II

ORDERS ISSUED DURING THE WAR
1653 AND 1654

INTRODUCTORY


The earliest known 'Fighting Instructions' in any language which aimed
at a single line ahead as a battle formation, were issued by the
Commonwealth's 'generals-at-sea' on March 29, 1653, in the midst of
the Dutch War. This is placed beyond doubt by an office copy amongst
the Duke of Portland's MSS. at Welbeck Abbey.[1] It is of high
importance for the history of naval tactics that we are at last able
to fix the date of these memorable orders. Endless misapprehension on
the subject of our battle formations during the First Dutch War has
been caused by a chronological error into which Mr. Granville Penn was
led in his _Memorials of Penn_ (Appendix L). Sir William Penn's
copy of these Instructions is merely dated 'March 1653,'[2] and his
biographer hazarded the very natural conjecture that, as this is an
'old style' date, it meant 'March 1654.' This would have been true of
any day in March before the 25th, but as we now can fix the date as
the 29th, we know the year is really 1653 and not 1654.[3] There was
perhaps some anxiety on Mr. Penn's part to get his hero some share in
the orders, and as William Penn was not appointed one of the
'generals-at-sea' till December 2, 1653, he could not officially have
had the credit of orders issued in the previous March. This point
however is also set at rest by the Welbeck copy, which besides the
date has the signatures of the generals, and they are those of Blake,