 Many subsequently took service in the Dutch fleet against England.Those that refused to do so remained in Dutch prisons for the following two years.The Dutch leader, Johan de Witt, overestimating the scale of the Dutch victory, ordered de Ruyter to attack and destroy the English fleet while it was anchored in the Thames estuary, while 2,700 Dutch infantry would be transported to the Kent or Essex shores of the Thames to defeat any local militia.