Oct 11, 1797. A British fleet that had been in open mutiny just months earlier destroys the Dutch navy. In the spring of 1797 the Royal Navy came close to falling apart. Sailors who hadn't been paid in months rose up in two huge mutinies at Spithead and the Nore. Ships flew red flags and refused to sail. Meanwhile, the Dutch fleet, now allied with Revolutionary France, sat at Texel across the North Sea, ready to support an invasion of Britain or Ireland. Admiral Adam Duncan, a 6-foot-4 Scot, was supposed to be blockading them. During the mutiny almost his entire fleet abandoned him. At one point he was left with just two ships. So he bluffed. He kept sending signals out to sea as if a big British fleet were waiting just over the horizon. The Dutch stayed in port. By October the mutinies were over. When the Dutch fleet under Vice Admiral Jan de Winter finally came out, Duncan raced to catch them. He found them on Oct 11 off the Dutch coast near the village of Camperduin. De Winter tried to lure him into shallow water. Duncan didn't wait to form a neat battle line. He split his fleet in two and charged straight through the Dutch line, the same kind of attack Nelson made famous at Trafalgar eight years later. It turned into a slugging match at point blank range. The Dutch fought ferociously. By mid afternoon De Winter's flagship had been dismasted and he was the only officer still standing on her upper deck. He surrendered. Duncan captured eleven Dutch ships, including nine ships of the line. He didn't lose a single one. Casualties were brutal on both sides. More than 200 British dead and hundreds more wounded. On the Dutch side, around 540 dead. De Winter, who was also enormous, later joked that it was a miracle two men as big as he and Duncan had both made it through the slaughter. The Dutch navy never recovered. And the King's reward? At Duncan's request, he pardoned 180 sailors who'd been condemned for taking part in the Nore mutiny.