The Royalists at Sea in 1650

Abstract

Detailed study of two complex documents (A Letter from Lisbon and Prince Ruperts Declaration to the King of Portugal) indicates that the residual Royalist fleet under Prince Rupert comprised no more than eleven ships, which are unlikely all to have been simultaneously available for service. Operating from Lisbon, Portugal, they were pursued by stronger Parliamentary forces (under Blake) with French assistance. Battle was joined in conjunction with Portuguese warships against a combined Parliamentary and Spanish fleet. The defeated Royalist fleet retreated into the Mediterranean, where it remained a ‘fleet in being’ but offered no further impediment to English trade or military operations.

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Filed under: Atlantic | English Civil War | Mediterranean
Subjects include: Battles & Tactics | Navies