 By the end of the third day de Ruyter had already secured strategic victory, as the loss of ships and damage to the remainder would have prevented the English fleet interfering with the Dutch East Indies trade or preventing a French fleet joining the Dutch.Even had he retreated on the fourth afternoon, as Albemarle and Rupert thought, he would only have conceded a limited tactical victory to the English fleet and preserved most of his own fleet.The dismasting of "Royal James" was an opportunity that de Ruyter seized, but his attack on Albemarle was still a considerable gamble that might not have succeeded if the rest of Rupert's squadron had attacked him rather than withdrawing to the west.