Maarten Tromp
Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp (born April 23, 1598 in Den Briel , † August 10, 1653 , died in the sea battle near Scheveningen ) was an important admiral of the Netherlands .
Childhood and youth
Born the son of an officer and a laundress , Tromp went to sea with his father at the age of nine to take part in the Battle of Gibraltar , in which the Spanish fleet was defeated. At the age of 12 he was on a merchant ship that was seized by the English pirate Peter Easton on the way to Africa . His father was killed in the process, and legend has it that Maarten Tromp rallied the crew by exclaiming, “Don't you want to avenge my father's death?” But the pirates sold him at a slave market in Salé . Two years later, out of pity, Easton arranged for it to be bought back. Now released, Tromp worked at a Rotterdam shipyard to support his mother and three sisters.
At the age of 19 he went to sea again and was captured again three years later by pirates, this time barbares . As a slave imprisoned until he was 25, he was so impressed as a shooter and navigator that the Bey of Tunis was released.
In the Navy
In 1621 he joined the Dutch Navy with the rank of lieutenant . For Piet Pieterszoon Heyn he was the flag officer on the Vlieghende Groene Draeck . Heyn fell in the fight against pirates from Dunkirk . Tromp left the navy for a few years, but was made lieutenant admiral of Holland and West Friesland in 1637 . Formally he was subordinate to Admiral Friedrich Heinrich von Orange , but was practically Commander-in-Chief of the Dutch Navy, since the governors did not go with the fleet. The main concern for Tromp at the time was the blockade of the buccaneer port of Dunkirk.
In September and October 1639 - during the Eighty Years 'War , the Netherlands ' struggle for freedom from the Spanish crown - Tromp's fleet defeated the Spanish under Antonio de Oquendo , who was on their way to Flanders , in the sea battle at the Downs . He used a tactic for the first time to let his ships pass the enemy in a line. From this tactic later the ship of the line arose , it was still used successfully until the First World War (see Skagerrakschlacht ). In August 1646 he and a few ships blocked Fort Madyck near Dunkirk, which was besieged by the French .
In the First Anglo-Dutch Sea War 1652 - 1653 , Tromp commanded the Dutch navy on his flagship Brederode in the sea battle at Dungeness (Dutch: Slag bij de Singels), the sea battle at Portland (ndl .: Driedaagse Zeeslag), the sea battle at Gabbard (ndl .: Zeeslag bij Nieuwpoort ) and the sea battle near Scheveningen (ndl .: Slag bij Ter Heijde). In the final battle, he was fatally hit by an English sniper.
Maarten Tromp was so popular with seafarers that they gave him the nickname “Bestevaêr” = grandfather. This Central Dutch word is still used today as an honorary title for an old, particularly proven captain or admiral.
family
He was married several times. Initially since April 24, 1624 with Dina Cornelisdr. de Haes (1599-1633). The couple had the following children:
- Harper Maartensz. (1627)
- Cornelis (September 9, 1629 - May 29, 1691), Admiral
Then he married on September 12, 1634 Alyda Arckenbout (* May 3, 1602; †?). The couple had one child:
- Alida (January 16, 1637 - March 12, 1701) Johan Kievit.
His third wife was Cornelia Teding van Berkhout (* October 5, 1614, † October 12, 1680). The couple had the following children:
- Margaretha Maartensdr (1641)
- Adriaen Maartensz (1642/1643)
- Johanna Maria Maartensdr (1644)
- Dyna Cornelia Maartensdr (* October 8, 1650; †?)
- Maerten Maertensz (* July 3, 1652; †?)
- Maerten Herpertsz (December 31, 1653 - September 14, 1682)
literature
- [L. van den Bosch]: Leven en bedryf van den vermaarden zeeheld Cornelis Tromp…; Ondermengd met de voornaamste daaden van other zeehoofden, en voornaamentlijk met die van Marten Harpertsz Tromp. Amsterdam 1692
- "Aanteekeningen en mededeelingen concerning het geslacht Van der Tromp of Tromp", in: Rotterdamsche Historiebladen, Vol. II, pp. 54-88. Rotterdam 1871
- F. Graefe: De kapiteinsjaren van Maerten Harpertszoon Tromp. Amsterdam 1938
- MG de Boer: Tromp en de Armada van 1639. Amsterdam 1941
- MG de Boer: Het proefjaar van Maarten Harpertsz. Tromp 1637-1639. Amsterdam 1946
- CR Boxer: "MH Tromp, 1598-1653", in Mariners Mirror 40 (1954) 1, pp. 33-54
- CJM Bakker: Inventory of the trumpet archive. The Hague 1982
- A. Doedens, L. Mulder: Tromp. Het verhaal van een zeeheld. Baarn 1989
- LLM Eekhout: Het admiralenboek. De vlagofficieren van de Nederlandse marine 1382–1991. Amsterdam 1992
- JJA Wijn: "Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp, father of naval tactics (1598–1653)", in: J. Sweetman: The great admirals, Command at sea 1587–1945. Amsterdam 1997, pp. 36-57
- Ronald Prud'homme van Reine: Schittering en schandaal. Biography van Maerten en Cornelis Tromp. Amsterdam 2001
- Pieter Lodewijk Muller : Tromp, Martin Harpertszoon . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 38, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1894, pp. 644-649.
Maarten Tromp is a traditional name in the Dutch Navy:
- Ship of the line (1777)
- Gunnery shell (1803)
- Ship of the line (1808)
- Ship of the line (1830)
- Screw steamship (1877)
- Ironclad (1904), Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp
- Torpedo cruiser (1937), named Tromp after father and son
- Frigate (1975), named Tromp after father and son, namesake of the Tromp class
- Frigate (2003), named Tromp after father and son
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Tromp, Maarten |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Tromp, Maarten Harpertszoon (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch admiral |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 23, 1598 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | The Briel |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 10, 1653 |
| Place of death | fallen in the sea battle off Scheveningen |