Battle of the Slaak

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The battle area: a, Antwerp, is the departure point; 7, Overflakee, is the goal, reachable because the isthmus h didn't exist yet; 4 is the island of Tholen; the British crossed at j from Steenbergen at 8; the battle itself took place near m

The naval Battle of the Slaak, during the Eighty Years War, took place on the night of 12 September - 13 September 1631 and was a victory for Dutch ships over Spanish boats, which were trying to divide the territory of the Dutch United Provinces in two. A Spanish fleet of 90 vessels and 5,500 men under the direction of Don Francisco de Moncada, Marquis of Aytona and factually commanded by Count Jan van Nassau Siegen, the catholic cousin of the calvinist Dutch House of Orange, mostly consisting of small transports, departed from Antwerp. It tried to sail in secret to the islands of Goeree and Overflakee in order to occupy them by surprise, and especially the two large fortresses on each side of the Volkerak strait; the one on the continental side opposite of the latter island being Willemstad, a new town named after William the Silent and thus having a special propaganda value. This would have meant the blockade of the Dutch main naval port located to the direct north on the island of Voorne, Hellevoetsluis, and the isolation of the province of Zealand from its confederate provinces. The attack was a reaction to a previous attempt that year by the Dutch to capture Dunkirk by an overland expedition and was conceived by Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain who gouverned the Southern Netherlands for Philip IV of Spain.

The project could not be kept a secret however and a Dutch task force of 50 ships, also largely consisting of small rivercraft, under Zealandic Vice-Admiral Marinus Hollare, intercepted the fleet in the East Scheldt. The Spanish then first tried to capture the more southern island of Tholen instead, to show something for their efforts, but this attempt was thwarted just in time by a regiment of 2000 British mercenaries from the continental fortress of Steenbergen who marched at low tide through the shallow sea to the island. Van Nassau then took the bold decision to attempt to sneak past the Dutch fleet during the night and so achieve the original goal. The Spanish movement however was noticed; the Dutch allowed the enemy fleet to pass and then suddenly attacked them from behind in the Slaak channel. The Spanish were routed, hundreds drowned and over a thousand were taken prisoner. Van Nassau himself and two ships with him returned to Antwerp; it is not exactly known how many others escaped, perhaps as much as a third of his fleet. The Admiralty of Amsterdam suggested to throw all prisoners into the sea to deter further attempts, but stadtholder Frederick Henry of Orange forbade this. One of the captains distinguishing himself was the later Admiral Johan Evertsen, his brother the later Admiral Cornelis Evertsen de Oude also participated. The defeat was one out of a series of setbacks for the Habsburg policy in the Thirty Years War waged the same time in the larger German theatre. In 1632 attempts were made to reach a peace settlement between the Habsburgs and the Republic but without success.