maller vessels, destroying the frigate's wheel and damaging the rigging, so that the ship fell back, followed later by the severely damaged brig.
Monarch was almost immediately followed by HMS Powerful under Captain William O'Bryen Drury, which passed through the same gap, raked Haarlem again and poured a destructive fire into the wallowing Monnikkendam. At the same time, HMS Montagu attacked Alkmaar, the next in line, from the west, while HMS Russell, under Captain Trollope, attacked the last Dutch ship, the 56-gun Delft. These attacks were accompanied by fire from HMS Monmouth, which passed between Alkmaar and Delft, and raked both ships, and from HMS Director (under William Bligh of Bounty fame), which passed up the Dutch line until it reached the battered Haarlem, engaging the ship at close range. The straggling HMS Veteran joined the northern part of the engagement, cutting across Jupiter and then turning in pursuit of the Dutch centre, while Adamant reached the fight late, joining the attack on the already battered Haarlem. Only HMS Agincourt remained apart from the battle entirely, passing up the Dutch line at extreme range; one anecdotal account reports that on board Agincourt a stray shot passed high over the deck and an officer was seen to flinch, drawing a scornful call from the crew that "There is no danger yet, sir". Agincourt 's captain John Williamson was subsequently court-martialled and dismissed.
In the confusion, the tail of the Dutch line disintegrated into a chaotic melee, with eight British ships of the line fighting four Dutch and the frigate Monnikkendam. So close was the action that the British ships found themselves at risk of firing into one another in the high seas, heavy rain and poor visibility. The Dutch centre, consisting of the ships of the line Brutus, Leijden and the fifth rate razee Mars, pulled away from the engagement behind them under Rear-Admiral Johan Bloys van Treslong, coming under only distant fire from the ships of Onslow's division. Isolated, the Dutch rearguard were rapidly overwhelmed, with Jupiter, Haarlem, Alkmaar and Delft all surrendering to Onslow's attack before 13:45, while the battered Monnikkendam was seized by the frigate Beaulieu.
Battle of the vanguards
While the Dutch rearguard was overwhelmed by British numbers, a more equal combat was being contested to the north. There the combat was centred around the two flagships, Duncan's Venerable engaging De Winter's Vrijheid 18 minutes after Monarch broke the line to the south. Duncan had originally intended to break the line between Vrijheid and the next ship Staaten Generaal under Rear-Admiral Samuel Story, but Story ensured that there was no gap between his vessel and the flagship to break through, and their combined fire was so dangerous to the advancing Venerable that Duncan instead cut through behind Staaten Generaal, raking Story's ship twice and causing it to drift off in confusion as Duncan engaged Vrijheid from the east.
While Venerable had diverted south, Vrijheid had been attacked from the west by Ardent under Captain Richard Rundle Burges. The smaller British ship had soon suffered more than a hundred casualties, including Burges killed, under the combined fire of De Winter's flagship and the next ship ahead Admiraal Tjerk Hiddes De Vries. Only the arrival of Venerable alongside Vrijheid allowed Ardent a brief respite. During the fight, Burges' men "fought like maniacs", including the wife of one of the gunners who insisted on joining her husband at his gun, until her legs were torn off by cannon fire. Within a short period however both Venerable and Ardent were surrounded, as at least one of the frigates from the second line joined the attack on the two isolated British vessels. At the height of the combat, the colours and signal flags on Venerable were brought down by cannon fire. To ensure that there was no suggestion that the flagship had surrendered, a sailor named Jack Crawford scrambled to the top of the mainmast and replaced them as the battle raged beneath him. To support Duncan, Captain William 