other Agents were appointed to lead other government departments), with which the organisational structure of a government department under a Minister was for the first time introduced for the Dutch navy (as this structure was retained under later regime changes). The first Agent was Jacobus Spoors, who was, however, very reluctant to assume the new office.
  The first task for the new fleet would be the support of General Napoleon Bonaparte's project of an invasion of England in 1798. However, the general had other ambitions. He decided to give priority to his invasion of Egypt, and so the Batavian navy spent a lot of money and effort in vain on a project that did not go ahead. Similar projects: another planned invasion of Ireland in early 1799, and when that plan was cancelled, an expedition to the Dutch East Indies with the same ships and troops, were also cancelled by early 1799.
  But then rumors of an impending British invasion of Batavian territory began to circulate. This convinced the Uitvoerend Bewind that any foreign adventures had to be abandoned until this danger had been averted. The rumors eventually proved to be more than rumors, and the invasion took place in August of 1799, beginning with the British amphibious landing at Callantsoog, covered by a British fleet under Admiral Andrew Mitchell.
  Unbeknownst to the Batavians Admiral Mitchell had a "secret weapon" for "psychological warfare" on board his flagship, in the person of the Erfprins (Hereditary Prince of Orange), the future king William I of the Netherlands and eldest son of the Stadtholder William V. This 
  "Serene Highness", though a former general commanding troops in battle, at this point in time was no more than an Émigré, who had joined his fate to that of the British government of Foreign Secretary Grenville. Grenville in his turn had high hopes of an easy military victory, as he expected the Dutch people to reject the "evils of Democracy," and what else the French Revolution had subjected Continental Europe to, and to yearn for the good old days of autocracy and corruption they had experienced before the Batavian revolution. Though a Foxite himself, and so relatively enlightened, Grenvil
caption: Rear-Admiral Samuel Story