Willem van der Zaan
Encyclopedia
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
Admiral
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...
. His name is often given in the 17th century spelling Zaen.
Willem was born in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
. He joined the Dutch navy at a young age and had risen to the rank of captain
Captain (naval)
Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....
by 1652. He took part in the First Anglo-Dutch War
First Anglo-Dutch War
The First Anglo–Dutch War was the first of the four Anglo–Dutch Wars. It was fought entirely at sea between the navies of the Commonwealth of England and the United Provinces of the Netherlands. Caused by disputes over trade, the war began with English attacks on Dutch merchant shipping, but...
from 1652–1654, fighting in the Battle of Dungeness
Battle of Dungeness
The naval Battle of Dungeness took place on 10 December 1652 during the First Anglo-Dutch War near the cape of Dungeness in Kent.- Background :...
on the Prinses Aemilia, and on the Campen (after the previous captain, his brother Joris van der Zaan, had been killed in the Battle of Portland
Battle of Portland
The naval Battle of Portland, or Three Days' Battle took place during 28 February-2 March 1653 , during the First Anglo-Dutch War, when the fleet of the Commonwealth of England under General at Sea Robert Blake was attacked by a fleet of the Dutch Republic under Lieutenant-Admiral Maarten Tromp...
; in the same battle his other brother, Huybrecht van der Zaan, was killed also) in the Battle of the Gabbard
Battle of the Gabbard
The naval Battle of the Gabbard, also known as the Battle of Gabbard Bank, the Battle of the North Foreland or the second Battle of Nieuwpoort took place on 2–3 June 1653 according to the Old Style of Julian calendar then used in England during the First Anglo-Dutch War near the Gabbard...
and the Battle of Scheveningen
Battle of Scheveningen
The Battle of Scheveningen was the final naval battle of the First Anglo-Dutch War...
. In 1655 he was made a full captain. In 1656 he commands the Zuyderhuys, having on board his nephew, the son of Huybrecht, Cornelis van der Zaan, later a captain also. In 1657 he participated in an action in the Mediterranean under Vice-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter
Michiel de Ruyter
Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter is the most famous and one of the most skilled admirals in Dutch history. De Ruyter is most famous for his role in the Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 17th century. He fought the English and French and scored several major victories against them, the best known probably...
, during which he captured the French warship Chasseur, caught while illegally privateering, causing much embarrassment to the French government that had given secret orders to do so. Cardinal Mazarin summoned the Dutch ambassador to ask for excuses, who then lost his temper and left the court in a fury after telling the good cardinal, the most powerful man of France, in his face that he was no better than a common pirate. The States-General
States-General of the Netherlands
The States-General of the Netherlands is the bicameral legislature of the Netherlands, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The parliament meets in at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The archaic Dutch word "staten" originally related to the feudal classes in which medieval...
showed their opinion on this by awarding Van der Zaan a golden honorary chain. In 1658 he fought against Sweden in the Battle of the Sound
Battle of the Sound
The naval Battle of the Sound took place on 8 November 1658 during the Second Northern War, near the Sound or Oresund, just north of the Danish capital, Copenhagen. Sweden had defeated Denmark and an army under Charles X of Sweden had Copenhagen itself under siege...
, again participating in actions in the Baltic in 1659 and 1660, as captain of the Huys Tijdverdrijf. In 1661, as captain of the Middelburg, he is again with De Ruyter in the Mediterranean. When the Dutch fleet is challenged by the Bey of Algiers, Suleiman Basha Reis, to provide a champion for a ship duel, De Ruyter chooses Van der Zaan as such; but the Algerian champion didn't show up. That year Van der Zaan received another golden chain for capturing a corsair liberating 36 Christian slaves; in 1663 a third one having taken a privateer with 21 Christian slaves on board.
He participated, as captain of t Geloof, in Vice-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter
Michiel de Ruyter
Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter is the most famous and one of the most skilled admirals in Dutch history. De Ruyter is most famous for his role in the Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 17th century. He fought the English and French and scored several major victories against them, the best known probably...
's punitive action against the British in West-Africa and America in 1664 and 1665. Late 1664 he was appointed a temporary Rear-Admiral with the Admiralty of Amsterdam. On return in August 1665 he was given his fourth golden chain, a record. The Second Anglo-Dutch War
Second Anglo-Dutch War
The Second Anglo–Dutch War was part of a series of four Anglo–Dutch Wars fought between the English and the Dutch in the 17th and 18th centuries for control over the seas and trade routes....
had then already begun and Van der Zaan was made captain of the new Gouda later in 1665, but he had to give up command for several months because of a depression or "melancholy" as it was then called. In 1666 he recovered and was made captain of the Beschermer. In the Four Days Battle
Four Days Battle
The Four Days Battle was a naval battle of the Second Anglo–Dutch War. Fought from 1 June to 4 June 1666 in the Julian or Old Style calendar then used in England off the Flemish and English coast, it remains one of the longest naval engagements in history.In June 1665 the English had soundly...
fighting under Cornelis Tromp
Cornelis Tromp
Sir Cornelis Maartenszoon Tromp, 1st Baronet was a Dutch naval officer. He was the son of Lieutenant Admiral Maarten Tromp. He became Lieutenant Admiral General in the Dutch Navy and briefly Admiral General in the Danish Navy...
he captured the Seven Oaks on the second day but returned with his prize against general orders, for which he was fined 3000 guilder
Guilder
Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch gulden — from Old Dutch for 'golden'. The guilder originated as a gold coin but has been a common name for a silver or base metal coin for some centuries...
s. He fought in the St James's Day Battle with Engel de Ruyter
Engel de Ruyter
Engel Michielszoon de Ruyter was a Dutch vice-admiral.-Life:He was the son of lieutenant admiral Michiel de Ruyter and his second wife Cornelia Engels. He began his naval service on board his father's ship on his expeditions in 1664 and 1665...
, the son of Michiel de Ruyter, as officer on his ship. In 1667 he participated in the Raid on the Medway
Raid on the Medway
The Raid on the Medway, sometimes called the Battle of the Medway, Raid on Chatham or the Battle of Chatham, was a successful Dutch attack on the largest English naval ships, laid up in the dockyards of their main naval base Chatham, that took place in June 1667 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War...
, but as part of the covering fleet.
On 1 July 1667 he was made a permanent Rear-Admiral. He died during an action against the corsairs of Algiers
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
on 17 March 1669 off Cape Tres Forcas, hit in the chest by a one-pound cannonball when boarding the flagship of the Algerian admiral. His death was blamed on insufficient assistance by his subcommanders. He was buried in the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam, where a grave memorial in the form of an epitaph
Epitaph
An epitaph is a short text honoring a deceased person, strictly speaking that is inscribed on their tombstone or plaque, but also used figuratively. Some are specified by the dead person beforehand, others chosen by those responsible for the burial...
was erected, a work by Rombout Verhulst
Rombout Verhulst
Rombout Verhulst was a Brabant sculptor.-Life:Rombout Verhulst studied in Mechelen with the sculptors Rombout Verstappen en Frans van Loo ....
.
Willem married Agatha van der Eyck (1633–1703) in 1654; they had a son, Willem van der Zaan the Younger, who would be a Dutch navy captain. The Rear-Admiral's great-granddaughter, his last surviving descendant the widow Cornelia Agatha van Dam-Gerlings, would in 1798 donate some family heirlooms to the Amsterdam naval training school, among them three of the golden honorary chains, the bullet that killed the admiral, a drawing of the Battle of the Gabbard by Willem van de Velde the Elder
Willem van de Velde the Elder
Willem van de Velde the Elder was a Dutch Golden Age seascape painter.-Biographical Outline:Willem van de Velde, known as the Elder, a marine draughtsman and painter, was born in Leiden, the son of a Flemish skipper, Willem Willemsz. van de Velde, and is commonly said to have been bred to the sea...
and a painting of him and his wife by Abraham van den Tempel. Later she would bestow a legacy of 10,000 guilders onto the school with the stipulation that each year the directors would gather with the students below the picture to tell them of Van der Zaan's heroic feats, all present enjoying a glass of wine. This tradition was discontinued when in the 20th century the school's art collection was relocated to the Amsterdam naval museum, the Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum.