The Story of Admiral Blake
By John Campbell
Robert Blake, who became the admiral of the Commonwealth, was the eldest son of Mr. Humphrey Blake, a Spanish merchant who, having acquired a considerable fortune for the times in which he lived, purchased a small estate near Bridgewater, in which neighbourhood his family had been long settled.
Robert was born in the month of August, 1598, and was educated at a free school in Bridgewater. He afterwards removed to Oxford, where he was first a member of St. Alban’s Hall and next of Wadham College. Having taken a degree and met with more than one disappointment in his endeavours to obtain academical preferment, he left the university after a stay of seven years.
During his residence in Oxford he displayed a temper usually grave, and in appearance morose, but inclined at times and with particular friends to be very cheerful, though still with a tincture of severity that disposed him to bear hard upon the pride of courtiers and the powers of churchmen; which rendered him very agreeable company to the good fellows of those days. This is certain, that his reputation for probity and his known aversion to persecution caused the Puritans to promote his election as a burgess for Bridgewater in the parliament which sat in April 1640.
This assembly was dissolved too early for Blake to make any discovery therein of his talents as a senator; and in the long parliament, which sat soon after, he lost his election. When the war broke out between the king and the parliament he declared for the latter, and took arms very early in their service; but where, and in what capacity, is not very clear. However, he was very soon made a captain of dragoons, in which position he showed himself as able and active an officer as any in the service; and as such was constantly employed upon occasions when boldness or dexterity were requisite.
In 1643 he was at Bristol, under the command of Colonel Fiennes, who entrusted him with a little fort on the line, in which he first gave the world a proof of his military prowess; for, on July 26th, when Prince Rupert attacked that important place, and the governor had agreed to surrender it upon articles, Blake still held out his fort and killed several of the king’s forces. This exasperated Prince Rupert to such a degree that he talked of hanging him, and would probably have carried out his threat had not some friends interposed and excused the young officer on account of his want of experience in war, and then prevailed upon him to give up the fort.
After this Blake served in Somersetshire under the command of Popham, who was governor of Lyme, to whose regiment he was lieutenant-colonel. While here, in conjunction with Sir Robert Pye, he surprised Taunton for the parliament, capturing ten pieces of cannon and a great deal of ammunition. In 1664 he was made governor of the town, an important appointment, as Taunton contained the only garrison the parliament had in the west. The works about it, however, were far from being strong, and the garrison was by no means numerous; yet by keeping a strict discipline, and treating the townsmen well, he made shift to keep it, though no great care was taken to furnish him with supplies, and he was often besieged and blocked up by the king’s forces.
At length General Goring attacked Taunton with nearly ten thousand men, carried all the outworks, and actually took a part of the town. Blake, however, held the rest of it and the castle with wonderful obstinacy till relief came; for which extraordinary service the parliament gave the garrison a bounty of two thousand pounds, and honoured Colonel Blake with a present of five hundred pounds. All who have preserved the memory of the signal events in this unhappy war allow this to have been a singularly gallant and soldier-like action.
In April, 1646, Colonel Blake marched with a detachment from his garrison, and reduced Dunster Castle, a seat belonging to the ancient family of Lutterel, the troops posted therein having given great disturbance to the country. This was the last military achievement he performed during the Civil War. On the 24th of December following, the parliament ordered five hundred pounds to be paid to him for disbanding some forces. When the parliament voted that no further addresses should be made to the king, Blake, as Governor of Taunton, joined in an address of thanks to the House of Commons for having taken this step.
It is not easy to guess what induced the parliament to make choice of Blake, who had always served as a horse-officer, to take the supreme command of the fleet, but on February 12th, 1648-9, he was appointed one of the commissioners of the navy, and upon the 21st an Act was passed, appointing him, in conjunction with Deane and Popham, to command the fleet. His first service was driving Prince Rupert’s fleet from the Irish coast, and then following him into the Mediterranean. This gave his masters high satisfaction, for it not only put an end to the piratical war in which the prince was engaged, and which did so much damage to trade, but also inspired respect among the powers of Europe for the young Commonwealth of England.
In the month of February, 1651, Blake, on his return homewards, fell in with a French man-of-war of forty guns; when a characteristic incident occurred which certainly deserves to be particularly mentioned. The admiral commanded the French captain on board him, and asked him if he was willing to lay down his sword? He answered that he was not; upon which, Blake generously bade him return to his ship and fight it out as long as he was able. The captain took him at his word, fought him bravely for about two hours, and then submitting, went again on board Blake’s ship, first kissed him and then presented his sword to him upon his knees. This ship, with four more, the admiral sent into England; and not long after arriving at Plymouth with his squadron, there received the thanks of the parliament for his vigilance and valour, and was constituted one of the lords-wardens of the Cinque Ports.
In the March following, Colonel Blake, Colonels Popham and Deane, or any two of them, were again appointed by act of parliament to be admirals and generals of the fleet for the year ensuing; in which year Blake reduced the islands of Scilly, Guernsey, and Jersey to the obedience of the parliament; and, as a new mark of honour, was, on November 25th, elected one of the council of state. When the necessity of a Dutch war became apparent, the parliament gave the highest testimony of their sense of his merit and of their entire confidence in his conduct by constituting him, in March 1652, sole general of the fleet.
The story of the Dutch war is told in a separate chapter, where justice is done to Blake’s prowess as admiral, and it is only necessary here to give such incidents as bring out his qualities as a man.
Just before the first battle in the Downs, which took place on May 19th, 1652, Blake observed that Van Tromp, the Dutch admiral, bore nearer to his fleet than he had any occasion to do, and so saluted him with two guns without ball, to put him in mind of striking sail; upon which the Dutchman, in contempt, fired on the contrary side. Blake then fired a second and a third gun, which Van Tromp answered with a broadside, and the English admiral perceiving his intention to fight, detached himself from the rest of the fleet to treat with him upon the point of honour, to prevent unnecessary effusion of blood and a national quarrel. As Blake approached nearer to the Dutchman, Van Tromp, and the rest of his fleet, contrary to the law of nations, fired on him with whole broadsides. Blake was in his cabin drinking with some officers, little expecting to be thus saluted, when the shot broke the windows of the ship and shattered the stern; which put him into a vehement passion, so that curling his whiskers, as he used to do whenever he was angry, he commanded his men to answer the Dutch in their kind, saying, when his heat was somewhat over, “he took it very ill of Van Tromp that he should take his ship for a disorderly house, and break his windows.” Blake singly sustained the shock of the Dutch fleet for some time, till his own ships and the squadron under Major Bourne joined him; and then the engagement grew hot on both sides, and bloody on the side of the enemy, till night put an end to it.
After this battle Blake lay in the Downs for a considerable time, which he spent in repairing and augmenting his fleet, and in detaching small squadrons to cruise against the enemy. About the beginning of June, finding he had force enough to undertake any service, he caused a solemn fast to be held on board his ships, to implore the blessing of God upon their arms, and encouraged his seamen by the example of his zeal on this occasion, as much as he had ever done by his personal bravery in a time of action. In the course of this month he sent forty rich prizes into the river, and so effectually ruined the Dutch trade, and broke the spirits of such as were appointed to support it, that most of their vessels declined coming through the Channel, even under convoy; choosing rather to put into French ports, land their cargoes there, and afterwards transport them to Holland, by land or water, as they could.
In the beginning of July, finding Sir George Ayscue returned from Barbadoes, with a force sufficient to guard the Downs, he resolved to sail northwards, to execute a design he had long meditated, of destroying the herring-fishery; which he thought would have put an immediate end to the war by convincing the Dutch of the folly of disputing our sovereignty in our own seas. This appears to have been the most judicious scheme laid down through the whole war; because it tended to clear the ground of the quarrel and to show the Dutch their error in disputing with a nation who had it in their power to distress them at any time in the tenderest part—that which afforded a subsistence to many and was the main source of wealth to all.
On July 2nd Blake bore away to the north, and quickly fell in with the Dutch fishing vessels, which were there in great numbers under the protection of twelve men-of-war. Blake attacked their convoy, and they, knowing the importance of their charge, and having taken on board a great supply of fresh men from the vessels under their care, fought bravely and sold their freedom dearly; but at last were all taken, which left the fishery entirely at the admiral’s mercy, who upon this occasion showed the rectitude of his heart and the solidity of his understanding; for having first threatened these busses with utter destruction if ever they were found there again without leave, he afterwards freely permitted them to complete their ladings, on their paying the tenth herring as tribute to the Commonwealth.
During all the changes that happened in the government, Blake impressed his men with the conviction that it was his and their business to act faithfully in their respective stations, and to do their duty to their country, whatever irregularities there might be in the councils at home; and would often say among his officers that state affairs were not their province, but that they were bound to keep foreigners from fooling us. These principles rendered him agreeable to all parties, and gained him so generally the reputation of a patriot, that when Cromwell, in his new model of a parliament, left the populous town of Bridgewater the choice of one representative only, they elected Blake. He was also very acceptable to Cromwell, who knew that Blake’s concern for the glory of England would influence him to do all, and even more than any other man could be excited to do by views of interest and ambition.
In 1654 he sailed into the Mediterranean, and came in the month of December into the road of Cadiz, where he was received with great respect and civility by the Spaniards, and indeed by all nations as well as the English, who were then in port. A Dutch admiral would not wear his flag while the English admiral was in the harbour; one of the victuallers attending his fleet, being separated from the rest, fell in with the French admiral and seven men-of-war near the Straits mouth. The captain of the victualling-sloop was ordered on board the admiral, who inquired of him where Blake was, drank his health with five guns, and so wished the captain a good voyage. The Algerines stood in such awe of him that they were wont to stop the Sallee rovers; and, in case they had any prisoners on board, took them out, and sent them to Blake, in hopes thereby of obtaining his favour.
He next sailed from Cadiz to Malaga; and while he lay in that road some of his seamen, going ashore, met the Host as it was being carried to some sick person, and not only paid no respect to it, but laughed at those who did. The priest who accompanied it highly resented this, and stirred up the people to revenge the indignity; upon which they fell upon the sailors and beat some of them very severely. When they returned on board the men complained of their ill usage, and the admiral instantly sent a trumpet to the viceroy, to demand the surrender of the priest who was the author of the insult. The viceroy answered that he had no authority over priests, and therefore could not send him. Upon this Blake sent a second message to the effect that he would not enter into the question as to who had power to send him, but that, if he was not sent within three hours, he would burn the town about their ears. The inhabitants, to save themselves, obliged the viceroy to send the priest; who, when he came on board, excused himself to the admiral on account of the behaviour of the sailors. Blake with much calmness and composure told him that if he had complained to him of this outrage he would have punished the men severely; for he would not suffer any of his men to affront the established religion of any place that he might visit; but he blamed him for setting on a mob of Spaniards to beat them, adding, that “he would have him and the whole world know that none but an Englishman should chastise an Englishman.”
In 1655 Blake proceeded to Algiers, where he arrived on March 10th, and anchored without the mole, sending an officer to the dey to demand satisfaction for the piracies that had been formerly committed on the English, and the immediate release of all captives belonging to his nation. The dey answered very modestly, that as for the ships and slaves they were now the property of private persons, from whom he could not take them with safety to himself; but that he would make it his care they should be speedily redeemed upon easy terms, and would make a treaty with him to prevent any hostilities being committed on the English for the future.
The admiral left the port upon this and sailed to Tunis, where he sent the like message on shore; but received a very different answer, viz., “Here are our castles of Guletta and Porto Farino: you may do your worst; we do not fear you.” Blake entered the bay of Porto Farino, and came within musket-shot of the castle and line, upon both which he played so warmly that they were soon in a defenceless condition. There were then nine ships in the road, which the admiral resolved to burn; and with this view ordered every captain to man his long-boat with choice men, and directed these to enter the harbour and fire the ships of Tunis; while he and his fleet covered them from the castle by playing continually on it with their cannon. The seamen in their boats boldly assaulted the corsairs and burnt all their ships, with the loss of twenty-five men killed and forty-eight wounded. This daring action spread the terror of his name, which had long been formidable in Europe, through Africa and Asia. From Tunis he sailed to Tripoly, and concluded a peace with that government. Thence he returned to Tunis, and granted a peace on terms honourable to himself and profitable to his country.
In 1655 the protector sent Mr. Montague with a small squadron of men-of-war into the Mediterranean to join Blake and to carry him fresh instructions; one of which was to block up the port of Cadiz, in which there was a fleet of forty sail, intended to secure the flota expected from the Indies, and, at the same time, to prevent the flota from coming in without sharing in the riches that were on board. Blake and Montague executed their orders with equal skill and industry, taking care to obtain a supply of fresh provisions and water, as often as they had occasion, from the coast of Portugal. Thither, for that purpose, they had sailed with the greatest part of the fleet, when the squadron from the Indies approached Cadiz. Rear-admiral Stayner, with seven frigates, plied to and fro, till eight large ships came in view, which he presently recognised as the flota for which he was looking out; whereas the Spaniards took his vessels, because they lay very low in the water, for fishermen. This gave him an opportunity of coming up with and fighting them, though the weather hindered four of his frigates from acting. Yet with the Speaker, the Bridgewater, and the Plymouth he did his business; and, after an obstinate engagement, sunk two, ran two more aground, and took two of the Spanish vessels; so that two only escaped.
In one of those that were destroyed was the Marquis of Badajoz, of the family of Lopez, who had been Governor of Peru for the King of Spain, who thus perished with the marchioness, his wife, and their daughter. The eldest son and his brother were saved and brought safely to the generals with the prize, wherein were two millions of pieces of eight. Soon after, General Montague, with the young Marquis of Badajoz, and part of the fleet to escort the silver, returned to England, delivered the bullion into the mint, after which the young marquis was set at liberty. For this success, a thanksgiving, with a narrative to be read thereon, was appointed by the parliament, who issued their declaration of war against Spain.
Admiral Blake continued to cruise before the haven of Cadiz and in the Straits till the month of April, 1657; and having then information of another Plate fleet, which had put into the haven of Santa-Cruz in the island of Teneriffe, he immediately sailed thither, and arrived before the town on April 20th. Here he found the flota, consisting of six galleons very richly laden, and ten other vessels. The latter lay within the port, with a strong barricade before them; the galleons without the boom, because they drew too much water to lay within it. The port itself was strongly fortified, having on the north a large castle well supplied with artillery, and seven forts united by a line communication, well lined with musketeers. The Spanish governor thought the place so secure, and his own dispositions so well made, that when the master of a Dutch ship desired leave to sail, because he apprehended Blake would presently attack the ships in the harbour, the Spaniard answered tartly, “Get you gone, if you will, and let Blake come, if he dares.”
The admiral, after viewing the enemy’s preparations, called a council of war, wherein it was resolved to attempt destroying the enemy’s ships; for it was impossible to bring them off: and to this end he sent Captain Stayner with a squadron to attack them. Stayner soon forced his passage into the bay, while other frigates played on the forts and line, and hindered them from giving the ships much disturbance. Stayner’s squadron was quickly supported by Blake with the whole fleet, who boarded the Spanish galleons, and in a few hours made himself master of them all, and then set them on fire; so that the whole Spanish fleet was burnt down to the water’s edge, except two ships which sank outright; and then, the wind veering to south-west, he passed with his fleet safe out of the port again, losing in this dangerous attempt no more than forty-eight men killed, and having about one hundred and twenty wounded. It was without question the boldest undertaking of its kind that had ever been performed; and the Spaniards, who are romantic enough in their own conduct, were so much astonished at his, that they quite lost their spirits, and thenceforward never thought themselves safe either from numbers or fortifications.
When the Protector received the news of this glorious success, he immediately sent it by his secretary, Thurloe, to the parliament then sitting; and they, on hearing the particulars, ordered a day to be set apart for a thanksgiving; a ring of the value of five hundred pounds to be given to the general as a testimony of his country’s gratitude; a present of one hundred to the captain who brought the news; and their thanks to all the officers and soldiers concerned in the action. Captain Richard Stayner, returning soon after, was knighted by the Protector; nor was it long before Blake and the fleet returned, which put an end to the Spanish war by sea; for the Protector had lately entered into a closer conjunction with France; and, in consequence thereof, sent over a body of land-forces into Flanders, where they assisted in taking the fortress and port of Dunkirk, which was delivered into the hands of the English, who kept it till after the Restoration.
Another characteristic incident, and one which shows the probity and integrity of Blake, deserves mention. His brother, Captain Benjamin Blake, for whom he had a very tender affection, having been guilty of some misdemeanour or misbehaviour in the action at Santa-Cruz, was, by sentence from Blake, removed from his ship, and the command of it given to another. This was such an instance of disinterested discipline as must have had a very strong effect on the minds of all who served under him; and we need not wonder that such extraordinary things were performed by men so perfectly disciplined.
In a short time after the destruction of the enemy’s fleet at Teneriffe we find Blake cruising again off the harbour of Cadiz; where, perceiving his ships had become foul, and that his own health and spirits hourly wore away, he resolved to sail for England. His distemper was a complication of dropsy and scurvy, brought upon him by being for three years together at sea, and wanting all that time the conveniences requisite for the cure of his disease. In his passage home it increased upon him, and he became so sensible of his approaching end, that he frequently inquired for land; which, however, he did not live to see, dying as his ship the St. George entered Plymouth Sound, on August 17th, 1657, at about fifty-nine years of age. His body was the next day embalmed and wrapped in lead, and, by order of the Protector, conveyed by water to Greenwich.
On September 4th, after the body had lain several days in state, it was carried from Greenwich in a magnificent barge, covered with velvet, adorned with escutcheons and pendants, and accompanied by his brothers, remoter relations, and their servants, in mourning; by Oliver’s privy council, the commissioners of the admiralty and navy, the lord-mayor and aldermen of London, the field-officers of the army, and many other persons of honour and quality, in a great number of barges and wherries covered with mourning, marshalled and ordered by the heralds-at-arms, who directed and attended the solemnity. Thus they passed to Westminster Bridge; and, at their landing, proceeded in the same manner, through a guard of several regiments of foot, to the abbey. The funeral procession over, the body was interred in a vault, built on purpose, in the chapel of Henry VII.
Some time after the Restoration an order was sent to the dean and chapter of Westminster, directing them to cause such bodies as had been interred in that church during the troubles to be removed; and on September 12th, 1661, the body of Blake was removed from the abbey and buried in the churchyard.
Though Blake was upon principle a supporter of the Commonwealth, his character was such that he won from the royalists some of the warmest tributes he received.
Dr. Bates, in drawing his character, says, “He was a man deserving praise, even from an enemy. Being advanced to a command at sea, he subdued the Scilly Islands, near home; and having attained the office and title of an admiral, performed things worthy of immortal memory abroad. For he humbled the pride of France; reduced Portugal to reason; broke the naval force of Holland, and drove them to the shelter of their ports; suppressed the rovers of Barbary, and twice triumphed over Spain. Alone blamable in this, that he complied with the parricides.” In the words of Anthony Wood, “He was a man wholly devoted to his country’s service; resolute in his undertakings, and most faithful in the performance of them. With him, valour seldom missed its reward, nor cowardice its punishment.”