In this battle the victory was clearly on the side of the English, as the Dutch writers themselves confess, there being two Dutch ships taken and one disabled; whereas the English lost none: and yet the forces were very unequal; for the Dutch fleet consisted of forty-two ships and Blake's at first only of fifteen; and even at the end of the fight of no more than twenty-three. Each of the admirals wrote an account of this affair to their respective masters, wherein they plainly contradict each other: but with this difference, that there is no disproving any one fact mentioned in Blake's letter; whereas there are several inaccuracies in that of Van Tromp. The states themselves were so sensible of being in the wrong, and at the same time so mortified that their fleet, notwithstanding its superiority, had been beaten, that they apologised for it, and sent over another ambassador, Adrian Paauw, to proceed with the treaty. But the demands of the parliament were, in their opinion, too high; so all thoughts of peace were dismissed on both sides, and war was proclaimed in Holland on July 8th. The English in the meantime, in virtue of the act of navigation, and by way of reprisal for the late damages, affronts, and hostilities, received from the states-general and their subjects, took many Dutch ships. On June 11th Blake brought in eleven merchant ships with their convoy coming from Nantes. On June 12th Captains Taylor and Peacock, in two English frigates, engaged two Dutch men-of-war on the coast of Flanders, for refusing to strike; one of which was taken and the other stranded: and, on the 13th of the same month, Blake took twenty-six merchant ships, with their convoys, homeward bound from France. On July 4th Vice-admiral Ayscue, who, on his late return from the reduction of Barbadoes, had taken ten merchant ships and four men-of-war, attacked the St. Ubes fleet of about forty sail, of which nearly thirty were taken, burnt or stranded, and plundered, on the French coast. After this, while the states with the utmost diligence were getting ready a fleet of seventy men-of-war, under the command of Admiral Van Tromp, Blake, with about sixty, received orders to sail to the north to disturb and distress the Dutch fishery. Sir George Ayscue, who, since the destruction of the St. Ubes fleet, had taken five Dutch merchant ships, was left with the remainder of the English fleet, consisting of no more than seven men-of-war, in the Downs. While Blake triumphed in the north, Tromp, with his great fleet, came into the mouth of the Thames, in the hope of either surprising Ayscue or of insulting the coast. Failing in this, he sailed northward to intercept Blake; but his ships being dispersed by a storm, he was disappointed in that scheme also, and lost five or six frigates, which fell into the hands of Blake on his return towards the south.