magistrates of Harlingen promised to see to it that the admiralty would get good accommodation in "their" city, expenses to be met by the city. The admiralty had, however, expected to be provided with more buildings—meeting rooms, warehouses, space for prisoners, and housing for servants. The admiralty got a building on the south side of the south harbour. There was a request also for a building on the north harbour. A last admonition was necessary in 1653 before a few warehouses around the Westkerk became admiralty property too. First Anglo-Dutch War At the start of the First Anglo-Dutch War in July 1652, the fleet of the Republic was in state of serious neglect. In 1651 it had been decided to expand the active fleet of 40 ships by activating 36 older warships. One year later it was decided to acquire a further 150 armed merchantmen as a reserve. The Frisian Admiralty did not, however, manage to comply with this first order of 1651, though it punctually met the second command (from 1652) for delivery of 17 ships. For the first time in its history the admiralty had a considerable number of larger warships operational: up to eight were supplied to the national fleet. Each ship was between 120 and 125 feet long and between 27 and 28 feet wide. The ships were manned by 85 sailors and 25 soldiers and armed with between 28 and 30 guns. At the Battle of Plymouth in 1652, the Frisian Admiralty ships Westergo, Albertina, Schaapherder, Sara, Hector van Troye, and Gelderlandt were present, under command of Commodore Michiel de Ruyter, as well as the Frisian captain Douwe Aukes on board the Dutch East India Company warship De Vogelstruys, which had been added to the national fleet on the outbreak of war, with a crew of 200 heads and 40 guns. Aukes and his vessel, separated from the rest of the fleet, were surrounded by four British ships but when his crew was about to surrender Aukes threatened to blow her up himself if they refused to fight. The crew was so afraid that in the subsequent fight two British ships were sunk while the others were put to flight. The other admiralty colleges were not always pleased with the behavior of the crew of the ships of the Frisian Admiralty—for example, during this war, one of the Frisian ships sailed home without permission, and