Michiel de ruyter biography

Neeltje gave birth to four children, although one died shortly after birth. The surviving children were Adriaen bornNeeltje bornand Aelken born His ventures as a merchant and whaler were financially successful, allowing him to purchase his own ship, the Salamanderand build a small fortune. However, despite his success in the private sector, De Ruyter would soon be called back into military service.

InDe Ruyter became the captain of a private ship tasked with hunting the Dunkirkers, privateers who operated out of Dunkirk and preyed on Dutch merchant shipping. He fulfilled this role with distinction untilgaining valuable experience in naval combat and strategy. InDe Ruyter was nominated by the Admiralty of Zeeland to command the Hazea gun merchant ship that had been converted into a man-of-war.

His ship was part of a fleet under Admiral Gijsels, which was sent to support the Portuguese during the Portuguese Restoration War against Spain. Although this expedition had limited success, De Ruyter distinguished himself in a naval battle off Cape St. Vincent on November 4, After this expedition, De Ruyter returned to his merchant career, sailing on behalf of the Lampsins brothers or as the owner of his ship.

Between andhe made several profitable voyages to regions such as Morocco, Brazil, and the West Indies. Byhe had amassed enough wealth to retire from active seafaring and settle in Vlissingen with his family. Despite initial reluctance, De Ruyter agreed to return to service, commanding a squadron of warships for the Admiralty of Zeeland.

His initial position was as a commandeur a rank equivalent to commodorewhere he was responsible for protecting Dutch merchant convoys from English attacks. In the ensuing Battle of Plymouth on August 16, De Ruyter outmaneuvered the English, successfully defending the Dutch merchant convoy despite being outnumbered. This victory made him a national hero in the Netherlands, and his reputation as a brilliant naval michiel de ruyter biography began to grow.

However, he declined, citing his lack of experience and concern over the potential for conflict with more senior officers such as Witte de With and Johan Evertsen. Instead, Colonel Jacob van Wassenaer Obdam was appointed as the new supreme commander. InDe Ruyter accepted a position as vice-admiral of the Admiralty of Amsterdam. His first major mission in this new role was to lead a squadron to the Mediterranean, where he was tasked with protecting Dutch trade and ransoming enslaved Christians from the Barbary corsairs.

His efforts earned him widespread praise and reinforced his reputation as a skilled and diplomatic leader. This battle, which took place from June 11 to June 14, was a prolonged and brutal contest between the Dutch and English fleets. The battle solidified his status as one of the greatest naval commanders of his time. InDe Ruyter orchestrated the Raid on the Medway, one of the most daring and successful naval operations in history.

Michiel de ruyter biography: Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter was a

The Dutch forces managed to destroy much of the English fleet, including the capture of the flagship HMS Royal Charleswhich they towed back to the Netherlands as a trophy. This time, the Dutch Republic faced the combined forces of England and France. De Ruyter once again played a central role in defending the Dutch Republic from invasion.

His leadership in the battles of Solebay, Schooneveld, and Texel in and prevented the Anglo-French forces from landing troops on the Dutch coast.

Michiel de ruyter biography: Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter was

His disregard for hierarchy and his willingness to share the dangers of battle with his crew endeared him to the men under his command. In recognition of his service, De Ruyter was promoted to the newly created rank of lieutenant-admiral general inmaking him the highest-ranking officer in the Dutch michiel de ruyter biography. This rank was created specifically for De Ruyter, a testament to his extraordinary contributions to the defense of the Dutch Republic.

The Treaty of Breda which ended the Second Anglo-Dutch War in July failed to remove the root causes of the long-standing Anglo-Dutch rivalry, which included colonial quarrels, including the exclusion of the English traders from Dutch colonies and the English occupation of the former Dutch New Netherland colony, and English enforcement of the Navigation Act.

Although tensions between the two nations lessened between and[ 40 ] the desire of Louis XIV to acquire all or a substantial part of the Spanish Netherlands and neutralise the Dutch Republic, led to his subsidising Charles II and to an unprovoked and unsuccessful English attack on the Dutch Smyrna fleet in March An English declaration of war against the Netherlands in the same month began the Third Anglo-Dutch Warand this was followed by a French declaration of war against the Dutch in May The Dutch were surprised by these events but eventually managed to prepare a strong fleet of 75 ships under De Ruyter.

However, because delays in his fleet mustering, he was unable to realise his plan of preventing the junction of the English and French fleets to create a force superior to his, so he used three different strategies to meet changing situations in the following two years. Firstly, he aimed to inflict sufficient damage on the English ships to require their lengthy repairs in the congested English dockyards, as in his attack at Solebay.

Allied to this, when De Ruyter detected the French fleet's reluctance to become involved in close-quarters fighting, he detached small squadrons in each major sea battle to keep the French out of the main action, concentrating his attack on the English fleet with only slightly inferior numbers. Thirdly, he used the shelter of the shoals, which the larger of the allied ships had to avoid, as a safe haven, keeping the Dutch fleet intact until he could attack the allied fleet at a time and under conditions of his own choosing.

In this way, he prevented the English and French fleets from creating the conditions needed to land an invasion force. After initially withdrawing into shoal waters near the Netherlands coast until the combined Anglo-French fleet retired to replenish its water, De Ruyter attacked its 92 ships on 7 June at the Battle of Solebay. Although the battle was tactically indecisive, it disrupted Anglo-French plans to blockade Dutch ports and land soldiers on the Dutch coast, and also created dissention between the allies, so was a strategic victory for De Ruyter.

The war on land went badly for the Dutch inwhich they called the Rampjaar or "disaster year", and this led to the resignation and then murder of Johan de Witt in August and the replacement of republicans by Orangists. He made an attempt to blockade the English fleet in the Thames with 30 ships in May but it had already put to sea, [ 47 ] so he decided to rendezvous with the rest of the Dutch fleet in the coastal waters of the Schooneveldwhere by late May he had assembled a fleet of 50 large ships together with frigates and fireships, 64 in total.

The new rank of lieutenant-admiral general was created especially for De Ruyter in Februarywhen the new stadtholder of Holland and ZeelandWilliam III of Orangebecame admiral-general. Although successive Princes of Orange, when stadtholder, generally commanded the Dutch army in person as its captain-general, they never took command of the Dutch fleet as admiral-general.

By the end ofEnglish popular opposition to the war and to the French alliance, the changes in government policy and the likelihood that parliament would not continue to provide war funding inclined Charles II towards peace with Holland and ending his alliance with France. After relatively brief negotiations, the Treaty of Westminster ending the war was ratified in March The English withdrawal did not end naval engagements in the Franco-Dutch War.

As Louis XIV did not michiel de ruyter biography to send his main fleet against the more powerful Dutch, De Ruyter was first instructed to use his fleet in support in a 'descent' on the French Channel and Biscay coasts, in which the appearance of the fleet would create a threat of landings or an invasion, aiming to divert French forces from the Spanish Netherlands and the Rhine.

In a further attempt to relieve pressure on the Netherlands, he was next ordered to take the fight against the French to the Caribbean. However, although his destination was supposed to be secret, news had leaked out and had been sent to the French governor, which allowed the greatly outnumbered French defenders time to prepare a strong defensive position.

When the Dutch troops went ashore the next day to attempt an assault on Fort Royalthey suffered significant casualties in their attempt to reach the French fortifications, including the loss of most of their senior officers, and they returned to the fleet with killed and wounded, compared to only 15 French defenders lost.

Michiel de ruyter biography: Michiel de Ruyter was

With the element of surprise lost, and with disease spreading aboard his ships, de Ruyter decided against further attacks and returned to Europe. In Julythe Messina revolt broke against Spanish rule and the people of Messina asked for French protection. A small French squadron was sent there in Septemberbut it withdrew before the year end in the face of a more numerous Spanish force.

De Ruyter was sent to the Mediterranean later in with eighteen larger warships and a number of smaller vessels, although these vessels were not fully manned. After a delay of two months on the Spanish coast waiting for the supplies and a supporting squadron promised by the Spanish authorities, De Ruyter sailed for Sicily at the year end with only one Spanish ship added to his fleet of 18 Dutch warships.

However, de Ruyter was unable to attack the city because of contrary winds and, on 7 Januarywhile cruising near the Lipari Islands and accompanied by several Spanish galleys, he encountered the French fleet led by Duquesne the convoy. Although both fleets had similar numbers of ships, the French fleet was more powerful, with 1, guns against 1, for the Dutch and no fighting took place on 7 January, when De Ruyter held the weather gauge.

Duquesne therefore sent the convoy ahead and prepared to attack the Dutch. During the Battle of Stromboli on 8 JanuaryDuquesne's ships steered obliquely towards the Dutch fleet, which exposed them to Dutch broadside fire: De Ruyter's van and centre maintained their distance by gradually giving way, keeping their French opponents under heavy gunfire and causing significant damage and casualties.

The French van squadron was disordered, and two of its ships had to pull out of line of battle, until Duquesne managed to restore order. He then tried several times to break the Dutch line, although De Ruyter's close linear formation and the weight of Dutch broadsides prevented this. De Ruyter disengaged and took his fleet into Milazzo with three badly damaged ships towed there by Spanish galleys.

During the night, the wind strengthened again, and Duquesne was joined by eight ships from Messina, but the next day the Spanish squadron was sighted and Duquesne did not wish to fight an action against superior numbers in the Straits of Messina[ 61 ] so he took his convoy right around Sicily, bringing it into Messina without further fighting.

After the Battle of StromboliDe Ruyter was joined by a Spanish squadron and relinquished command of the combined fleet to the Spanish admiral, Don Francisco de la Cerda. In order to attack Messina, the allies had to defeat the French fleet, and they decided to attack Augusta to force the French warships to leave Messina harbour. De Ruyter commanded the van michiel de ruyter biography, the Spanish ships formed the centre, with another Dutch squadrons in the van rear.

There were 29 French ships of the line and 13 Dutch warships, not all fit to fight in line. Jenkins mentions between ten and fourteen Spanish warships, besides frigates and fireships, supporting the Dutch, and the French fleet was superior in firepower as well as numbers. The battle largely consisted of a fierce fight between the two vans, as the Spanish centre remained at long range from its French counterpart, with some ships in the rear squadrons also engaging each other.

At the end of the battle, De Ruyter was able to extract his squadron by his own seamanship and the assistance of the Dutch rear squadron. During the course of the Dutch van squadron's disengagement from fighting, De Ruyter was fatally wounded when a cannonball struck him in the leg, and he died a week later at Syracuse. On that occasion, the Amsterdam professor Petrus Francius recited a Latin farewell poem of nearly a thousand hexameters.

His body was buried in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam. The praal tomb completed indesigned and created by the Flemish sculptor Rombout Verhulstis on display in the Nieuwe Kerk. He was succeeded as supreme commander by Cornelis Tromp in He is honoured by a statue in his birthplace, Vlissingenwhich stands looking over the sea.

Michiel de ruyter biography: Michiel Adriaanszoon de Ruyter

Multiple towns in the Netherlands have a street named after him. Respect also extended far beyond the borders of the republic. The town of Debrecen erected a statue of him for his role in persuading the Spanish viceroy of Naples to free 26 Protestant Hungarian ministers from slavery in the Spanish galleys during his service in Sicily.

De Ruyter was involved in the founding of the Netherlands Marine Corpsestablished on 10 December The intended new base for the marine corps, which was to be built in his birthplace of Vlissingen, completed by and to be named "Michiel de Ruyter Kazerne" was cancelled over financial concerns and fears that many marines would leave the service rather than transfer to Zeeland.

Inthe Netherlands issued two postage stamps to honour Admiral de Ruyter. An eponymous biopic about his life was released in starring Frank Lammers in the title role. The town of DeRuyter, New YorkUnited States, and a village of the same name within the town are both named after him. Contents move to sidebar hide. Michiana College: Tabular Data. Michiana College: Narrative Description.

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