Editing Four Days' Battle (section)

===First day, afternoon===
By 5pm, the advantage of numbers had passed to the Dutch fleet, which was attacking the English blue squadron in the rear on both sides. Around this time, two Dutch ships caught fire, the ''Hof van Zeeland'' of Evertsen's squadron and the ''Duivenvoorde'' of Tromp's. Both were lost with most of their crews and two other Dutch ships had to deal with serious fires. Some survivors later claimed that these ships had been hit by "fiery bullets", and a type of ammunition consisting of hollow brass balls filled with a flammable substance did exist, however other Dutch eyewitnesses thought that flaming wads from the two ships' own guns, blown back by the strong wind, had caused the fires.<ref>Fox, pp. 203-4</ref>

As both fleets were heading for the shallow waters off the Flemish coast, and as his blue squadron was under heavy attack, Albemarle ordered ships of the red and white squadrons to wear to the northwest at around 5.30pm. Most of the red squadron saw the signal and wore in succession. The white squadron, with some red squadron ships in support, under Vice-Admiral Sir [[William Berkeley (Royal Navy officer)|William Berkeley]] continued on a south-easterly course for another hour, as it had its own problems to deal with. By 6.30, Albemarle was leading the white squadron followed by the blue squadron northwest against Evertsen's squadron sailing southeast and engaged it at close range. De Ruyter's squadron facing no opponents, used the respite to make temporary repairs, and Albemarle and Evertsen's ships did the same after passing each other.<ref>Fox, pp. 204-6</ref>

To the southeast, Tromp's ship ''Liefde'' was in collision with ''Groot Hollandia'', and both fell out of line. Vice-Admiral Sir [[William Berkeley (Royal Navy officer)|William Berkeley]] saw this as an opportunity to redeem his reputation, damaged by accusations of cowardice at Lowestoft, and attacked with his own ship,  {{HMS|Swiftsure|1660|6}}, with little support from other English ships<ref>Fox,  pp. 207-8</ref> Immediately, ''Callantsoog'' and ''Reiger'' came to the rescue of their commander, destroying the rigging of the English ship with chain shot; the ''Reiger'' then managed to board the ''Swiftsure'' after first being repulsed. Berkeley was fatally wounded in the throat by a musket ball, after which the ''Swiftsure'' was captured. The ship's lieutenant was found in the powder room with his throat cut; it was claimed that he had tried to blow up the ship but, after his own crew had drenched the powder, he had cut his own throat rather than being taken prisoner.<ref>Fox, pp. 208-9</ref>

Two other ships from the white squadron shared the fate of the ''Swiftsure''. The ''Loyal George'' had tried to assist the ''Swiftsure'' but was also captured and the damaged HMS ''Seven Oaks'' (the former ''Sevenwolden'') was captured by the ''Beschermer'' The embalmed body of Berkeley, after being displayed in [[The Hague]], was later returned to England under a truce, accompanied by a letter of the [[States General of the Netherlands|States General]] praising the Admiral for his courage. HMS ''Rainbow'', one of the scouts who had first spotted the Dutch fleet, became isolated and fled to neutral [[Ostend]], chased by twelve ships from Tromp's squadron.<ref>Fox, pp. 210-2</ref>

By 7pm, De Ruyter's squadron had completed its repairs and it advanced with the support of Evertsen and Tromp to attack Albemarle's ships, which had been reinforced by the white squadron. The reunited fleets twice engaged each other, with the Dutch fleet first sailing southeast then northwest, with the English fleet sailing in the opposite directions.<ref>Fox,  pp. 213-4</ref> One English ship, the ''Henry'', the flagship of Rear-Admiral Harman, was badly damaged losing two masts and left behind when the rest of Albemarle's fleet turned northwest. It was attacked by Dutch fireships after she had undertaken repairs and had tried to rejoin the fleet. The ''Henry'' managed to fight off three fireships although being set aflame and a third of her crew jumping overboard in panic. Harman refused an offer by Evertsen to surrender and a last shot at the Dutch ships barring the route to Albemarle cut Evertsen in two before ''Henry'' escaped to [[Aldborough, Norfolk|Aldborough]].<ref>Fox,  pp. 215-8</ref>

As the two fleets drew apart and anchored for the night around 10pm, the Dutch could feel satisfied with having survived the attempt to cripple Evertsen's squadron while at anchor or when it was outnumbered by the English fleet, and with having captured three English ships and forced three more out of the battle against a loss of two of their own to fire, although others on both sides were damaged and several Dutch ships had returned to port for repairs. The loss of Evertsen was also greatly mourned.<ref>Fox,  pp. 218-9</ref> However, Tromp had failed to anchor at the same time as the main Dutch fleet, and his squadron consequently lost contact with de Ruyter.<ref>Van Foreest and Weber, p. 11</ref>