On 28 August, Story returned with his squadron to the Vlieter roadstead. He was forced to anchor because of adverse winds that prevented the fleet from mounting a direct attack on Allied forces. Enervated by the sight of the Orange ''
Prince's Flag'' on the forts and church steeples of Den Helder, several ships' crews began to mutiny. Among the ships whose crew rebelled was Van Braam's ship, the
Leyden. He later admitted he could have easily suppressed the revolt aboard his ship, but that he decided against it. Instead, he informed his commanding officer, Story—who himself had to counter an incipient mutiny on the flagship
Washington—of the "precarious situation" aboard the other ships of the fleet. Story subsequently sent his
flag captain, Van Capellen, and
Cerberus captain, Cornelius de Jong van Rodenburg, under a
flag of truce to parlay with the commander of the British squadron, Andrew Mitchell. Van Capellen and De Jong were to instruct Mitchell that the Dutch fleet intended to give battle in accordance with explicit orders from the agent for the Navy of the Batavian Republic,
Jacobus Spoors, but that Story had requested further orders and proposed to await those. Story requested a temporary truce to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. He would later go on to state that this had merely been a ruse to buy him some time—necessary to restore order back to the fleet. Mitchell did not fall for this ruse, probably because the two Dutch negotiators were actually the mutiny's ringleaders. Mitchell issued an ultimatum of one hour for Story to surrender, or Mitchell's fleet would engage. Faced with this ultimatum, Story convened a
council of war aboard his flagship with all his captains. According to Lieutenant Colonel
Frederick Maitland, who was present at the discussions on board
Washington as a British parliamentarian, Van Capellen, De Jong, and Van Braam did their best to influence the council in the direction of accepting the ultimatum. He later asked in a letter to General Dundas that "the opinions and sentiments expressed by the captains Van Capelle, Van Braam and the [sic] Jong generally in the presence of Admiral Story might not become public and those officers thereby endangered. To you in this letter, I apprehend I do right inform you, that above mentioned captains did declare their attachment to the Stadholder and the former government and their disgust at the present government and their French connections ..." The council of war therefore unanimously decided to lower the flag of the Batavian Republic and declare themselves prisoners of war. They refused, however, to hoist the Orange flag. This may seem a minor point, but it signified that the officers did not defect. When Mitchell accepted the surrender, he did this in the name of the Prince of Orange. He therefore ordered the flag of the Prince to be hoisted, with which order some of the officers complied. This act was interpreted by many in Holland as an act of treason. Meanwhile, in the absence of the captains, further acts of mutiny had taken place on the other ships. One officer was drowned; others were beaten up. The Batavian flag was torn up by the mutineers. British officers restored order with some difficulty. After their surrender, the Prince visited several of the ships to the encouragement of the mutineers. He had hoped to now take command of the surrendered fleet himself, yet his request was turned down by the British. The crews were disembarked and British
prize crews sailed the ships to England. Only five derelict frigates lying off Den Helder were handed to William. These were manned with Orangist volunteer crews living in the vicinity. They sailed to England under
jury rig in November. One of these frigates foundered with loss of life. ==Aftermath==