Robert Blake (1599 — 17 August 1657) was one of the most important military commanders of the
Commonwealth of England, and one of the most famous English admirals of the 17th century.
Blake was one of thirteen siblings born to a merchant in
Bridgwater,
Somerset, where he attended
Bridgwater Grammar School For Boys. After attending
Wadham College,
Oxford, he had hoped to follow an academic career, but failed to secure a fellowship to
Merton College, probably because of his political and religious views (although it is said his height, 5 foot 6 inches, went against him). Having returned to Bridgwater, probably because of the death of his mother in 1638, he decided to stand for election to
Parliament.
In politics
In 1640 Blake was elected as the Member of
Parliament for Bridgwater in the
Short Parliament. When the
English Civil War broke out during the period of the
Long Parliament, and having failed to be re-elected, Blake began his military career on the side of the
parliamentarians despite having no substantial experience of military or naval matters.
He would later return to serve in the
Barebone's Parliament of 1653 for some months when recovering from an injury sustained in the
Battle of Portland, before returning to sea.
On land
Blake's most famous exploits on land were at the
Siege of Bristol (July 1643),
Siege of Lyme (April 1644),
Siege of Taunton (1645) and the
Siege of Dunster (November 1645). At Taunton he famously declared that he would eat three of his four pairs of boots before he would surrender.
At sea
Blake was appointed General at Sea (a rank corresponding to
Admiral) in 1649, and is often referred to as the "Father of the Royal Navy". As well as being largely responsible for building the largest navy the country had then ever known, from a few tens of ships to well over a hundred, he was first to keep a fleet at sea over the winter. He developed new techniques to conduct blockades and landings; his "Sailing instructions" and "Fighting Instructions", which were major overhauls of
naval tactics written while recovering from injury in 1653, were the foundation of English
Naval tactics in the Age of Sail. He was also the first to repeatedly successfully attack despite fire from shore forts.
English Civil War
On 11 January 1649
Prince Rupert of the Rhine led 8 undermanned ships to Kinsale in
Ireland in an attempt to prevent the
Parliamentarians taking Ireland from the
Royalists. Blake blockaded Rupert's fleet in Kinsale from 22 May, allowing
Oliver Cromwell to land at Dublin on 15 August. Blake was driven off by a storm in October and Rupert escaped via Spain to Lisbon, where Rupert had expanded his fleet to 13 ships. Blake put to sea with 12 ships in February 1650 and dropped anchor off Lisbon in an attempt to persuade the Portuguese king to expel Rupert. After 2 months the king decided to back Rupert. Blake was joined by another 4 warships commanded by
Edward Popham, who brought authority to go to war with
Portugal.
Rupert twice failed to break the blockade, which was finally raised after Blake sailed for
Cádiz with 7 ships he captured as a result of a three-hour engagement with 23 ships of the Portuguese fleet, during which the Portuguese Vice-Admiral was also sunk. Blake re-engaged with Rupert, now with 6 ships, on 3 November near Málaga, capturing 1 ship. Two days later the other of Rupert's ships in the area were driven ashore attempting to escape from Cartagena, securing Parliamentarian supremacy at sea, and the recognition of the Parliamentary government by many European states. Parliament voted Blake 1000
pounds by way of thanks in February 1651. In June of the same year Blake captured the
Isles of Scilly, the last outpost of the Royalist navy, for which he again received Parliament's thanks. Soon after he was made a member of the
Council of State.
Thanks to its command of the sea, the fleet was able to supply Cromwell's army with provisions as it successfully marched on Scotland. By the end of 1652 the various English colonies in
the Americas had also been secured.
First Anglo-Dutch War
Blake's next adventures were during the
First Anglo-Dutch War. The war started prematurely with a skirmish between the
Dutch fleet of
Maarten Tromp and Blake off Folkestone on 29 May 1652, the
Battle of Goodwin Sands. The proper war started in June with an English campaign against the Dutch East Indies, Baltic and fishing trades by Blake, in command of around 60 ships. On 5 October 1652 Dutch Vice-Admiral
Witte Corneliszoon de With, underestimating the strength of the English, attempted to attack Blake, but due to the weather it was Blake who attacked on 8 October 1652 in the
Battle of the Kentish Knock, sending de With back to the Netherlands in defeat. The English government seemed to think that the war was over and sent ships away to the
Mediterranean. Blake had only 42 warships when he was attacked and decisively defeated by 88 Dutch ships under Tromp on 9 December 1652 in the
Battle of Dungeness, losing control of the English Channel to the Dutch. Meanwhile the ships sent away had also been defeated in the
Battle of Leghorn.
Following the navy's poor performance at Dungeness, Blake demanded that the
Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty enact major reforms. They complied by, among others things, enacting
Articles of War to reinforce the authority of an admiral over his captains. Blake then sailed with around 75 ships to disrupt Channel shipping, engaging Tromp with a similar sized fleet in the
Battle of Portland from 28 February to 2 March 1653 when Tromp escaped with his convoy under cover of darkness.
At the
Battle of the Gabbard on 12 June and 13 June 1653 Blake reinforced the ships of Generals
Richard Deane and
George Monck and decisively defeated the Dutch fleet, sinking or capturing 17 ships without losing one. Now also the
North Sea was brought under English control, and the Dutch fleet was blockaded in various ports until finally losing at the
Battle of Scheveningen, where Tromp was killed.
Peace with the Dutch achieved, Blake sailed in October 1654 with 24 warships to the Mediterranean, successfully deterring the
Duke of Guise from conquering Naples.
Bey of Tunis
In April 1655 Blake was sent to the Mediterranean again to extract compensation from the piratical states that had been attacking English shipping. The
Bey of
Tunis alone refused compensation, and with 15 ships Blake destroyed the 2 shore batteries and 9 Algerian ships in Porto Farina, the first time shore batteries had been taken out without landing men ashore.
Anglo-Spanish War
In February 1656 commercial rivalry with Spain was soon turned to war. In the
Anglo-Spanish War Blake blockaded
Cádiz, during which one of his captains,
Richard Stayner destroyed most of the Spanish Plate Fleet. A galleon of treasure was captured, and the overall loss to Spain was estimated at £2,000,000. Blake maintained the blockade throughout the winter, the first time the fleet had stayed at sea over winter.
In 1657 Blake won against the Spanish West Indian Fleet over the English seizure of
Jamaica in the West Indies. On 20 April that year, Blake totally destroyed a Spanish silver fleet of 16 ships at
Santa Cruz Bay,
Tenerife for the loss of one ship, and despite being under fire from shore batteries and attacking and withdrawing on the tide, an action for which Blake was given an expensive diamond ring by
Cromwell, and which would earn him respect 140 years later from
Lord Nelson who lost his arm there in a
failed attack.
Lord Nelson's respect ranked Robert Blake as one of the greatest Naval Generals ever known, even when compared with his own reputation.
Death
Statue of Robert Blake in Bridgwater, Somerset (1998)
After again cruising off Cadiz for a while, Blake turned for home but died of old wounds within sight of
Portsmouth and, after lying in state in the
Queen's House,
Greenwich, he was buried in
Westminster Abbey in the presence of Oliver Cromwell and the members of the Council of State (although his internal organs had earlier been buried at St Andrew's Church, Plymouth). After the
restoration of the Monarchy his body was exhumed and dumped in a common grave on the orders of the new king,
Charles II.
Relatives
Blake's brother
Benjamin Blake (1614-1689) served under Robert, emigrated to
Carolina in 1682, and was the father of
Joseph Blake, governor of
South Carolina in 1694 and from 1696 to 1700.
Blake's brother
Samual Blake fought under Popham before being killed in a duel in 1645.
There are believed to be living descendents of Blake still in Britain.
Honouring Blake
A series of ships in the Royal Navy have carried the name
HMS Blake in honour of the General at Sea. The bell of the last HMS
Blake, scrapped in 1982, is on display in Saint Mary's Church, Bridgwater.
2007 - Various events took place in Bridgwater, Somerset, from April to September 2007 to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the death of Robert Blake. These included a Civic Ceremony on 8 July 2007 and a 17th Century Market on 15 July 2007. The house where it is believed he was born, has been turned into the
Blake Museum.
The Royal Naval academy's campus pub "The Poop Deck" hosts "Blakes Bender Nite" in which incoming cadets drink a special cocktail of oyster juice, whisky, and port.
The Blake oil field in the United Kingdom Sector of the
North Sea is named in honour of the general at sea.
Blake is also mentioned in the poem 'Ye Mariners of England' by Thomas Campbell.
Blake also has a school house named after him at
The Royal Hospital School.
See also
