Sir John Harman


In February 1667 Harman was appointed as admiral of a squadron bound for the West Indies, where Dutch and French forces had been attacking the English colonies there. Arriving in June, Harman joined the local forces under Captain John Berry, which had already successfully defeated a Franco-Dutch fleet off Nevis. Together they sailed for St Kitts, intending to recapture it, but the attack failed. However, they immediately received intelligence that about two dozen French ships were lying at Martinique, and Harman ordered an attack on this new target. Although the French were guarded by shore batteries, a series of assaults finally resulted on 25 June in the destruction of all but two or three of the enemy ships, at a cost of about eighty English lives. Harman then sailed for Cayenne, capturing it on 15 September, and Paramaribo in Surinam, forcing its surrender on 8 October. On his return to Barbados on 10 November, however, Harman found that peace had been concluded three months earlier at Breda'a peace which confirmed Dutch possession of Surinam.


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by Stephen Luscombe