by remaining at Jakatra, a target for native attack by land and Dutch attack by sea. It was too late now, at all events, to retrieve the original blunder of proceeding eastward in pursuit of Coen. That worthy had had time to combine his scattered forces and replenish his ammunition stores, and was not to be attacked with impunity by any force that the English could now bring to bear.
Shipping all his merchandise and stores Dale started on his voyage with the rankling conviction that he had failed egregiously where he should have been triumphant. His disappointment was accentuated by dissensions which now broke out in an aggravated form amongst his officers. There was resentment in this quarter at his masterful ways and especially at the dictatorial tone he was in the habit of assuming towards every one however highly placed they might be or whatever the question at issue. It was always, says one of his colleagues, "'I will and require,' 'this must be done,' and 'this shall be done,' and yet in the end we must signe what he says "
Under the weight of his accumulating troubles Dale sickened and died soon after the fleet reached India. Thus the final tragic seal was set on a disastrous venture. It would be unfair, perhaps, to saddle Dale's memory too heavily with the responsibility for the failure. Something must be allowed for the inevitable weakness of a fleet operating many thousand miles from its base against one scarcely inferior in size which had open to it several strong bases. Still, the error of judgment committed in permitting the quiet withdrawal of the Dutch fleet to the Moluccas was too far reaching in its consequences to be lightly overlooked in any estimate of Dale's achievements.
