ck and assist the rear, but there was little time, and his situation looked desperate: although the Dutch and British lines each mustered 16 ships, the British vessels were almost all larger and more strongly built than their Dutch counterparts, and their crews were experienced seamen in the heavy weather conditions, while the Dutch crews, confined to port for the previous year, had little understanding of the skills required in combat at sea. The Dutch line of battle was accompanied by a second line to the east, formed from ten frigates, brigs and smaller craft. These vessels, unlike the smaller ships with the British fleet, were well armed and situated so that their guns covered the gaps between the ships that formed the Dutch line of battle, ready to rake any British vessels that attempted to break through.
Collapse of the Dutch rear guard
At 12:05, Duncan raised the signal ordering his ships to engage the enemy closely. At the same time, the Dutch ship Jupiter, under Rear-Admiral Hermanus Reijntjes, fourth from the southern end of the line, opened fire on the rapidly approaching Monarch. The Dutch ships had waited until the British were well within effective range in order to maximise the effect of their shot, and soon Onslow's flagship was under fire from the entire rearguard of the Dutch line, the ship suffering damage while attempting to break through the Dutch line between Jupiter and Haarlem at 12:30. On Monarch, Captain Edward O'Bryen remarked to Onslow that he could not see where his ship could pass between the closely formed Dutch ships, to which the Admiral responded that "the Monarch will make a passage." Striking the small gap between the ships, Onslow fired raking broadsides into both vessels and then turned to lay his ship alongside Reyntjes' flagship. As he did, the Dutch frigate Monnikkendam and the brig Daphné pulled out of the second line and attempted to fill the gap Monarch had created, firing into the British ship of the line as they did so.[Note 4] In response, Onslow opened fire on the smaller 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 