wrecked quarterdeck and still refusing to lower his colours. In an attempt to settle the combat, Captain William Bligh of Director closed to within of the Dutch flagship and demanded to know if De Winter surrendered. The Dutch admiral replied "What do you think about it?", and then attempted to personally raise signals demanding reinforcements from the rest of his fleet, only to find that the halyards had been shot away. De Winter then summoned the ship's carpenter and ordered him to repair his barge, so that the admiral could transfer command to another ship and continue the battle. When British sailors from Director boarded the drifting flagship, De Winter was discovered assisting the carpenter with repairs to the barge. On being informed that he was a prisoner of war, he replied "This is my destiny not foreseen" and, after checking on a mortally wounded officer who lay on the quarterdeck, he followed the boarding party back to their boat for the trip to Venerable. Aftermath De Winter was immediately taken to see Duncan, the Dutch officer holding out his sword as a token of surrender. Duncan refused the weapon, instead shaking De Winter's hand and insisting "I would much rather take a brave man's hand than his sword". In addition to the losses in the rear, five ships of the Dutch van had been captured as well as the frigate Ambuscade that had attacked from the second line. The remainder of the Dutch ships had fled, making rapid progress towards the coastal shallows. Duncan did not follow them: the Dutch coast between Kamperduin and Egmond was only away, his ship lay in just 9 fathoms () of water and the weather was too fierce and his ships too battered to risk combat in shoal waters. Instead he ordered his ships to ensure control of their prizes and to return to Britain. Many ships were now undermanned due to the terrible casualties they had suffered: surgeon Robert Young of Ardent, the worst hit of the British ships, worked for more than twelve hours without a break and later wrote: Casualties in the battle were very heavy on both sides, and historians such as William James have noted that the losses among the British ships were proportionally much higher than when British fleets met French or Spanish opposition. This was attributed to the Dutch tactics, mirrored by the British, of firing