Cornelis Evertsen the youngest

Cornelis Evertsen ( the youngest , also called Keesje de Duivel ) (born November 16, 1642 , † November 16, 1706 ) was a Dutch privateer and admiral . In 1673 he conquered Sint Eustatius and temporarily New York . In the naval battle of Beachy Head in 1690, he commanded the vanguard of the allied English and Dutch fleets and saved the joint fleet from destruction through a skilful nautical maneuver.

Cornelis Evertsen (painting by Nicolaes Maes from 1680)

family

He came from a well-known family of seafarers. A number of warships of the Dutch Navy have been named after the family since the 19th century . He was the son of Admiral Cornelis Evertsen the elder and nephew of Admiral Jan Evertsen . To distinguish himself from his father and his cousin of the same name ("the younger"), he was called the "youngest". Possibly already as a child he was nicknamed Keesje de Duivel (Cornelius the Devil) because of his impetus. He never married himself.

Life

Ascent

He went to sea at the age of ten and initially served under his father. Three years later he was officially included in the list of the Zealand Navy. In 1661 he served as a second officer on his father's flagship, the Vlissingen .

He commanded a first ship in 1665 during the Anglo-Dutch War . It was the Eendracht with 32 cannons. He drove as a privateer. This ship and another Dutch ship were involved in a battle with three English warships in February. Evertsen was captured, but released again on the orders of Charles II .

In the sea ​​battle at Lowestoft in 1665 he was flag captain . In June 1666 he became the commander of his father Walcheren's flagship . In the four-day battle he witnessed the death of his father. In the same year he took part in the Battle of St. James Day and in 1667 in the raid on the Medway under Michiel de Ruyter .

Before the third Anglo-Dutch War officially began , he defended a convoy to Smyrna against a British fleet. In the naval battle of Solebay in 1672 he commanded the Swaenenburgh . Evertsen was an early supporter and confidante of Wilhelm III. of Orange . When he became governor of the United Provinces in 1672, Evertsen began to rise to the higher ranks

Journey of 1672/73

On behalf of the Dutch West India Company , he took command of a privateer fleet. This consisted of six ships. The flagship was the Swaenenburgh with 44 cannons and a crew of 186. The fleet crossed the Atlantic and arrived in Suriname in March 1673 . Together with a fleet under Jacob Binckes , he went to the Caribbean and captured the island of Sint Eustatius in June 1673. The fleet continued to the North American coast. He destroyed or hijacked numerous tobacco-laden merchant ships off Virginia . After encountering resistance from the Royal Navy , he sailed north and anchored off Staten Island on August 7th . Together with the prizes , Evertsen now commanded 27 ships with a crew of 1,600.

Evertsen demanded the transfer of the city of New York as Dutch property. From Dutch residents he learned about the positions of the English in the city. On August 8, the Evertsen fleet fought an artillery battle with the town's fort. A landing force managed to surrender the fortress without a fight. The English were granted free travel and Evertsen restored Dutch rule in the area. Then Evertsen and Binckes drove back across the Atlantic and hijacked other ships on the way. When they arrived in neutral Cádiz in December 1673 , they had captured a total of 34 English and French prizes and sunk 150 other ships. However, the deeds came at an inopportune time for the Dutch government, as it was negotiating a peace with England. In the Peace of Westminster , the Dutch gave New York back to the British.

admiral

In 1675 Evertsen was appointed Rear Admiral of Zeeland , but took no active part in the war. After the peace agreement with France in 1679 he was appointed Vice Admiral and in 1684 Lieutenant Admiral. Since 1688 Evertsen was the chief admiral of Zeeland (Luitnant-Admiraal).

In the fall of that year, he commanded the fleet that Wilhelm III together with Arthur Herbert, 1st Earl of Torrington , in the course of the Glorious Revolution . and brought Mary II to England. In 1690, during the War of the Great Alliance against France , he commanded the vanguard of the allied English and Dutch fleets in the Battle of Beachy Head . It was the first time that a Zeeland admiral led the entire Dutch fleet. Both fleets together were weaker than the French fleet under Anne Hilarion de Costentin de Tourville . The allies were under the command of Lord Torrington. This proved to be not very competent in the battle and hardly intervened with the main power. Therefore, the French could concentrate on the Dutch vanguard and the English rearguard. Therefore, the vanguard under Evertsen, which got involved in hand-to-hand combat, suffered heavy losses. In order to save the fleet, when there was no wind, he took advantage of the ebb tide for a skillful nautical maneuver, which the English also took part. He suddenly dropped anchor with full sails and the French were carried away by the ebb current.

After the battle, the Dutch made heavy accusations against Torrington because of the lack of support from the English main body of the fleet. Torrington had to go to the Tower first , then justify himself to the council of war. Although acquitted, he was never again commanded. The British even tried to chalk Evertsen's share in the defeat.

Due to political constellations, Luitnant-Admiraal-Generaal Cornelis Tromp was to give command again after a long time. In addition, in the province of Holland, which had three of the five Dutch admirals, they did not want to give command to a Zeeland country. Therefore Evertsen received no command for 1691.

literature

• David Marley: Pirates of the Americas . Santa Barbara, 2010 ISBN 978-1-59884-201-2 pp. 132-134
• Appletons' Cyclopedia of American Biography. Vol. II. P. 391 New York, 1887
• AL van Schelven: Philips van Almonde. Admiraal in de gecombineerde vloot 1644-1711 . Amsterdam 1948
• JCM Warnsinck: De vloot van den Koning-Stadhouder 1689-1690 . Amsterdam 1934
• C. de Waard (Ed.): De Zeeuwsche expeditie naar de West onder Cornelis Evertsen den Jonge 1672-1674 . 's-Gravenhage 1928. Digitized on Geheugen van Nederland . Source edition for the expedition to the West Indies 1672–1674 with the biography of Cornelis Evertsen the youngest and the Evertsen family.

Web links

• Biography on ageofsail (Engl.)
• Short biography on the Koninklijken Marine homepage (nl.)
• Biographical Portaal van Nederland