Dutch blockade of Dunkirk to attack Dutch shipping. Charles I of England exploited the crisis to force Dutch North Sea herring fishers to pay for fishing permits. All that caused such an outcry that when Van Dorp offered his resignation, Frederick Henry was forced to accept it, also firing Liefhebber, replacing them on 29 October with Tromp and De With. However, De With was again to be severely disappointed when he was refused supreme command; as Vice-Admiral of Holland and West Frisia, he was second in command under Lieutenant-Admiral Tromp. In the Eighty Years' War against the Spanish, De With fought at the Battle of the Downs (1639). De With became very jealous of Tromp's popularity after his destruction of the Spanish fleet in The Downs. In the same battle, he made an enemy of Zealandic Vice-Admiral Johan Evertsen and accused him of cowardice and avarice. Court martial In 1640, De With was brought to trial when, his fleet having been dispersed by a storm, he had returned to Hellevoetsluis alone. The court martial was presided by Maarten Tromp and though he was acquitted, De With had the compulsive notion that Tromp had tried to influence witnesses against him. Both in 1644 and 1645, De With, along with an enormous convoy of merchantmen (702 on the return voyage of the latter year) forced the Sound against the Danes, who had tried to impose higher toll rates. In 1647, De With was sent with a poorly equipped fleet to assist the Dutch colony of Brazil from attack by the Portuguese. He refused to cooperate with the Council of Brazil and, after many months of conflict during which his fleet deteriorated through lack of supplies, he returned against orders with the two remaining seaworthy ships to the Netherlands in November 1649. On his return, he went to the States-General to complain about the policy of the colony of Brazil but was himself arrested, charged of insubordination and desertion on 259 points and nearly condemned to decapitation. He was saved only by the intervention of the States of Holland, which pointed out their exclusive right to condemn admirals to death. In February 1651, he was acquitted of most charges, the punishment being reduced to a loss of wages for the period involved. In September 1651, De With was again on convoy duty. The First Anglo-Dutch War In the First Anglo-Dutch War against the