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Who rules the waves now?

By Fledermaus

26 October 2007

I realy enjoyed Gerard Connolly's work about Oliver Cromwell and realized that the man lived during our 'Golden age'.

Cromwell came up with an idea to improve relations with the Dutch by dividing up the world, but his diplomats were attacked by an angry mob of English exiles and suporters of king Charles. Furthermore the Dutch rejected the proposal and just demanded that the English'd stop bothering their merchant fleets.

Maarten Tromp was a Dutch admiral who more or less started the first Anglo-Dutch war by refusing to salute the English admiral Blake. Cromwell had declared the North-Sea English property and demanded every foreign ship to salute his admirals.
Later on, Tromp beat Blake in another battle and according to English sources he attatched a broom to his mast as a sign he had swept the English off the North-Sea.

Grey rainclouds over the great, cold North-Sea
Red, white and blue wave in the autumn wind
Robert Blake is drinking afternoon tea
Unaware he will soon to meet an old friend

Sir Cromwell claimed these waters for England
His Commonwealth rules the dark northern waves
He has forgotten Maarten Tromp his band
Who'll soon send his sailors to their graves

Dividing up the world, what a good joke
Beheading kings is not nice, Oliver
The Dutch will not bow under your cruel yoke
For you misjudged your strength and power, sir

You might have conquered Scotland, Ireland
The sole ruler of England you may be
But right here your ambition meets its end
Maarten Tromp sweeps the English off the sea

Reviews

Now, now
Written by Josie (2496 comments posted) 26th October 2007

Don't cause trouble! ha ha You have to admit that Britain ruled the waves for many years, but now, with air transport I don't think anyone rules them any more do they? As for me, I'm better away from the waves as I'm a poor English sailor.

Written by Fledermaus (3159 comments posted) 26th October 2007

Hi Josie.
I already did the Battle of Chatham before

Yes, dangerous thing to post on a mainly British site I guess. Eventually, after three more wars Britain crushed the Netherlands of course.
The Netherlands (and Holland especially) seemed to have a strange hate-love relationship with England. If the stateholders were in power, they usually were allies of the english, if the regents were in power they were usually enemies.

I think that today it's the USA which rules the waves btw.

Written by stevetroster (1398 comments posted) 26th October 2007

The mighty British Empire verses the mighty Dutch Empire - no contest.
Perhaps it will be polar ice caps and global warming that ultimately rule the waves??

Cromwell vs. De Wit
Written by Fledermaus (3159 comments posted) 27th October 2007

Hi Steve.
Well actually rather a contest. Note this is set 200 years before the British conquered the world.
England was a complete mess: Recovering from civil war, oppression, religious strife, chaos... While the Netherlands were at the peak of their power.
Appearantly the royal standard of king Charles II is still in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, as it was taken in the second Anglo-Dutch war (1655) and in 1688 William III led an invasion probably known to you as the Glorious Revolution.

Just as the English seemed to have this constant change of power between Catholics and Protestants, royalists and republicans, so the Dutch had their constand rivalry between the House of Orange and the regents. Hence the messy situation and the unsteady alliances.

Written by Fledermaus (3159 comments posted) 27th October 2007

Furthermore, note that the fourth Anglo-Dutch war I mentioned in my comment to Josie took place more than 100 years after the other three, neither of which England won.

Written by stevetroster (1398 comments posted) 27th October 2007

Dear Maus, I accept everything that you say, but still cannot remeber the Dutch Empire. But hey, that's history. Let's let sleeping old dogs lie.

All the best,
Steve.

Written by Fledermaus (3159 comments posted) 27th October 2007

Hi again Steve,
Empire is a big word and indeed no thing called the Dutch Empire existed no. Yet in that age Dutch did rule parts of Brazil, New York, Indonesia, Ghana, the Philipines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Malaysia and South Africa and they battled with the English, the Swedes, the Spanish and the Portugese for control over the seas.
The 'empire' was mainly the WIC (West Indies Company) and the VOC (East India Company), but these had close connections with the regents who ruled the Dutch Republic.

Written by Fledermaus (3159 comments posted) 31st October 2007

Oops. Just for the sake of historical correctness... It seems the English did win the first Anglo-Dutch war and a sniper killed Maarten Tromp towards the end of it. Sorry.

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