[CAMPERDOWN, Battle of.]

Plan of the action between the English and Dutch fleets, on the 11th of October, 1797.

[London, 1797.] 480 x 390 mm, wood engraving and letterpress text; lower margin trimmed with loss of lower border of letterpress text; old fold, with discreetly repaired small tear. A rare plan of the Battle of Camperdown, including a key to each of the ships and a ‘Journal of the proceedings of his Majesty’s fleet under the command of Admiral Duncan’, which gives a detailed chronological description of the action.The English victory at Camperdown ‘was a powerful moral and political tonic, which eased the strategic problem of controlling the North Sea, and for the first time bestowed on the Royal Navy something of the aura of invincibility which now hung about French armies on land’ (Rodger, Command of the ocean p. 456). In it, Duncan’s fleet (still recovering from the mutinies that had incapacitated the Royal Navy earlier in 1797) defeated a Dutch fleet of equal size commanded by Vice-Admiral Jan Willem de Winter. The Dutch fleet, formed in two cruising squadrons, attempted to execute ‘Lord Howe’s manoeuvre’ but, like Howe, de Winter found that only some of his ships were able to understand the signal, though they fought with great determination. ‘Three admirals (including de Winter), nine ships of the line and two frigates were taken; the British had never won a victory remotely equivalent against more or less equal forces’ (Rodger p. 456).

• GBP 975.00 > other currencies
• ordernr.: T2907

• bookseller: Bernard Quaritch Ltd. (GREAT BRITAIN)