Maarten and Cornelis Tromp

Dutch admirals

• Cornelis Tromp
• Born: September 9, 1629
• Birthplace: Rotterdam, Holland, United Provinces (now in the Netherlands)
• Died: May 29, 1691
• Place of death: Amsterdam, Holland, United Provinces (now in the Netherlands)

• Maarten Tromp
• Born: April 23, 1598
• Birthplace: Brielle, South Holland, United Provinces (now in the Netherlands)
• Died: August 10, 1653
• Place of death: At sea, near Scheveningen, Holland, United Provinces (now in the Netherlands)

While the Tromps and other Dutch naval heroes such as Michiel Adriaanszoon de Ruyter were in command, the Netherlands came close to being the chief naval power in Europe. The competition between the elder Tromp and the English commanders resulted in a revolution in naval tactics.

Early Lives

Though both Maarten Tromp (MAHR-tehn TROHMP) and Cornelis Tromp (kohr-NAY-lis TROHMP), father and son, had distinguished careers and rose to the position of lieutenant-admiral, their lives show some interesting contrasts. The early life of Maarten Tromp contained enough experience to last an ordinary mortal a lifetime. He first went to sea in a warship commanded by his father and took part in the Battle of Gibraltar (April 25, 1607), when Jacob van Heemskerck crushed a superior Spanish fleet under the guns of their own fortress. Several years later, he accompanied his father on a merchant voyage. The ship was attacked by an English pirate, Maarten’s father was slain, and Maarten himself was compelled to endure a life of “the utmost abandonment and cruelty” as cabin boy to his father’s slayer. Released or escaped, he made other voyages and was captured by the Barbary pirates; he was released either on the payment of a heavy ransom or by impressing the Bey of Tunis with his skill in gunnery and navigation.

In 1627, he entered the Dutch navy. For some years, he was occupied either in reforming the Dutch marine establishment or in fighting the privateers of Dunkerque, then under Spanish rule and a menace to Dutch commerce. Maarten was, then, a “tarpaulin” officer, one who had lived his life at sea and made his way up through the ranks, in contrast to the English commanders, who were likely to be either gentlemen volunteers or converted army officers. Throughout life, he lived plainly, contenting himself with a pickled herring for breakfast.

Cornelis Tromp, Maarten’s second son, was far less austere in his habits; in later life, he married into a family with money and was able to afford a country estate, De Trompenburgh. His portrait shows a handsome man, but one inclined to stoutness, while his father’s portrait shows the elder Tromp as lean and sharp featured. Cornelis went to sea early, however, and at the age of nineteen commanded a squadron against the Barbary pirates.

Lives’ Work

Maarten’s first and possibly greatest deed as lieutenant-admiral of the Dutch fleet was to counter a Spanish invasion. In September of 1639, he fought a series of engagements near the Straits of Dover in which the Spanish fleet was all but destroyed. The victory caused immense rejoicing in the Netherlands; the battle had been fought, however, on seas over which England claimed jurisdiction and against the express order of Charles I , king of England.

There were other potential sources of friction with England: the herring fisheries; the navigation acts, limiting the right of Dutch ships to trade in English ports; England’s claim to have her ships saluted in the “Narrow Seas”; and, after the outbreak of civil war in England, apparent Dutch sympathy with the Royalists (Maarten himself had escorted Queen Henrietta Maria of England when she returned from the Continent with supplies for Charles). Still, there was no open breach until 1652. On May 29, English Admiral Robert Blake was in the Channel with an English fleet and Maarten was there with a Dutch one; somehow—the guilt was never established—the accumulated irritations erupted into a full-scale naval battle, at the end of which Maarten retired with the loss of two small ships. Though there was as yet no formal declaration of war, it was obvious that the English would strike at Dutch commerce, and Maarten had the job of protecting it (July and August). In the North Sea, he encountered terrible storms, which scattered his fleet; he was unable to save the herring fishermen but did see some Indiamen safely to port with their valuable cargoes. Though most of his scattered fleet eventually made port, Maarten was disgraced and forced to resign. Another officer, Witte de With, was appointed to the vacant command but was so unpopular with the fleet that he too was dismissed.

Maarten was now reinstated, and again his task was to protect commerce and specifically to see a convoy of three hundred outbound merchant ships through the Channel(December). This he performed with ease. Blake, with a much smaller fleet than that of Maarten, attacked but was beaten off with the loss of five ships. Legend has it that Maarten sailed up the Channel with a broom at his masthead as proof that he could sweep the seas.

The next action (February, 1653) was again a convoying operation, this time inbound. Maarten was bringing some 150 merchantmen up the Channel when Blake attacked with a force nearly equal to that of Maarten. The fight lasted three days, with heavy losses on both sides. In the end, Maarten brought most of the convoy and his warships to port. He did not do so well in the Battle of the Gabbard Shoal in June. The reorganized English fleet had much the advantage, and Maarten, with his lighter ships, had to take refuge among the sandbanks of his own coast.

The English now set up a blockade, with devastating effects on the Dutch economy. Maarten was ordered to break the blockade. By a masterful maneuver, he brought the scattered Dutch fleet together, and, on August 10, he confronted the English fleet, now commanded by General George Monck , who would later engineer the Restoration of Charles II of England and become the first duke of Albemarle. The battle began at seven in the morning, and by eleven Maarten was dead, struck down by a musket ball. After his death, many of the Dutch captains deserted, and the battle ended in disaster. The Dutch had to make their peace with Oliver Cromwell. Maarten was buried at Delft, where a lavish monument recalls his services.

Meanwhile, Cornelis Tromp was serving in the Mediterranean, rising to the rank of rear admiral (1653). It was in the Second Anglo-Dutch War that he came into prominence, though in a rather controversial way. On June 13, 1665, an English fleet commanded by the duke of York (later James II ) encountered a Dutch fleet led by Jacob van Wassenaer, lord of Obdam. Obdam was killed early in the action; Cornelis attempted to assume command, but another admiral had a better claim, and in the confusion the Dutch fleet was routed. In 1666, Cornelis had to serve under Michiel Adriaanszoon de Ruyter , a brilliant leader of whom he was intensely jealous. In the action of July 25, when the Dutch were again at a disadvantage, Cornelis disgraced himself by breaking the line of battle to fight an independent action against the English rear and lost his command.

In the complications of Dutch politics, Cornelis was wise enough, or lucky enough, to support the stadtholder William, prince of Orange (later King William III of England), who reinstated him in the navy. He took part in the Third Anglo-Dutch War, in which the Netherlands was forced to fight France as well as England and to neglect its fleet in favor of the army. Nevertheless, de Ruyter, with a depleted fleet and forced on the defensive, more than held his own. In August, 1673, there was a general action in which Cornelis again found himself fighting a detached action against the English rear. Apparently there was no disobedience of de Ruyter’s orders, for he remained in favor; the battle, moreover, had a part in the decision of Charles II to make peace (1674). The naval war was nearly over, though the land war continued until 1678. Cornelis was sent with a squadron to help the Danes against the Swedes and won a great victory (1676). In the same year, Cornelis attained his father’s rank of lieutenant-admiral. He died on May 29, 1691, and was buried at Delft.

Significance

During Maarten Tromp’s and Cornelis Tromp’s lifetimes and those of other Dutch heroes such as de Ruyter, the Netherlands came close to being the chief naval power in Europe. The Dutch completely defeated Spain and Portugal; they built warships for France; and they fought the English as equals and were sometimes the victors. Their naval operations extended from Denmark to Sicily. This was a brief glory, for later in the century they were forced to divert their resources to defend themselves on land against the French and had to accept an unequal alliance with England.

Some historians would see the Anglo-Dutch Wars as chiefly important for producing a revolution in naval tactics and discipline. Prior to these wars, fleets had gone into battle in no particular order and had fought in a confused mass; the commander could exercise little control once the fighting started. Individual captains could do almost as they pleased, even to the point of deserting the fight. The new tactics, which remained standard for more than one hundred years, required the ships to go into action in a line so that all the guns could be brought to bear; a system of signals was devised, so that the commander could exercise some control.

This system was first put into effect by Blake, Monck, and Richard Deane, all of whom were former officers in Cromwell’s army; Blake was also responsible for the fearsome Articles of War, which defined the duties of seamen and, even more important, those of their officers. Maarten’s relationship to these reforms is uncertain. He is said to have been responsible for the idea of dividing a large fleet into squadrons, and he is supposed to have invented the line earlier but to have been unable to put it into practice; he did respond to the English line by putting his ships into a parallel formation. The Dutch indiscipline continued, however, and Maarten’s own son was not innocent in this respect.

Bibliography

Boxer, C. R. The Dutch Seaborne Empire, 1600-1800. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1965. This book is chiefly useful for what it relates about the political atmosphere in the Tromps’ time and the social condition of seafaring folk. Contains a chronology and a bibliography.

Geyl, Pieter. History of the Low Countries: Episodes and Problems. London: Macmillan, 1964. A series of lectures rather than a connected narrative. Useful for what it relates of the tangled diplomatic relations with England and the Tromps’ part in them.

Hainsworth, Roger, and Christine Churches. The Anglo-Dutch Naval Wars, 1652-1674. Stroud, England: Sutton, 1998. The Tromps’ role in the battles is included in this history of the wars. The authors maintain the wars were significant milestones in the development of naval warfare, introducing new technologies and strategies.

Haley, K. H. The Dutch in the Seventeenth Century. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1972. Chiefly useful for an account of the social and cultural life of the period in which the Tromps lived. Among the numerous illustrations are an eyewitness sketch of one of Maarten’s victories and a photograph of his monument.

Howarth, David. The Men-of-War. Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books, 1978. A popular, well-illustrated, and carefully researched account of the first two Anglo-Dutch Wars. Very thorough on technical matters as well as on the characters and careers of the chief commanders, including Maarten.

Jones, J. R. The Anglo-Dutch Wars of the Seventeenth Century. London: Longman, 1996. Contains a great deal of information and insight about the wars, but provides little explanation of the historical context of the battles. Intended for a reader who has some knowledge of seventeenth century history.

Landström, Björn. The Ship: An Illustrated History. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1961. A well-illustrated work, useful for its comments on Dutch and English ship types of the period.

Mahan, Alfred Thayer. The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660-1783. New York: Sagamore Press, 1957. Mahan analyzes the Second and Third Anglo-Dutch Wars to develop his thesis about the influence of sea power. Contains some material on Cornelis.

Mets, J. A. Naval Heroes of Holland. New York: Abbey Press, 1902. This laudatory work contains much that one suspects is fiction, but it nevertheless is useful as a counterbalance to other sources available in English, which generally take an English point of view.