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Auction: 25066 - Historical Documents, Autographs and Ephemera
Lot: 9

(x) Great Britain
Robert Blake, The Eve of the First Anglo-Dutch War
1652 (17 Feb.) letter signed by Robert Blake and Richard Deane aboard the ship "Tryumph sixe Leage of the Isle of Weight" to the Commissioners of the Navy, contents make reference to "hopeing wee should have by this tyme beene able to give you some Certayne accompt of the Dutch Fleete wee haveing had good Grounds to bee in Expectation of them Continually", the movements of "Vantrump with his Fleete" and the recruitment of further ships to bolster his fleet. Sold folds as to be expected otherwise fine and a rare signature.

provenance:
Sotheby's, July 2013

Notes: Robert Blake (1598-1657), General at Sea (1649–1657)
Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (1656-1657). Blake's squadron encountered the Dutch under Maarten Tromp off Portland the day after this letter was written. The resulting three day action culminated off Beachy Head (20 February) and was an important English victory, although Blake himself was severely wounded. This letter is also signed by Richard Deane (1610-1653), the regicide and general at sea, one of Cromwell's closest allies and a central figure in the development of the navy in the 1650s, who was killed at the Battle of Gabbard Bank (2-3 June 1653)

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