Camperdown, battle of

views updated May 17 2018

Camperdown, battle of, 1797. Camperdown is a coastal village in Holland about 10 miles north-west of Alkmaar. Some 10 to 18 miles offshore the Dutch fleet was defeated by a British fleet under the command of Admiral Duncan on 11 October 1797. By then the Dutch, as the Batavian Republic, were effectively under the rule of revolutionary France, and their navy had been designated to assist in an invasion of Ireland. In strength there was little to choose between the opponents, and there was a bravery on both sides which recalled the great 17th-cent. encounters. Both Dutch flagships and nine other ships were taken during a 2½-hour action, more than half their force. Duncan's ships sustained heavy damage but none was lost, and the victory was the more notable because Duncan's watch on the Dutch had been earlier hampered by the Nore mutiny.

David Denis Aldridge