Camperdown, (or Kamperduin, as the Dutch know it) was fought in the wake of the battle of St. Vincent (a British victory against the Spanish fleet on 14th February 1797) and the Channel Mutinies which broke out in May, and against the plans of General Hoche’s plans to invade Ireland. These plans had already been dealt a blow by the Spanish defeat in February, but the mutinies led to a dramatic reduction in available British warships when they were sorely needed and could have led to disaster. At one stage the effects of the mutiny combined with damage to ships sustained in heavy weather meant that the fleet blockading the Batavian (Dutch) fleet in the Texel was reduced to a single ship of the line (the Russel, Capt. Trollope) and the frigate Adamant and the cutter Active. However, by signalling to phantom vessels over the horizon, Trollope gave the impression to observers on shore that he was supported by a larger fleet. Eventually the Batavians did put to sea, leading to the battle of Camperdown (Kamperduin in Dutch).

In accordance with the French plan to invade Ireland, the Batavian fleet under Vice-Admiral de Winter left the Texel to join up with the Brest fleet. The British blockading force under Admiral Duncan, had left station in order to refit in Great Yarmouth, leaving a small squadron under Captain Trollope to watch the Batavians. Trollope at once sent the cutter Active back to alert the main British force on 9th October and Duncan immediately put to sea, went to the Texel but found only 22 Batavian merchantmen there. He sailed South and sighted the enemy near the Dutch coast off Kamperduin (north of Haarlem) at 7am on 11th October.

The Batavian fleet consisted of 26 ships of varying size, the exact details of which can be seen in Table 1. Admiral de Winter's flagship was the Vrijheid (74). He formed two lines ahead, both sailing north-north-east in the light north-north-westerly breeze, with the heavier ships towards the British, the 9 lighter ships towards the coast.

The British strained to attack but were so scattered that at 11am Duncan came onto the starboard tack to allow the rearmost ships to catch up, but seeing that the enemy were making inshore he set the signals ‘each ship to engage her opponent - to bear up - the van to attack the enemy rear'. The British formation resembled, coincidentally, that adopted intentionally by Nelson at Trafalgar eight years later - two roughly equal parallel lines heading to pierce the enemy line in the centre and the rear.

Duncan now set the signal to pass through the enemy line and engage from the lee side and then ‘close action'. At about 12.30pm Vice-Admiral Onslow on Monarch (74) cut the enemy line astern of Jupiter (74), 3 ships from the Batavian rear and came up to engage her from the lee side. Powerful (74) engaged the Batavian Haarlem (68) from the weather side and Monmouth (64) and Russel (74) took up the fight with Alkmaar (56) and Delft (54), the rearmost Batavian vessels.

The northernmost British column, headed by Venerable (74) with Duncan aboard, broke the Batavian line astern of Staaten-Generaal at about 12.45pm: Triumph (74) closed with Wassenaer (64). By now Vrijheid was engaged by Ardent (64) on one side and Venerable on the other, and by the Bedford (74) from ahead. The Batavian Hercules (64) caught fire in the poop and fell out of the line striking her colours shortly after putting out the fire as she had jettisoned most of her powder in fear of the fire reaching the magazine. Venerable was now so badly damaged as to have to leave the fighting line; Triumph (74) forced Wassenaer to strike and then moved up to join in the battering of the Vrijheid, now dismasted. This gallant Batavian ship was fought to a wreck by 4 strong opponents before she struck her colours which signalled the end of the action.

The British were in possession of the following prizes-.

Vrijheid (74); Jupiter(70); Tjerk Hiddes de Vries, Gelijkheid. Haarlem (68); Hercules, Wassenaer (64); Alkmaar (56); Delft (54); Monnikedam (44); and Galathe (18). The Delft sank on 14th October and the Monnikedam was beached off West Kapelle. The Batavians lost 540 killed and 620 wounded as well as those captured in the prizes.

The battle was so hard fought that the British were in no state to chase the remnants of the enemy’s fleet in the shallow coastal waters. British losses were 203 killed and 622 'wounded; their ships engaged and their casualties were as follows: Venerable (74) Admiral A. Duncan, Capt. W. G. Fairfax - 15 killed, 62 wounded; Monarch (74) Vice-Admiral R. Onslow, Capt. E. O’Brien - 36 and 100: Russel (74) Capt H. Trollope - 7 wounded; Montagu (74), Capt. John Knight - 3 and 5: Bedford (74) Capt Sir T Byard - 30 and 41: Powerful (74) Capt. O B Drury- 10 and 78; Triumph (74) Capt. W Essington - 29 aid 55; Belliqueux (64) Capt J. Inglis - 25 and 78; Agincourt (64) Capt A. Williamson - nil; Lancaster (64) Capt J Wells - 3 and 18; Ardent (64) Capt. R. R. Burgess - 41 and 107; Veteran (64) Capt. G Gregory- 4 and 21; Dictator (64) Capt. W Bligh - 7 wounded; Monmouth (64) Capt. J Walker - 5 and 22: Isis (50) Capt. W. Mitchell - 2 and 21: Adamant (5O) Capt. W Hotham - nil.

Unlike the French and Spanish fleets, the Batavians directed their gunfire into their opponents' hulls and at the end of this action the British ships appeared almost undamaged in their masts, spars and rigging. Captain Williamson of Agincourt was tried by court martial for not closing with the enemy in accordance with Duncan's signals and was sentenced to be placed at the bottom of the list of post captains and to be rendered incapable of serving again in the Navy The charges were brought by the indignation of Captain Thomas Hopper, Royal Marines, who was serving on the Agincourt and was so mortified by the failure of his captain to come to grips with the enemy that he exclaimed loudly’ "This is the second time that I have seen the British flag disgraced by the cowardice of my captain!"

The French General Hoche’s grand plans for the invasion of Ireland has thus been dealt two great blows by the battles of Cape St. Vincent and Camperdown and the Spanish and Batavian fleets had been neutralised.

Wargaming Camperdown

Camperdown is one of the more interesting Napoleonic naval battles to recreate due to the rough parity of the opposing forces, both in terms of numbers and quality. The following table lists all the major vessels involved in the battle of Camperdown, along with their rates, crew quality and numbers of crew units embarked when using the ‘Form Line of Battle’ rules. Note that some Batavian ships have two crew qualities listed. The Batavian fleet had spent a considerable time under the British blockade and used this idle time to practice their gunnery, maintaining a good standard. However, their sailing qualities had deteriorated somewhat by the time of the battle due to months of inactivity. All Batavian ships use the first (or only) crew quality listed for gunnery but, unless this is followed by an ‘N’ they are treated as Green crews for manoeuvring and the optional turning rule for green crew is in force, i.e. they must roll if a turn of more than one point is required.

Many Batavian captains reported that they couldn't use the lowest (and heaviest) batteries on lee side due to the heeling over of the vessel. Reduce the Broadside rating of Batavian ships of the line by 1 on their lee broadside when sailing in quartering wind or in a beam wind.

Batavian vessels were better able to cross shoals than their British counterparts; the Dutch vessels had a significant lesser draught than those of other nations since Dutch ports were generally quite shallow. The waters to the east of the table should be gradually shelving, but with Batavian vessels capable of going further inshore than the British (the Batavians should also be well aware of the relative depths of water, whereas this information should be less clear to the British).

Setup

The chart below gives an idea of the state of the two fleets as the action was joined. Wind direction is as shown. The Batavians should deploy in a single line of 3rd rates with their smaller ships in a supporting line behind them. The British approach in two columns, one led by Onslow in Monarch,, the other by Duncan in Venerable. Both lines should be ‘ragged’ as there was insufficient time for the fleet to form properly before the action was joined. The heads of the British lines should be placed at Long range (60cm) from the Batavians, unless they wish to hold their fire until the British come closer. If this is the case the British should decide at what range they will turn to present broadsides. They are moved to this point, or to the point where the Batavians will open fire (whichever is the more distant) at which point the Batavians have the option to fire BEFORE the British commence their turn.

Special Rules

The Agincourt is the only ship that has special rules associated with it, apart from the crew quality restrictions on the Batavian ships. The Agincourt is required to remain at least 20cm away from any enemy vessel (apart from those that have struck). She is to be moved so as to remain at least 20cm away wherever possible, or to open the range to 20cm or more if unavoidable movement (such as drifting) or the movement of the enemy bring the range to less than 20cm.