 Some survivors later claimed that these ships had been hit by "fiery bullets", and a type of ammunition consisting of hollow brass balls filled with a flammable substance did exist, however other Dutch eyewitnesses thought that flaming wads from the two ships’ own guns, blown back by the strong wind, had caused the fires.As both fleets were heading for the shallow waters off the Flemish coast, and as his blue squadron was under heavy attack, Albemarle ordered ships of the red and white squadrons to wear to the northwest at around 5.30pm.Most of the red squadron saw the signal and wore in succession.