Jan den Haen

Sea battle near Palermo in 1676, in which Jan the Haen fell

Jan Jansz den Haen (* 1630 in Gouda ; † June 2, 1676 in the Bay of Palermo ) was a Dutch vice-admiral.

Jan de Haen was the son of a cutler and was sent by his mother to her brother Cornelis Hola, who was captain of the Admiralty in Amsterdam, to start as a clerk (administrator). He took part in various companies in the First Anglo-Dutch War , including the sea ​​battle at Kentish Knock in 1652 on his uncle's ship Gouda . His uncle was accused of cowardice after this sea battle and fell out of favor, and Den Haen switched to the ship Bommel from Captain Pieter van Brakel. In 1656 he became a lieutenant and commanded the 40 cannon ship Haarlem , with which he operated in the Baltic Sea after the battle in the Öresund under Michiel de Ruyter . In March 1659 he was promoted to captain on a temporary basis, but fell ill in Denmark like most of the crew and was sent back to the Netherlands by De Ruyter with his ship. The subsequent release brought him into financial need, so that he and his family were dependent on care.

In the Second Dutch-English War he was again given command as a captain. In the sea ​​battle at Lowestoft , which was costly for the Dutch , he served under Vice Admiral Cornelis Tromp and was able to conquer the English Charity (a ship of 46 cannons) on his ship Stad en Lande (with 62 cannons) , which was then placed in Dutch service. The prize money made him rich and he bought a house in Gouda on Turfmarkt, which was later known as the Admiral's House. He also received a gold chain. He was given full captaincy and took part in the four-day battle of 1666 on his 66-gun ship the Kalantsooge , which was damaged in battle, and in the 1667 Medway raid , where he was under the command of Willem Joseph van Ghent. 1669 he became Rear Admiral ( Schout-bij-Nacht ) . In the Third Anglo-Dutch War he took part in the sea ​​battle in the Solebay on the Gouda (1672) and after the battle took over the vice-admiral's command from Isaac Sweers (who succeeded Willem Joseph van Ghent, who was killed in the battle). As a supporter of the Orangists , he let himself be hired to indict officers (including Vice Admiral Volckert Schram, Rear Admiral David Vlugh and Captain Jacob Binckes) after the battle of cowardice, but they were acquitted by the court martial. In 1673 he took part in the First Naval Battle of Schooneveld , in which his ship was so badly damaged that he had to change it, and in the Second Naval Battle of Schooneveld under Admiral Lieutenant Cornelis Tromp. Shortly afterwards he was to advance with 16 ships and a few fires take action against English ships on the English coast, but an outbreak of an epidemic on his ships forced him to demolish. Due to his performance in the sea ​​battle off Texel in 1673, in which he had to change ships, he was appointed vice admiral by the council of war as the successor to Sweer who had fallen in the battle. That was later by Wilhelm III. approved.

In 1674 he was involved under Tromp in the struggle against the French to devastate their west coast at various landing companies (Bel-Isle, Noirmoutier, St. Sebastian to the Mediterranean). Since the trip to Barcelona and Cadiz was against De Ruyter's orders (and was not very successful, Tromp went there at the invitation of the Spaniards), they received a sharp reprimand from De Ruyter on their return. In 1676 he served under Michiel de Ruyter on his expedition to support the Spaniards in the Mediterranean against the French and was his vice-admiral. Tensions arose between the two, as can be seen from some of the letters that have been received. It began with Den Haen, which was separated from the main fleet in a storm, went to Naples on its own initiative and against De Ruyter's orders. In the council of war there was a dispute between De Haen and Rear Admiral Pieter Middelandt, who called De Haen a rascal, which De Ruyter had to settle. In the naval battle of Stromboli , Den Haen excelled and in the naval battle of Augusta he commanded the rearguard and was able to avert a defeat after de Ruyter had fallen. De Haen now took over command of the expedition fleet on his 76-gun ship Gouda (and was also temporarily De Ruyter's successor in the high command of the fleet as Luitenant-Admiraal-Generaal). De Haen sent a letter to Wilhelm III. of Orange in which he recommended Cornelis Tromp as the successor to De Ruyter in command of the fleet and as the successor to Tromp as Lieutenant-Admiral. The plans came to nothing when he fell an hour before the end of the fighting in the subsequent naval battle of Palermo , in which the Dutch suffered a heavy defeat, when De Ruyter was hit in the back of the head by a cannonball. The French were able to surprise the Dutch and Spaniards in the Bay of Palermo, where, to De Haen's annoyance, the repair of his ships was delayed by the sluggish and inadequate support of the Viceroy in Naples. The Admiralty wanted to erect a monument to him in the form of a mausoleum, as in De Ruyter's, which the States General prevented, not only because of the defeat at Palermo, but also because he had enemies because of his difficult character. He was buried in the St. Janskerk in Gouda.

literature

• Entry in van der Aa, Biographisch woordenboek der Nederlanden, 1867
• Entry in Blok, Molhuysen, Niew Nederlandsch biografisch woerdenboek, 1914
• Nico Habermehl, Jan den Haen (1630–1676), Goudse zeeheld zonder praalgraf, Tidinge van die Goude 2016, pdf

Web links

• Jan den Haen, DBNL