By England's Aid; or, the Freeing of the Netherlands (1585-1604)

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER XXIII

  THE SIEGE OF OSTEND

  On the 5th of July, 1601, the Archduke Albert began the siege ofOstend with 20,000 men and 50 siege guns. Ostend had been completelyrebuilt and fortified eighteen years previously, and was defendedby ramparts, counterscarps, and two broad ditches. The sand hillsbetween it and the sea were cut through, and the water filledthe ditches and surrounded the town. To the south the country wasintersected by a network of canals. The river Yper Leet came inat the back of the town, and after mingling with the salt water inthe ditches found its way to the sea through the channels known asthe Old Haven and the Geule, the first on the west, the second onthe east of the town.

  On either side of these channels the land rose slightly, enabling thebesiegers to plant their batteries in very advantageous positions.The garrison at first consisted of but 2000 men under GovernorVander Nood. The States General considered the defence of Ostendto be of extreme importance to the cause, and appointed Sir FrancisVere general of the army in and about Ostend, and sent with him600 Dutch troops and eight companies of English under the commandof his brother, Sir Horace. This raised the garrison to the strengthof 3600 men. Sir Francis landed with these reinforcements on thesands opposite the old town, which stood near the seashore betweenthe Old Haven and the Geule, and was separated from the new townby a broad channel. He was forced to land here, as the Spanish gunson the sand hills commanded the entrances of the two channels.

  Sixteen thousand of the Spanish troops under the order of thearchduke were encamped to the west of the town, and had 30 of theirsiege guns in position there, while 4000 men were stationed on theeast of the town under Count Bucquoy. Ten guns were in positionon that side. Ostend had no natural advantages for defence beyondthe facility of letting the sea into the numerous channels and ditcheswhich intersected the city, and protected it from any operationson the south side. On the east the Geule was broad and deep, andan assault from this side was very difficult. The Old Haven, onthe west side, was fast filling up, and was fordable for four hoursevery tide.

  This, therefore, was the weak side of the town. The portionespecially exposed to attack was the low sandy flat on which theold town stood, to the north of Ostend. It was against this point,separated only from the enemy's position by the shallow Old Haven,that the Spaniards concentrated their efforts. The defence hereconsisted of a work called the Porc Espic, and a bastion in itsrear called the Helmond. Three works lay to the north of the ditchdividing the old from the new town, while on the opposite side ofthis ditch was a fort called the Sand Hill, from which along thesea face of the town ran strong palisades and bastions.

  The three principal bastions were named the Schottenburg, Moses'Table, and the Flamenburg, the last named defending the entrance tothe Geule on the eastern side. There was a strong wall with threebastions, the North Bulwark, the East Bulwark or Pekell, and theSpanish Bulwark at the southeast angle, with an outwork called theSpanish Half Moon on the other side of the Geule. The south sidewas similarly defended by a wall with four strong bastions, whilebeyond these at the southwest corner lay a field called the Polder,extending to the point where the Yper Leer ran into the ditches.

  Sir Francis Vere's first step after his arrival was to throwup three redoubts to strengthen the wall round this field, as hadthe enemy taken possession of it they might have set the windmillsupon it to work and have drained out many of the ditches. Havingsecured this point he cut a passage to the sea between the NorthwestBulwark and the Flamenburg Fort, so that shipping might enter theport without having to ascend the Geule, exposed to the fire ofthe Spanish guns. To annoy the enemy and draw them away from thevital point near the sea, he then stationed 200 men on some risingground surrounded by swamps and ditches at some distance to thesouth of the city, and from here they were able to open fire onthe enemy's boats coming with supplies from Bruges.

  The operation was successful. The Spaniards, finding their lineof communication threatened, advanced in force from their positionby the sea, and their forts opened a heavy fire on the little workthrown up. Other similar attempts would have been made to harassthe Spaniards and divert them from their main work, had not SirFrancis Vere been severely wounded in the head on the 4th of Augustby a shot from the Spanish batteries, which continued to keep upa tremendous fire upon the town. So serious was the wound that thesurgeons were of opinion that the only chance of saving his lifewas to send him away from the din and turmoil of the siege; and onthe 10th he was taken to Middelburg, where he remained for a month,returning to Ostend long before his wound was properly healed.

  On the 1st of August a batch of recruits had arrived from England,and on the 8th 1200 more were landed. The fire of the besiegerswas now so heavy that the soldiers were forced to dig undergroundquarters to shelter themselves. Sir Horace Vere led out severalsorties; but the besiegers, no longer distracted by the feintscontrived by Sir Horace Vere, succeeded in erecting a battery onthe margin of the Old Haven, and opened fire on the Sand Hill Fort.

  On the 19th of September Sir Francis Vere returned to the town, tothe great joy of the garrison. Reinforcements continued to arrive,and at this time the garrison numbered 4480. There were, too, alarge number of noblemen and gentlemen from England, France, andHolland, who had come to learn the art of war under the man who wasregarded as the greatest general of the time. All who were willingto work and learn were heartily welcomed; those who were unwillingto do so were soon made to feel that a besieged city was no placefor them.

  While the fighting was going on the archduke had attempted tocapture the place by treason. He engaged a traitor named Coningsby;who crossed to England, obtained letters of introduction to Vere,and then went to Ostend. Thence he sent intelligence to the besiegersof all that took place in the town, placing his letters at nightin an old boat sunk in the mud on the bank of the Old Haven, aSpaniard wading across at low tide and fetching them away. He thenattempted to bribe a sergeant to blow up the powder magazine. Thesergeant revealed the plot. Coningsby was seized and confessedeverything, and by an act of extraordinary clemency was onlysentenced to be whipped out of town.

  This act of treachery on the part of the archduke justified theotherwise dishonourable stratagem afterwards played by Vere uponhim. All through October and November the Spaniards were hard atwork advancing their batteries, sinking great baskets filled withsand in the Old Haven to facilitate the passage of the troops, andbuilding floating batteries in the Geule. On the night of the 4thof December they advanced suddenly to the attack. Vere and hisofficers leapt from their beds and rushed to the walls, and aftera fierce struggle the besiegers were driven back. Straw was lightedto enable the musketeers and gunners to fire upon them as theyretreated, and the assault cost them five hundred lives.

  On the 12th a hard frost set in, and until Christmas a strong galefrom the southeast blew. No succour could reach the town. Thegarrison were dwindling fast, and ammunition falling short. Itrequired fully 4000 men to guard the walls and forts, while but 2500remained capable of bearing arms. It was known that the archdukesoon intended to make an assault with his whole force, and Vereknew that he could scarcely hope to repel it. He called a councilof his chief officers, and asked their opinion whether with thepresent numbers all parts of the works could be manned in case ofassault, and if not whether it was advisable to withdraw the guardsfrom all the outlying positions and to hold only the town.

  They were unanimously of opinion that the force was too small todefend the whole, but Sir Horace Vere and Sir John Ogle alone gavetheir advice to abandon the outlying forts rather than endanger theloss of the town. The other officers were of opinion that all theworks should be held, although they acknowledged that the disposableforce was incapable of doing so. Some days elapsed, and Verelearned that the Spanish preparations were all complete, and thatthey were only waiting for a low tide to attack. Time was everything,for a change of wind would bring speedy succour, so without takingcouncil with anyone he sent Sir John Ogle with a drummer to theside of the Old Haven. />
  Don Mateo Serrano came forward, and Ogle gave his message, whichwas that General Vere wished to have some qualified person to speakto him. This was reported to the archduke, who agreed that Serranoand another Spanish officer should go into the town, and that Ogleand a comrade should come as hostages into the Spanish camp. SirJohn Ogle took his friend Sir Charles Fairfax with him, and Serranoand Colonel Antonio crossed into Ostend. The two Englishmen wereconducted to the archduke, who asked Sir John Ogle to tell him ifthere was any deceit in the matter. Ogle answered if there wereit was more than he knew, for Vere had simply charged him to carrythe message, and that he and Fairfax had merely come as hostagesfor the safe return of the Spanish officers.

  Ogle was next asked whether he thought the general intended sincerelyor not, and could only reply that he was altogether unacquaintedwith the general's purpose.

  The next morning Serrano and Antonio returned without having seenVere. The pretext on which they had been sent back was that therewas some irregularity in their coming across; but instead of theirbeing sent back across the Old Haven they were sent across theGeule, and had to make a long round to regain the archduke's camp.

  Thus a day and a night were gained. The next day, towards evening,the two Spanish officers were admitted into Ostend, and receivedvery hospitably by Sir Francis. After supper many healths were drunk,and then Sir Francis informed them to their astonishment that hisproposal was not that he should surrender Ostend, but that thearchduke should raise the siege. But it was now far too late for themto return, and they went to bed in the general's quarters. Duringthe two nights thus gained the defenders had worked incessantly inrepairing the palisades facing the point at which the attack wouldtake place, a work that they had hitherto been unable to performowing to the tremendous fire that the Spaniards kept up night andday upon it.

  At break of day five men of war from Zeeland came to anchor off thetown. They brought four hundred men, and provisions and materialsof war of all kinds. They were immediately landed under a heavyfire from the enemy's batteries on both sides. The firing awoke thetwo Spanish envoys, who inquired what was taking place. They werepolitely informed by Sir Francis Vere that succour had arrived,and the negotiations were of course broken off; and they wereaccordingly sent back, while Ogle and Fairfax returned to Ostend.

  Vere's account of the transaction was that he had simply asked fortwo Spanish officers to speak with him. He had offered no terms,and there was therefore no breach of faith. The commander of abesieged town, he insisted, is always at liberty to propose a parley,which the enemy can accept or not as he chooses. At any rate, itwas not for the archduke, who had hired a traitor to corrupt thegarrison, to make a complaint of treachery. Twelve hundred menwere employed for the next eight days in strengthening the works,Sir Francis being always with them at night, when the water waslow, encouraging them by his presence and example.

  Early in January he learned that the enemy were preparing for theassault, and on the 7th a crushing fire was kept up on the PorcEspic, Helmond, and Sand Hill forts. The Spaniards had by thistime fired 163,200 cannon shot into the town, and scarcely a wholehouse was left standing. Towards evening they were seen bringingscaling ladders to the opposite bank of the Haven. Two thousandItalian and Spanish troops had been told off to attack the sandhill, two thousand were to assault Helmond and the Porc Espic, twoparties of five hundred men each were to attack other works, whileon the east side Count Bucquoy was to deliver a general assault.

  The English general watched all these preparations with thegreatest vigilance. At high water he closed the west sluice, whichlet the water into the town ditch from the Old Haven, in the rearof Helmond, in order to retain as much water as possible, andstationed his troops at the various points most threatened. SirHorace Vere and Sir Charles Fairfax, with twelve weak companies,some of them reduced to ten or twelve men, were stationed on thesand hill.

  Four of the strongest companies garrisoned the Porc Espic; ten weakcompanies and nine cannon loaded with musket bullets defended theHelmond. These posts were commanded by Sergeant Major Carpenter andCaptain Meetkerk; the rest of the force were disposed at the otherthreatened points. Sir Francis himself, with Sir Lionel Vickars ashis right hand, took his post on the wall of the old town, betweenthe sand hill and the Schottenburg, which had been much damaged bythe action of the waves during the gales and by the enemy's shot.Barrels of ashes, heaps of stones and bricks, hoops bound withsquibs and fireworks, ropes of pitch, hand grenades, and barrelsof nails were collected in readiness to hurl down upon the assailants.

  At dusk the besiegers ceased firing, to allow the guns to cool.Two engineer officers with fifty stout sappers, who each had a rosenoble for every quarter of an hour's work, got on to the breach infront of the sand hill, and threw up a small breastwork, strengthenedby palisades, across it. An officer crept down towards the OldHaven, and presently returned with the news that two thousand ofthe enemy were wading across, and forming up in battalions on theOstend side.

  Suddenly a gun boomed out from the archduke's camp as a signalto Bucquoy, and just as the night had fairly set in the besiegersrushed to the assault from all points. They were received by atremendous fire from the guns of the forts and the muskets of thesoldiers; but, although the effect was serious, they did not hesitatea moment, but dashed forwards towards the foot of the sand hill andthe wall of the old town, halted for a moment, poured in a volley,and then rushed into the breach and against the walls. The volleyhad been harmless, for Vere had ordered the men to lie flat until itwas given. As the Spaniards climbed up barrels of ashes were emptiedupon them, stones and heavy timbers hurled down, and flaming hoopscast over their necks. Three times they climbed to the crest of thesand hill, and as many times gained a footing on the Schottenburg;but each time they were beaten back with great slaughter. As fiercelydid they attack at the other points, but were everywhere repulsed.

  On the east side three strong battalions of the enemy attacked theoutwork across the Geule, known as the Spanish Half Moon. Vere, whowas everywhere supervising the defence, ordered the weak garrisonthere to withdraw, and sent a soldier out to give himself up, andto tell them that the Half Moon was slenderly manned, and to offerto lead them in. The offer was accepted, and the Spaniards tookpossession of the work.

  The general's object was to occupy them, and prevent their supportingtheir comrades in the western attack. The Half Moon, indeed, wasquite open towards the town. Tide was rising, and a heavy fire wasopened upon the captors of the work from the batteries across theGeule, and they were driven out with the loss of three hundred men.At length the assault was repulsed at all points, and the assailantsbegan to retire across the Old Haven. No sooner did they begin toford it than Vere opened the west sluice, and the water in the townditch rushed down in a torrent, carrying numbers of the Spaniardsaway into the sea.

  Altogether, the assault cost the Spaniards two thousand men.An enormous amount of plunder in arms, gold chains, jewels, andrich garments were obtained by the defenders from the bodies ofthe fallen. The loss of the garrison was only thirty killed and ahundred wounded.

  The repulse of the grand attack upon Ostend by no means put an endto the siege. Sir Francis Vere, his brother Horace, Sir John Ogle,and Sir Lionel Vickars left, the general being summoned to assumecommand in the field; but the siege continued for two years and ahalf longer. Many assaults were repulsed during that time, and thetown only surrendered on the 20th September, 1604, when the sandhill, which was the key of the whole position, was at last capturedby the Spaniards.

  It was but a heap of ruins that they had become possessed of aftertheir three years' siege, and its capture had not only cost theman immense number of men and a vast amount of money, but the longand gallant defence had secured upon a firm basis the independenceof Holland. While the whole available force of Spain had been sooccupied Prince Maurice and his English allies had captured townafter town, and had beaten the enemy whenever they attempted to showthemselves in the open field. They had more than counte
rbalancedthe loss of Ostend by the recapture of Sluys, and had so loweredthe Spanish pride that not long afterwards a twelve years truce wasconcluded, which virtually brought the war to an end, and securedfor ever the independence of Holland.

  During the last year or two of the war Sir Francis Vere, worn outby his fatigues and the countless wounds he had received in theservice of the Netherlands, had resigned his command and retiredto England, being succeeded in his position by Sir Horace. LionelVickars fought no more after he had borne his part in the repulseof the great assault against Ostend. He had barely recovered fromthe effect of the wound he had received at the battle of Nieuport,and the fatigues and anxiety of the siege, together with the dampair from the marshes, brought on a serious attack of fever, whichcompletely prostrated him as soon as the necessity for exertionhad passed. He remained some weeks at the Hague, and then, beingsomewhat recovered, returned home.

  While throughout all England the greatest enthusiasm had beenaroused by the victory of Nieuport and the repulse of the Spaniardsat Ostend, the feeling was naturally higher in the Vere's countyof Essex than elsewhere. As soon as Lionel Vickars was well enoughto take any share in gaieties he received many invitations to stayat the great houses of the county, where most of the gentry weremore or less closely connected with the Veres; and before he hadbeen home many months he married Dorothy Windhurst, one of therichest heiresses in the county, and a cousin of the Veres. ThusGeoffrey had, after Juan Mendez retired from taking any active partin the business, to work alone until his sons were old enough tojoin him in the business. As soon as they were able to undertakeits active management, Geoffrey bought an estate near Hedingham,and there settled down, journeying occasionally to London to seehow the affairs of the house went on, and to give advice to hissons. Dolores had, two or three years after her arrival in England,embraced the faith of her husband; and although she complained alittle at times of the English climate, she never once regrettedthe step she had taken in leaving her native Spain.