The Zwolle was a frigate in the service of the Amsterdam Admiralty.

Convoy service

During the Nine Years' War, Dutch merchant ships needed to be protected from attacks by French ships. The Zwolle left from Torbay on January 23rd, 1691 to the Iberian Peninsula to make such a convoy voyage, together with the Oudkarspel.¹

The had a convoy with them of Dutch and English merchant ships with them with several destinations in Spain. In the Gulf of Biscay, at the height of Castro Urdiales in Northern Spain, they were attacked in the night of 29 to 30 January by three French warships and two privateers. The French had used the cover of darkness to get close to them unseen. Even though the Dutch ships were heavily outnumbered, they positioned themselves between the French ships and the merchant vessels, to give these the opportunity to escape. A heavy fight followed at one and a half miles from shore (here, probably the so-called 'German mile' of 7.4 km is used) in which both Dutch ships sunk yet most of the merchants managed to escape to several ports in Northern Spain.

The Zwolle sank first after captain Bontemantel had fallen, and half an hour later the Oudkarspel sank. The captain of that ship managed to hold on to wreckage with a small part of his crew and was later saved. The French captain Augers, the leader of the squadron, sailed off without saving the drowning crew, something which caused some diplomatic unrest. Of the Zwolle, only a few men were saved, and thus only 32 or 33 of the total of over 400 men on board of the ships survived the fight.

Even thought the Dutch ships sank, the action was not very successful for the French. Only two small merchant ships were taken. The largest French ship was so badly damaged that it sank shortly after the battle and two others hardly made it to port.

Built: admiralty yard Amsterdam, master Jan van Rheenen, 1688
Armament: 34 guns

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• Brief Barent van der Pot.
• Schepenlijst NIMH nr. 1175.
• J. C. de Jonge.
  Geschiedenis van het Nederlandse Zeewezen, V.
  pp 334-336.
• Koninklijke Bibliotheek.
  Europische Mercurius, februari 1692.