The Battle of Beachy Head....who knew?

By Sarah

Have you ever heard of The Battle of Beachy Head? I hadn't before we acquired a rather fascinating new object into Heritage Eastbourne's collection.

The item we acquired was spotted by Heritage Eastbourne's manager Jo Seaman who quickly snapped it up for our collection. It is a bound document entitled 'Naval Engagement' (published in 1710) containing a speech given by the Earl of Torrington after the defeat of the English and Dutch fleets at the Battle of Beachy Head.

It doesn't look like much on the outside



The speech

The Battle of Beachy Head, or the Battle of Bévéziers, as it is known in France, was fought on the 10th July 1690 during the Nine Years' War. The battle was the greatest French tactical naval victory over their English and Dutch opponents during this war.



Battle of Beachy Head (1690) Theodore Gudin
(unfortunately not in the museums collection)


It is believed that during the battle the Dutch lost six ships in total (although sources vary), as well as three fire ships, and their English allies also lost one ship. In contrast the French did not lose a single vessel! The French even temporarily had control of the English Channel but failed to pursue the English and Dutch fleets which escaped to the river Thames on the orders of their commander the Earl of Torrington. 

The engraving of the ships at The Battle of Beachy Head

The document contains a fold-out engraved plate which depicts the Battle and lists all the names of the English, Dutch and French ships.
  

Close-up of the engraving

The Earl of Torrington was the Naval Commander in-Chief during the
battle and due to its disastrous outcome he was arrested on 10th July and sent to the Tower of London to await a court Martial. The Earl was charged with 'withdrawing and keeping back from the Enemy, and not assisting a known Friend in View'

 The Earl of Torrington came before the House of Commons in November 1690 to declare his innocence and to explain why he did not act differently. 

"If after twenty seven years service at sea, and being in more Battels (sic) and losing more blood than any Gentleman in England, I can be suspected of cowardice". 



'Off of Beachy'!


 He gave 7 reasons for the failure at the Battle:

1.That our Preparation was too late
2.That our fleet was too weak
3.That our fleet was ill mann'd
4.That the French were not prevented making a descent at Cork
5.That we wanted Intelligence or did not believe it when given
6.That we were forc'd to fight contrary to the opinion of the Council of War
7. That the fight was manag'd to the best advantage for the Kingdom's safety'

Luckily the Earl of Torrington was acquitted and released from the Tower of London but King William dismissed him from service.

The naval defeat at Beachy Head was a catalyst for rebuilding the English Navy and a renewed English motivation to rely on its defence. Even more surprising to me was the fact that to rebuild the Navy King William needed £1.2 million and this led to the formation of a state bank - the Bank of England and the growth of the English economy.  Who'd have thought it?!

The aftermath of the Battle of Beachy Head ultimately led to  the Royal Navy  'Ruling the Waves’ for the 18th and early 19th century.

Its hard to imagine such a bloody battle taking place at beautiful Beachy Head today!