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Battle of Vågen
The Battle of Vågen was a naval battle between a Dutch merchant and treasure fleet and an English flotilla of warships in August 1665 as part of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The battle took place in Vågen (meaning "the bay, voe" in Norwegian), the main port area of neutral Bergen, Norway. Due to a delay in orders the Norwegian commanders took the side of the Dutch, contrary to the secret intentions of the King of Norway and Denmark. The battle ended with the defeat of the English fleet, which retreated, much damaged but without losing any ships. The treasure fleet was relieved by the Dutch home fleet seventeen days later.
==Arrival in Bergen==
The Dutch merchant fleet consisted of about sixty vessels. Ten of them were Dutch East India Company (VOC) vessels under command of Commodore Pieter de Bitter which were returning from the East Indies. Twice each year the Dutch East India Company sent a Return Fleet back to the Netherlands. This one had departed on Christmas Day 1664 and had at that time the richest cargo ever. It was laden with many luxury goods, typical for the "rich trade": spices, among which 4 million catty of pepper, 440,000 pounds of clove, 314,000 pounds of nutmeg, 121,600 pounds of mace and about half a million pounds of cinnamon; 18,000 pounds of ebony; 8690 catty of silk and about 200,000 other pieces of cloth; 22,000 pounds of indigo; 18,151 pearls; 2,933 rubies, 3,084 raw diamonds and 16,580 pieces of porcelain, with a total European market value of about eleven million guilders or three million rigsdaler, more than the total annual revenues of the Danish crown. The Dutch had paid the equivalence of 36 tons of gold, or 3,648,490 guilders, to buy this cargo.
In order to avoid the English fleet controlling the English Channel after its victory in the Battle of Lowestoft, the merchant fleet had sailed north of Scotland in order to reach the Dutch Republic from the north over the North Sea. After having been dispersed by a storm on 29 June, most ships gathered in neutral Bergen harbor for shelter during July to wait for the repair of the Dutch home fleet after its defeat. The first three VOC-vessels, the yacht ''Kogge'' (cargo purchase value: 67,972 guilders), the fluyt ''Diemermeer'' (cargo value 272,087 guilders) and the ''Jonge Prins'' (cargo value: 438,407 guilders) arrived on 19 July (Julian calendar). On 29 July another seven vessels entered the harbour: the ''Walcheren'' (cargo value 346,964 guilders), ''Phoenix'' (cargo value 297,326 guilders), ''Slot Hooningen'' (cargo value 386,122 guilders), ''Brederode'' (cargo value 296,773 guilders), the yacht ''Rijzende Zon'' (cargo value 288,400 guilders) and the fluyts ''Wapen van Hoorn'' (cargo value 300,464 guilders) and ''Amstelland'' (cargo value 282,785 guilders). Not all of the VOC-fleet was present: the ''Muskaatboom'' (cargo value: 293,688 guilders) had disappeared in a storm near Madagascar and the yacht ''Nieuwenhoven'' (cargo value: 77,251 guilders) and the fluyt ''Ooievaar'' (cargo value: 300,246 guilders) had found refuge in Trondheim. Except for the ''Diemermeer'' and ''Amstelland'', the Dutch ships were heavily armed; many were specially built company vessels with the dual function of warship and merchantman.
The English battle fleet was from 4 July present in the North Sea to intercept the squadron of Vice-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter of which it was known that it was about to arrive from America, having raided the English possessions there. The English fleet learned about the arrival the first ships of the VOC-fleet, already announced by the English ambassador in the Republic, George Downing, from a merchantman from Rostock on 22 July. This caused a heated discussion about which target should have priority. The fleet commander, Lord Sandwich, against the advice of most of his flag officers decided to split the fleet. On 30 July, after a merchantman from Ostend had reported the other VOC-ships had also arrived, a small task force was dispatched to Bergen to capture or at least block the convoy. The flotilla under Rear-Admiral Thomas Teddiman first consisted of 22 warships but it was reduced to fourteen when eight ships sailed too westerly, were swept beyond Bergen and could not beat up the wind to the south. Besides the gunships, the fireships ''Bryar'', ''Greyhound'' and ''Martin Gally'' were present. Teddiman reached Bergen at six in the evening of 1 August, and blocked the entry to the bay. The beginning of the English action was inauspicious: Teddiman's flagship the ''Revenge'' ran aground that same evening at Cape Nordnes and only with much effort managed to work itself free. The entrance of the bay being only about 400 metres wide, the English could position but seven ships, from north to south: the ''Prudent Mary'', ''Breda'', ''Foresight'', ''Bendish'', ''Happy Return'', ''Sapphire'' and the ''Pembroke''. The others pointed their guns at the coastal batteries.
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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