seven at night
before
We heard that they had six of their best ships sunk , two blown up and eleven taken , but whether it was so or not I knew not , for , in truth , I saw nothing whatever of the matter . `` We sailed to the Texel , and there blocked in De Ruyter 's squadron of twenty-five large ships , and we thought that there would be no more fighting , for the Dutch had sent to England to ask for terms of peace . However , we were wrong , and , to give the Dutchmen their due , they showed resolution greater than we gave them credit for , for we were astonished indeed to hear , towards the end of July , that Van Tromp had sailed out again with upwards of ninety ships . `` On the 29th they came in view , and we sailed out to engage them , but they would not come to close quarters , and it was seven at night before the _ Resolution _ , with some thirty other ships , came up to them and charged through their line . By the time we had done that it was quite dark , and we missed them altogether and sailed south , thinking Van Tromp had gone that way ; but , instead , he had sailed north , and in the morning we found he had picked up De Ruyter 's fleet , and was ready to fight . But we had other things to think of besides fighting that day , for the wind blew so hard that it was as much as we could do to keep off the shore , and if the gale had continued a good part of the ships would have left their bones there . However , by nightfall the gale abated somewhat , and by the next morning the sea had gone down sufficient for the main deck ports to be opened .