 In addition, as the Dutch navy did not rely on the press gang, securing sufficient manpower could be a problem, although abandoning the practice of paying off seamen and laying up ships in the winter promoted a more professional and permanent body of sailors, committed to naval service,

While the war continued, the Dutch had also been free to expand their trade networks along the main sea routes outside English home waters without fear of English retaliation, as the majority of English warships were in home waters, with only a relatively few available overseas.English commerce was grinding to a halt as they lost access to the Baltic and the Mediterranean Seas, and when the two sides signed the peace treaty in 1654, the English were in essentially the same position that they had begun