IN THEE STAITS SERVIS
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Tobiaszoon's exemplary service in the Dutch navy led to a general anticipation of
his promotion to admiral - he 'being mightily valued' but it was thought that
William III would veto his advancement to flag rank; purely because of his
Catholicism, 'though the States never mind the business of religion'.90
Although Tobiaszoon never made flag rank because of his religion, his service
was permanent. Sometimes the migrants' service was temporarythough this did
not exclude long service. During the Interregnum, the gunner Anthony Cockarell
was dismissed from Monk (52) for 'a hasty word' and discrepancies with his
accounts - though he later thought that if he had wined and dined or bribed the
purser rather less subtly at the time, things might have gone otherwise!
Emigrating, he followed one Dutch captain for seven years as chief pilot in 50-
and 60-gun warships, before returning to Britain to serve in the Second Anglo-
Dutch War with Prince Rupert and as masters mate aboard Royal Henry with Sir
Robert Holmes. In 1666 he petitioned for a Royal Navy command: clearly he
regarded his transfer to Dutch service as acceptable certainly as no impediment
to his Royal Navy career prospects. If anything, his emphasis on the experience
and skills he attained in Dutch service shows the opposite.91
Religious/Political/Ideological Motivation
Whilst the British and Dutch were adversaries the Dutch navy provided an ideal
vehicle for British exiles to fight the Cromwellian 'usurpers' or the 'ungodly'
restored Stuarts. For exiled Royalists the First Anglo-Dutch War was just such an
opportunity, though the advantage of Orange and Stuart dynastic linkage had
already been reduced by the death of the Stadholder William II in 1650 and the
subsequent ascendancy of Republicanism in the United Provinces. The exiled
Charles II eagerly anticipated conflict between the Commonwealth and the Dutch
Republic - bases would then be available for the navy to desert to, 'it being noto
riously known that most of the seamen are very loyally affected to us'.92 On the
outbreak of hostilities Charles II asked for a personal Dutch command, again with
the aim of inducing Commonwealth seamen to desert and rally to the figurehead
of their exiled king. The States General refused him to keep both the door open
for a settlement with the British and the domestic Orangist faction under control.
Many Dutch naval officers, however, were fervent Orangists. S.C.A. Pincus points
out that at the clash with Admiral Blake off Dover that preceded the First Anglo-
Dutch War, Maarten Tromp (the Elder) flew the Stuart colours. Tromp was not
the only senior Dutch officer to do so and the States General directly intervened
to stop the practise - due to the same combination of international and domestic
concerns.93 Unfortunately, hard evidence of the recruitment of British exiles at this
time is presently lacking.
Evidence for ideological motivation is much better for the Second Dutch War.
We have already seen the motivation of some at the Medway. The Dutch were
actively recruiting exiles from the earliest stages of the conflict in 1664 by
October the navy had engaged 'several English officers who formerly served
Cromwell'.94 Instructions to British spying for the Dutch stressed the involvement
of English Republicans in future Dutch naval attacks. In 1666 the former
