Terry Foreman on 10 Jul 2010  •  Link

Capt. George Batts

In 1660, he was appointed as captain of the Great Gift. In 1661, the Duke of York appointed him to command the Little Gift. In 1663, he was appointed to command the Francis. In 1664, he was appointed to command the Hampshire. He fought in the Battle of Lowestoft in June 1665, where he was assigned to Sir George Ayscue's division in the Blue Squadron. He hoined the fleet about 3rd or 4th June 1666, on the last days of the Four Days' Battle. In 1666, the Duke of Albemarle and Prince Rupert appointed him to command the 2nd Rate Unicorn (60 guns). On 25 July 1666, he fought in the St. James's Day Battle. He was assigned to Richard Utber's division in the White Squadron. He was dismissed from the service after the battle. In some ways, he was a victim of unhappiness with his division commander, Ricard Utber. http://anglo-dutch-wars.blogspot.…

Bill on 11 May 2013  •  Link

BATTS, or BATES, George,—was appointed commander of the Great Gift, in the year 1660, by the duke of York. In the year 1661 he was removed into the Little Gift. In 1663 he became captain of the Francis. In the following year he was promoted to the Hampshire, of forty guns. In the two actions fought between the English and Dutch fleets in 1666, he commanded the Unicorn, a third rate of sixty guns, by commission from prince Rupert, and the duke of Albemarle, who, at that time, executed the office of commander in chief jointly.
---Biographia Navalis. J. Charnock, 1794.

San Diego Sarah on 3 Jan 2021  •  Link

Terry Foreman's blog above says it's about the second Anglo-Dutch war, but is full of researched information about lesser known characters in the English and Dutch navies, and all sorts of 17th century naval data. BUT it is no longer being supported so it'll ask you to register, but nothing happens when you do, and the registration drop-down covers about 1/3 of the information.

WORK AROUND: Scroll down to the bottom of the blog, and on the left you'll see years of files. They are totally random, so poke around. When something looks interesting, copy and paste the information onto a page, and you'll see all the information is there.

Tonight, for instance, I found out there was on-going fighting over Tobago by the Courlanders (modern day Latvia), England, Dutch, Spanish and pirates:

"In January 1666 the colony was forced to surrender to the British pirates from Jamaica. A few days later English troops arrived and assumed official English control of Tobago. A garrison of 50 Englishmen was left on the island. This garrison surrendered to the French in August 1666."

And later: "In 1672 about 500 Dutch colonists arrived. On 18 December 1672 an English expedition totaling 6 ships and 600 men conquered the colony after five or six hours of fighting. The British destroyed the colony and the colonists were deported to Barbados."

I've only scratched the surface ...
http://anglo-dutch-wars.blogspot.…