Claus von Bevern

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Cornelius Claus von Bevern (also Cornelis , Claes and van Beveren ) was a Dutch naval officer who distinguished himself as a squadron commodore in the Brandenburg Navy of the Great Elector Friedrich Wilhelm in the last quarter of the 17th century .

In Brandenburg service

North and Baltic Sea 1676–1677

Claus von Bevern was mentioned in March 1676 for the first time as a commander of a frigate in the preparation of a Brandenburg squadron by Benjamin Raule during the Brandenburg-Swedish War . Raule was contractually obliged on February 10, 1676 in Berlin by the elector to provide him with five frigates and six sloops as "dero Rath and Ship Director" on April 1 in Vlissingen or Middelburg . Bevern was evidently appointed squadron commander soon, if not immediately.

After he had recruited sailors for Raule and the Elector in Amsterdam in February 1677 , he led a Brandenburg ship association in the summer of 1677, which successfully blocked Stettin . In August 1677 he was dispatched to the Elbe estuary with three ships, the frigate Chur Prinz (36 cannons), the Einhorn (the Enhorn , 12 cannons, which had recently been taken from the Swedes ) and the Maria (4 cannons), to serve French To hijack ships and also to collect 100,000 Reichstaler debts from the city of Hamburg by raising ships . This undertaking was successful in so far as several ships were hijacked and auctioned in Copenhagen and the city finally paid 125,000 thalers through the mediation of the Dutch States General .

Conquest of the Carolus Secundus 1680

In August 1680, on the order of the Elector, Bevern led a small squadron from Pillau to the western part of the English Channel in order to ambush Spanish ships there for the purpose of capture, because Spain, despite all diplomatic negotiations, gave the Elector on the basis of the subsidy agreement of June 21/1 July 1675 from the time of the Dutch War (1672–79) still owed a subsidy payment of around 1.8 million thalers. Should this not succeed within two weeks, Bevern should sail first to Cádiz and then to the Caribbean and ambush the Spanish silver fleet there . The squadron left Pillau on August 14, 1680 and consisted of six frigates with a total of 160 cannons, 515 mostly Dutch seamen and 180 marines: Friedrich Wilhelm (Captain Claus von Bevern, 43 cannons, 120 seamen, 42 marines), Churprinz ( Kpt. Cornelis Reers, 32/101/40), Dorothea (Kpt. Thomas Aldersen , 32/100/40), Rother Löwe (Kpt. Jean le Sage, 20/70/20), Fuchs (Kpt. Martin Ferdinand Fors, 20/65/20) and Berlin (Kpt. Claes Sibrands, 16/50/20). as well as the Brander Salamander (Captain Marsilius Coch, 2 cannons, 14 men crew) and a supplier. The fire ran aground near Gdansk , lost its main mast, had to be sent back for repairs and only then rejoined the squadron in Helsingør . Denmark , which was also demanding money from Spain, secretly opened its waters to the Brandenburg squadron.

The Margrave of Brandenburg (front right) on a painting from 1684

On September 18, 1680, Bevern came across the Spanish ship Carolus Secundus , anchored off Ostend and loaded with Brabant tips and lines and armed with 28 cannons . He immediately attacked the surprised Spaniards with his flagship , the frigate Friedrich Wilhelm , and had the ship boarded and taken over. Contrary to his orders, Bevern and the two frigates Friedrich Wilhelm and Dorothea escorted his prize with their cargo, which he estimated to be around 1 million thalers, to Pillau and sent his deputy Cornelis Reers with the rest of the squadron to the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico . Bevern and the Carolus Secundus arrived in Pillau on October 18, 1680. Either the prize crew or, according to some reports, Benjamin Raule himself, however, put aside so much of the cargo for their own benefit that their auction only brought around 100,000 thalers to the electoral treasury.

The capture created a lot of diplomatic turmoil, because Brandenburg and Spain were not at war, but since France remained passive on the matter, the elector kept the ship. It was equipped with 50 cannons, 50 marines and 150 seafaring crew and was added to the Brandenburg fleet under the name of Margrave of Brandenburg . It was the first Kurbrandenburg ship to be armed and equipped by the Elector himself and not by Raule.

Pirate voyage in the Gulf of Mexico 1680–1681

Cornelis Reers cruised with the rest of the squadron for four months without much success in the Caribbean and at the end of May 1681 only returned to Pillau with a pinch called San Jose , which was captured in February 1681 and loaded with Madeira , then known as "Kanarisekt", and brandy . Before that, he had probably raised two other small ships, which he sold in Jamaica in late 1680 or early 1681 . According to some reports, the prize squad of one of these two ships disappeared with the proceeds.

Effects

Overall, the material profit of the company did not meet expectations, because it barely covered the costs incurred in equipping and arming the ships. Due to the lack of success and protests from other European powers, Elector Friedrich Wilhelm had the pirate operations stopped soon afterwards. Raule arranged for Bevern to be dismissed from the Brandenburg service in 1680.

Historical rectification

Earlier reports that Bevern himself commanded the pirate voyage in the Caribbean and on his way home in the late summer of 1681 he had the Brandenburg squadron under Thomas Alders on the recently captured Margrave of Brandenburg (ex Carolus Secundus ) near Dunkirk marines and enough seamen to complete his crew given before he himself sailed on to Pillau with his squadron are obviously incorrect. Alders, who at that time only commanded the three frigates Margrave of Brandenburg , Rother Löwe and Fuchs , did not meet the returning Bevern near Dunkirk, but instead met the three smaller ships Prinzess Marie , Eichhorn and Wasserhund to the percussion war in spring 1681 the Spaniards sent Johann Lacher to the English Channel. Alders united the two small squadrons under his command and then sailed further south. On September 30, 1681 he got into a two-hour naval battle with a superior Spanish squadron of 12 galleons near the Cabo de São Vicente . After losing 10 dead and around 30 wounded, he withdrew with his squadron to Lagos , Portugal .

Honor

In August 1938, the German Navy named one of their test boats after Claus von Bevern; see V 190 .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Billerbeck, p. 160.
  2. ↑ Schück, p. 97, fn. 57
  3. ↑ EC Anderson: Naval Wars in the Baltic during the Sailing-Ship Epoch 1522 - 1850 . London 1910
  4. ↑ Brandenburg-Prussia on the west coast of Africa, 1681 to 1721. In: Großer Generalstab (Ed.): War-historical individual writings. First volume, issue 6, Mittler, Berlin, 1885, pp. 102-104.
  5. ↑ Peter Feddersen Stuhr: The history of the sea and colonial power of the great Elector Friedrich Wilhelm of Brandenburg . Hayn, Berlin, 1839, p. 21.
  6. ↑ Comparative considerations on the conduct of war at sea in older, newer and more recent times. In: Richard Fleischer (ed.): German review about the entire national life of the present. Fourth year, third volume, issue 8, May 1880, Janke, Berlin 1880, p. 208.
  7. ↑ Schück, p. 114.
  8. ^ History of the naval battalions
  9. ↑ a b Billerbeck, p. 167.
  10. ↑ a b Gerhard Wiechmann: The Royal Prussian Navy in Latin America 1851 to 1867. In: Sandra Carreras, Günther Maihold (Ed.): Prussia and Latin America: in the field of tension between commerce, power and culture. Lit-Verlag, Münster, 2004, ISBN 3-8258-6306-9 , p. 109.
  11. ↑ Georg Wislicenus : Germany's sea power: otherwise and now. Grunow, Leipzig, 1896, p. 46.
  12. ↑ Gerhard Wiechmann: The Royal Prussian Navy in Latin America 1851 to 1867. In: Sandra Carreras, Günther Maihold (Ed.): Prussia and Latin America: in the field of tension between commerce, power and culture. Lit-Verlag, Münster, 2004, ISBN 3-8258-6306-9 , pp. 108-109.
  13. ^ Kellner & Burnitz: The history of the maritime and colonial power of the great Elector Friedrich Wilhelm of Brandenburg . In: Wilhelm Stricker (Ed.): Germania: Archive for the knowledge of the German element in all countries of the world. Second volume, Brönner, Frankfurt am Main, 1848, p. 161.
  14. ↑ August Heinrich Scherer. Frigates under the Red Eagle. Berlin 1940.
  15. ↑ Georg Wislicenus: Germany's sea power: otherwise and now. Grunow, Leipzig, 1896, pp. 46-47.

Remarks

  1. ↑ The information on armament differs in various sources.
  2. ↑ A later investigation into Raule for embezzlement of the charge revealed nothing.
personal data
SURNAME Bevern, Claus von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bevern, Cornelius Claus von; Bevern, Cornelis Claus von; Beveren, Cornelis van; Beveren, Cornelis Claus van; Beveren, Cornelius Claes van
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch captain and squadron commodore from Brandenburg
DATE OF BIRTH 17th century
DATE OF DEATH 17th century or 18th century