This division of forces led to a defeat at the Battle of Dungeness in December 1652, and by early 1653 the situation in the Mediterranean was critical too.

The only hope for the English was to combine their forces, but Appleton sailed too soon and engaged with the Dutch before Badiley could come up to help.

The battle gave the Dutch command of the Mediterranean, placing the English trade with the Levant at their mercy, but Van Galen was mortally wounded, dying on 13 March.

One of the Dutch captains at the battle was son of Lieutenant-Admiral Maarten Tromp, Cornelis Tromp, who was to become a famous admiral himself and one of the most celebrated and controversial figures in Dutch naval history due to his actions in the Anglo-Dutch Wars and the Scanian War.

Richard Badiley's squadron The fireship is listed as Charity in Mariner's Mirror vol.