But the immediate effect of the rash measure was that the navy lost a large number of experienced and competent officers, like Admiral Van Kinsbergen, who later refused to return to the service, when they were asked.

[11] Finally, the 1702 Articles of War for the navy were modernized (punishments like keelhauling, inconsistent with the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, adopted by the Provisional Representatives on 31 January 1795, were abolished, and replaced with more humane forms).

To get a view of what the real state of the fleet was, the Naval Affairs Committee appointed a commission, consisting of its member, the distinguished scientist Henricus Aeneae, the future rear-admirals Samuel Story and Engelbertus Lucas, and Constructor-General Glavimans to inspect the ships then in service (26 February 1795).

[13] Though the Naval Affairs Committee waited for a formal reaction to the commission's report till 18 December 1795,[14] informally it started making policy on the basis of provisional recommendations it received.

[16] Though the new shipbuilding activity was started with great enthusiasm (and it stimulated the local economy of Amsterdam no end), it soon got into financial difficulties as the land provinces were remiss in providing the promised emergency financing.

That unreliability was particularly important, because these NCOs and specialists formed the intermediary layer between officers and common seamen, and as the "natural leaders" of the men had a special influence on opinion formation.

A propaganda effort was mounted, a commission of notables promoted enlistment, and most importantly, financial incentives were given or at least promised, and this finally got the stream of enlistees going, so that in the Spring of 1796 the fleet was sufficiently manned, to at least put the ships to sea.

[28] The British General James Craig, commanding the troops on land, meanwhile threatened to deny quarter to the Dutch crews in case attempts were made to beach or otherwise sabotage the ships.

The fleet, therefore, spent the next few days cruising up and down that area of the Dutch coast and futilely chasing the squadron of captain Henry Trollope that was observing him from a tantalizingly close distance.

[43] Likewise, the order of battle of the rearguard differed from the intended one, as Delft (which ship had been sent to investigate a number of sails to leeward, and therefore had difficulty rejoining the fleet in time) was directed by Admiral Reintjes to take up the last position in the line.

De Winter, being in the minority, tried to signal the remainder of the center division (Brutus, Leyden and Mars) under Rear-Admiral Bloys van Treslong, to come to his aid, but his signal-rigging was shot away repeatedly[49] While the four ships were busy firing at each other, with much loss of life, but no decisive effect, they suddenly encountered the flaming wreck of the Batavian ship Hercules (which had earlier been set on fire by a carronade salvo of HMS Triumph).

As this posed a mortal danger for all ships in its neighborhood, Vrijheid was able to use the temporary "truce" that all were forced to observe to break off the fight, bear away to leeward, jibe, and sail back along the line with the intent to take up a new position behind Mars.

[56]"Respect of the enemy" and "admiration of the world" were, however, cold comfort to the members of Commission on Foreign Affairs (though they certainly craved those encomiums), who now faced the wrath of the "radical" opposition in the National Assembly, who painted the defeat as the direct result of the chaos "eating away at the heart of the government".

[61] Despite these good results, after the Coup of January 1798 the new Uitvoerend Bewind (Executive Authority) decided to replace the Committee for Naval Affairs (like all standing committees of the National Assembly) with a so-called Agent for the Navy (like other Agents were appointed to lead other government departments), with which the organizational structure of a government department under a Minister was for the first time introduced for the Dutch navy (as this structure was retained under later regime changes).

Grenville in his turn had high hopes of an easy military victory, as he expected the Dutch populace to reject the ideological trappings of the French-imposed Batavian authorities.

The Erfprins and he felt a certain philosophical and political affinity, which made him believe that that person would be a reliable manager of national interests in the Netherlands when "normalcy" (in the sense of the Act of Guarantee and Triple Alliance) would have been restored in that country.

[66] It was therefore with some confidence that the Secretary for War Henry Dundas could instruct General Ralph Abercromby, the officer commanding the army forces in the invasion in a letter dated 5 August 1799, not only on the military, but also on the political approach he was to take after he had made his landing, and he was encouraged to make use of the services of the supporters of the "antient constitution"(sic), wherever he could find them.

[67] To set these political effects in motion, the general was to promulgate a Proclamation, that had been issued for the occasion by the Erfprins in the name of his father, which in peremptory terms commanded the Dutch people to rally to the cause of the House of Orange.

[72] The visit was certainly irregular, in the sense that the pilot boat in which the parlimentaires traveled was allowed to pass the guard line, maintained by Amphitre and Embuscade, without warning Story, and they boarded Washington without his permission.

The latter was allowed to happen when the parlimentaires had to wait for the arrival of the officer commanding the shore batteries at Den Helder, col. Gilquin, who Maitland wanted to hand the ultimatum to in person.

Van Capellen even accompanied them on board Washington, allowed them to address members of the crew, and to hand out copies in both English and Dutch of the proclamation of Abercromby and the Erfprins.

To win time (as he later asserted) to restore order among his crews, Story now sent captains Van Capellen and de Jong as parlimentaires to Isis to warn that he intended to defend himself to the death, which probably would result in the total annihilation of the ships Mitchell had earlier said he hoped to acquire for his navy.

Batavian flags were mutilated and trampled; known Patriot sympathizers molested (one was even thrown overboard from Embuscade), and generally the riots that had occurred at Saldanha Bay were repeated, until the British restored order.

In the first place the stadtholder gave up his claims to reinstatement (in exchange for receiving some fiefs in Germany, where he now became a "sovereign prince"), thereby depriving the Organists from their political rallying point; many now made their peace with the Staatsbewind regime; there would be no more Organist-inspired mutinies on the Batavian fleet.

Specifically for the planned expedition (so in addition to already standing obligations) the Batavian navy was required to supply by December 1803: five ships of the line,[Note 25] five frigates, 100 small gunboats, and 250 flat-bottomed transport craft, holding 60 to 80 men each.

[91][Note 26] Verhuell (given the rank of rear-admiral for the occasion) was appointed commissioner of the Republic to liaise between the shipyards and assembly places in Flushing and the Texel, and the French military authorities, and with the First Consul personally.

When the authorities in The Hague pleaded lack of resources, Verhuell filed a very negative report to Bonaparte that elicited the expected explosion of rage toward the poor members of the Navy Council from the Great Man.

The British then made a final attempt to sink the Dutch flotilla, lying at anchor below the shore batteries, by gunfire, but were driven off by the French heavy guns after an hour.

On his return to Europe he met a British squadron in the inconclusive Battle of Cape Finisterre on 22 July 1805, and instead of sailing to Brest, as ordered, took his fleet to Cádiz, rendering the execution of Napoleon's Grand Scheme impossible.

Verhuell transferred command to captain Gerbrands and himself went back to The Hague, where he accepted appointment to the post of Secretary of State of the Navy from the new Grand Pensionary Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck[Note 33] in November 1805.