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Robert
Blake 1599-1657 Born
in Bridgwater, Somerset, Robert Blake was the eldest of eight
surviving children of a prosperous West Country merchant. After
attending the local grammar school, he went to Wadham Hall, Oxford, in
1615 where he is said to have developed strong republican principles.
He returned to Bridgwater when his father died in 1625 in order to
take over the family business. During
the First Civil War, Blake commanded at Bristol,
which was besieged by Prince Rupert in July 1643. When his CiC.
surrendered Bristol, Blake continued defending Prior's Hill Fort for
another day, claiming that he had not been officially ordered to
surrender. Blake
was then stationed with 500 men at the garrison of Lyme
in Dorset, which was besieged by Rupert's brother Prince
Maurice in April 1644. The
Royalists were powerless to prevent Parliament's navy from shipping in
supplies and ammunition, enabling Blake to organise a resolute defence
of the town until it was relieved The following month Blake, now
promoted to colonel, undertook a daring march from Lyme to Taunton, an
important centre of communications in the heart of the Royalist-held
West Country. Blake's force took Taunton and held the town for a year,
surviving three sieges. Blake famously declared that he had four pairs
of boots and would eat three pairs before he would surrender Taunton.
The siege was finally lifted when Sir
Thomas Fairfax sent a relief
force in May 1645. Blake commanded at the siege of Dunster Castle,
Somerset, which surrendered to him in April 1646. Blake's
defence of Lyme and Taunton made him a popular hero in the west and he
was elected MP for Bridgwater in the "recruiter"
by-elections of 1646. He took no part in the political struggles of
1647 or in the Second Civil War, and he seems to have remained neutral
in the contest between the Presbyterians and Independents. Although in
religion he was a Presbyterian, Blake was also a staunch republican
and opposed any compromise or attempt at reconciliation with the King.
He remained a member of the Rump Parliament after Pride's
Purge in December 1648, but
played no direct part in the King's trial and execution. After
the establishment of the Commonwealth, the Council of State put the
office of Lord High Admiral into commission. With his background in
maritime commerce, proven military record and loyalty to the "Good
Old Cause", Blake was appointed one of the Commissioners of the
Navy, or Generals-at-Sea, along with Edward Popham
and Richard Deane. He
sailed against
Prince
Rupert's fleet stationed at
Kinsale in southern Ireland in May 1649, chasing Rupert to Portugal
and proceeding to seize the Portuguese treasure fleet from Brazil when
the King of Portugal refused to expel Rupert or to acknowledge the
Commonwealth of England. When Rupert sailed from Portugal into the
Mediterranean, Blake continued his pursuit. He attacked a detachment
of Rupert's squadron in the neutral Spanish port of Cartagena and
plundered French shipping when Rupert took refuge in Toulon. Finally,
with most of his fleet destroyed, Rupert sailed away into the Atlantic.
Both Portugal and Spain were obliged to recognise the English
Commonwealth as a result of Blake's activities. Blake
was back in British waters in 1651. With the assistance of Sir
George Ayscue,
he captured the Royalist base on the Isles
of Scilly in May 1651, from where Sir John Grenville had been running
an effective privateering campaign against Commonwealth shipping. In
October, Blake attacked Sir George Carteret's stronghold at Elizabeth
Castle on Jersey, which surrendered in December after a fifty-day
siege. In
1652, the first
Anglo-Dutch War broke out.
Before war had officially been declared, a Dutch fleet of 42 ships
commanded by Admiral Maarten Tromp appeared off the anchorage in the
Downs. With only 12 ships, Blake engaged the Dutch near Dover
after Tromp provocatively refused to make the conventional salute of
lowering his flag to the English General-at-Sea. The Dutch withdrew
after a five-hour fight. In July 1652, Blake sailed into the North
Sea and captured a large part
of the Dutch fishery fleet and the escorts that guarded it. Tromp
was sent against him, but the Dutch fleet was dispersed in a violent
storm. On 28 September, Blake defeated Vice-Admiral de Witte's
fleet off the Kentish
Knock, chasing
them for two days before they took refuge in Goeree. Blake
suffered a setback at the end of November 1652 when Tromp appeared
with 80 warships off Dungeness,
determined to keep the Channel open for Dutch trade. A large part of
the English fleet had been stood down for the winter, leaving Blake
with only about 40 ships to defend the Channel. He risked a battle
with Tromp but was defeated and driven back into the Thames.
Disheartened by his defeat, Blake offered his resignation, which was
refused. Instead, the government ordered a thorough review of naval
tactics and administration which resulted in the issuing of the first
official Articles of War and Fighting Instructions to naval commanders. The
fleet was refitted and put to sea again in February 1653. Blake
clashed with Tromp in a three-day battle off
Portland.
During the battle, Blake suffered a leg wound from which he never
fully recovered, but his victory over the Dutch re-established English
control of the Channel. In June 1653, Monck and Deane engaged with
Tromp at North
Foreland. Deane was killed in
the early stages of the battle but the timely arrival of Blake's
squadron ensured an English victory. Ill-health compelled Blake to
return to England before the final battle of the First Anglo-Dutch War
at Scheveningen
in July 1653, during which Tromp was killed. After a period of retirement and recuperation, Blake sailed for the Mediterranean in October 1654 with orders to extract compensation from the corsair states that preyed upon England's shipping and took English slaves. When the Dey of Tunis refused to cooperate, Blake's warships bombarded the fort at Porto Fariña in Tunisia, destroying the shore batteries and sinking the fleet of the Barbary pirates — the first time that naval gunnery had successfully destroyed shore-based defences. By the time Blake returned to England in October 1655, the Anglo-Spanish War had broken out. Blake sailed from Portsmouth against the Spaniards in March 1656 with a fleet of 48 ships. He spent a year cruising off the coast of Spain and the eastern Atlantic. The blockade of the port of Cádiz allowed Captain Richard Stayner to capture part of the homeward-bound Spanish plate fleet from the West Indies — said to be worth nearly two million pounds. For the first time in naval history, Blake kept the fleet at sea throughout an entire winter in order to maintain the blockade, which was never done before. It is clear, that the significant innovation in the Fighting Instructions, the bombardment of shore batteries and the continuation of blockades, even during winter, established Blake's fame as the greatest naval tactician the English navy has ever known. Blake
won his greatest victory in April 1657 when he attacked another
Spanish treasure fleet which had docked in the strongly-defended
harbour of Santa
Cruz on Tenerife in the Canary
Islands. In a similar manoeuvre to the attack on Porto Fariña in
1655, Blake braved the shore batteries and sailed his fleet into Santa
Cruz harbour. The guns of the Spanish fort were silenced by a naval
bombardment, and every one of the Spanish ships was destroyed without
the loss of a single English ship. The Spaniards had transferred the
treasure to the interior of the island so although the English got no
plunder, it was also unavailable to the Spanish government thanks to
the English blockade. This was a major blow to the Spanish economy.
Moreover, Blake's victory resounded around Europe, making the English
navy feared and respected everywhere. Obliged
by his failing health to return to England, Blake's squadron was
within sight of Plymouth, where a hero's welcome was planned for him,
when he died on 7 August 1657 aboard his flagship the George. He was
buried at Westminster Abbey after a state funeral attended by
Protector Cromwell and the whole Council of State. After the
Restoration, Charles II ordered Blake's body to be removed from the
Abbey along with other prominent Parliamentarians and reburied in the
churchyard of St Margaret's.
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