Although the work went on almost without intermission day and night,
the repairs were not completed before the news arrived that the Dutch
Fleet had again put to sea. Two days later they arrived off our
coast, where, finding no fleet ready to meet them, they sailed away
to France, where they hoped to be joined by their French allies.
Two days later, however, our ships began to assemble at the mouth of
the Thames, and on June 24th the whole Fleet was ready to take to
sea. It consisted of eighty men-of-war, large and small, and nineteen
fire-ships. Prince Rupert was in command of the Red Squadron, and the
Duke of Albemarle sailed with him, on board the same ship. Sir Thomas
Allen was Admiral of the White, and Sir Jeremiah Smith of the Blue
Squadron. Cyril remained on board the _Fan Fan_, Lord Oliphant
returning to his duties on board the flagship. Marvels had been
effected by the zeal and energy of the crews and dockyard men. But
three weeks back, the English ships had, for the most part, been
crippled seemingly almost beyond repair, but now, with their holes
patched, with new spars, and in the glory of fresh paint and new
canvas, they made as brave a show as when they had sailed out from
the Downs a month previously.
They were anchored off the Nore when, late in the evening, the news
came out from Sheerness that a mounted messenger had just ridden in
from Dover, and that the Dutch Fleet had, in the afternoon, passed
the town, and had rounded the South Foreland, steering north.
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