Lieutenant-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter virtually controlled the seas around the south coast of England after a battle that took place in what year ?
Treaty of Breda (1667) The Treaty of Breda was signed at the Dutch city of Breda, 31 July (Gregorian calendar), 1667, by England, the United Provinces (Netherlands), France, and Denmark–Norway. It brought a hasty end to the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665–1667) in favour of the Dutch, as Louis XIV's forces began invading the Spanish Netherlands as part of the War of Devolution, but left many territorial disputes unresolved. It was thus a typical quick "uti possidetis" treaty. In the latter stages of the war, the Dutch had prevailed. Lieutenant-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter virtually controlled the seas around the south coast of England, following his successful Raid on the Medway, and his presence encouraged English commissioners to sue for peace quickly. Negotiations, which had been long protracted, and had actually begun in Breda before the raid, took only ten days to conclude after resumption of talks.
Dutch West Indies campaign The Dutch West Indies campaign was a series of minor conflicts in 1781 and 1782, in the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War and the Anglo-French War. Following Great Britain's declaration of war on the Dutch Republic in December 1780, British Admiral George Brydges Rodney, the commander of the Royal Navy in the West Indies, was notified by a fast-sailing packet of the declaration. He immediately acted to gain control over as many of the Dutch colonies as possible, seizing Sint Eustatius, a vital entrepot of French and Dutch trade with the Americans, in early February 1781. He also captured Saba and Sint Maarten, and orchestrated the seizure of the Dutch colonial outposts of Berbice, Demerara, and Essequibo in South America. A planned expedition by Samuel Hood against Curaçao was called off on rumors that a French fleet was approaching. French action later in 1781 and in 1782 recovered the territories taken by the British, although Sint Eustatius never recovered its importance as a trading point.