In obedience to your Royal Highness’s commands, I here humbly present to your view a brief narrative of our actions on board the Royal James, the 28th May last past, as followeth: Upon signal from our scouts of the Dutch fleet’s approach (betwixt 3 and 4, the wind E. by S.), we put our ships immediately into a fighting posture, brought our cable to the capston, and heaft a peak of our anchor, which, upon firing a gun and loosing foretop-sail of your Royal Highness’s ship, we presently weighed, and afterwards lay kedging with our headsails at the mast till our anchor was up; which done (steered N.E. by N.), we made sail and stood off, with our signal abroad for the squadron[b] to draw into their line of battle, which was done as well as the short time we had would permit. But, finding myself one of the weathermost ships, I bore to leeward till I had brought ourselves in a line; the Vice Admiral and part of his division right a head, the Rear Admˡ and his right astern; only two or three frigates to leeward, and so near, one of them within call. The Dutch squadron, Van Ghent, attacked us in the body and rear very smartly, and let the van go ahead sometime without engaging them, so far as I could perceive. We engaged about an hour and an half very smartly. When the Dutch found that they could do no good on us with their men of war, they attacked us with two fire ships, the first of which we fired with our shott, the second disabled by shooting down his yards. Before which time I had sent our barge, by my Lord’s[c] command, ahead to Sir Joseph Jordaine,[d] to tack, and with his division to weather the Dutch that were upon us and beat them down to leeward of us, and come to our assistance. Our pinnace I sent likewise astern (both coxswains living) to command our ships to come to our assistance; which never returned, but were on board several who endeavoured it but could not effect it.