Willem Vrugt

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Signature of Willem Vrugt, around 1756

Willem Vrugt (born December 8, 1715 in Diepenheim , † March 4, 1766 in Cape Town ) was a Dutch naval commander of the VOC and harbor master.

VOC coin Deut 1735

Early career

Willem Vrugt (also: Vrucht ) was the son of a Gerrit ter Vrucht and Anna Geertruijdt Witbeeken. At the age of 14 he joined the Dutch East India Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie ; VOC). He was used on July 4, 1732 for all kinds of duties on board and sailed on the ship Susanna to Batavia . On December 2, 1738, he traveled to Ceylon as Constapelsmaat (assistant to the sergeant who was responsible for maintaining the ship's cannons and ammunition) . On February 17, 1739 he served as the third helmsman ( Derde Stuurman ) on the ship Gaasperdam traveling to Batavia . He was promoted to Onderstuurman and served on the warship Herstelder from 1742-1744 , which transported governor van Imhoff . After his return, Vrugt married his first wife Suzanna Duijm on July 26, 1744 in Amsterdam. On January 21, 1745 he was the skipper ( Schipper ) on the Weltevreden to Ceylon, on October 27, 1747 on the Osdorp to Batavia and on January 24, 1749 on the same ship on the return trip from Batavia to Texel . On March 9, 1753 he was captain ( Kapitein ) of the Amstelveen on the way to Batavia.

promotion

After he had brought the Stadwijk safely to Batavia via Cape Town as captain since November 2, 1754 , he was appointed in 1755 by the Governor General of the Dutch East Indies , probably Jacob Mossel as the successor of Gustaaf Willem van Imhoff , after the usual ceremonial in the roadstead off Batavia appointed Commander of the Sea ( Commandeur ter zee ). As fleet commander, Vrugt traveled on October 30, 1755 on board the Stadwijk from Batavia back to Texel and commanded the return fleet, a convoy in which, as was customary at the time, several ships were grouped together, including the 't Huijs te Manpad , Toornvliet , Delft and the Langewijk . On December 28, 1755, the Stadwijk reached Cape Town, and on March 3, 1756 they sailed back to Texel, which was reached on July 26, 1756. Commander Vrugt gave up his position shortly afterwards and initially remained repatriated at home. On December 30, 1757 he sailed again to Bengal as captain of the Osdorp . The last trip under his leadership was from Batavia to Cape Town. This emerges from a letter from the Cape Town Governor and Council dated February 12, 1762 to the Governor General and Council of the Dutch East Indies , which read : “The captain of the current return ship Governor General , Willem Vrugt, will replace Hendrik Taal as the new Equipagemeester in Cape Town appointed ”.

Dutch trading post in Chinsurah in Bengal
Isabella Anita Vrugt, b. Heijning
Willem Nicolaas Vrugt

Life in Cape Town

Vrugt had his first wife Suzanna Duijm (1725–1763) come to South Africa, but she died in 1763. Willem Vrugt remained harbor master and superintendent of Cape Town throughout his life , a coveted post with power over almost all ship movements on the Cape and a stately official residence, which was regularly awarded to a former sea commander. Vrugt's oldest sons from his first marriage, Servaas and Willem, also began a career at sea when they were young. Servaas died on June 10, 1766 and his brother Willem on February 9, 1763.

On January 13, 1765, he married Isabella Anita Heijning (born June 14, 1744 in Amsterdam; † August 6, 1819 there) in Cape Town and died in March of the next year. From the marriage arose the only surviving son, Willem Nicolaas Vrugt (1765-1831), who was baptized on November 17, 1765 in Cape Town to the Reformed Confession .

Vrugts young widowed wife Isabella was the daughter of Maria Magdalena Pasques de Chavonnes (* 1718 Batavia; † 1786 Chinsura) and the Cape-born VOC Onderkoopman and Judicial Council, once head of the VOC Chinsurah factory in Bengal, Daniel Heijningh (1714–1761 ). She was the granddaughter of Nicolaas Heijningh (* 1686 Delft ; † 1759 Cape Town) and must have been a member of a rich and supposedly humanistic family, as the files often mention the release of slaves up to 1787, with Isabella in this Year the journey home to Europe started on board the Straalen . When she was eight, she sent her son ahead in 1774 to ensure him a good education back home. The son Willem Nicolaas Vrugt was from May 1, 1784 lieutenant, from 1792 lieutenant captain at sea with the Admiralty of Amsterdam. From July 5, 1814 to March 25, 1817 he was captain. He married the Sophia Albertina Henriette May (1763-1824) from Kattenburg on January 25, 1788 in Amsterdam and had a daughter, Maria Jacoba Vrugt (1792-1859). Willem Nicolaas Vrugt died in Amsterdam on February 17, 1831.

literature

  • Brujin JR: Commanders of Dutch East India Ships in the Eighteenth Century. Boydell Press, 2011, ISBN 978-1-84383-622-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Entry on openarch.nl
  2. ↑ Period: 1699, 1794: VOC: Opvarenden, Voornaam opvarende: Willem. Retrieved May 15, 2020 (Dutch).
  3. ^ Indonesian archive entry on Arsip Nasional Republic of Indonesia , accessed May 14, 2020
  4. ^ Scan of the page on Willem Vrucht in the original Groetbuch der Stadwijk ; Archive pad of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) inventory number 6317
  5. ↑ elected provincial head, analogous to the rank designation in British colonies, see Superintendent (New Zealand)
  6. ↑ see Brujin JR (2011) page 64
  7. ^ Entry RKD - Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis, The Hague. Retrieved May 26, 2020
  8. ↑ HC v. Leibbrandt (1906): Precis of the Archives of the Cape of Good Hope ; Pp. 534, 538, 549, 551, 579 Online at archive.org
  9. ↑ Entry genealogieonline.nl , accessed on May 26, 2020
personal data
SURNAME Vrugt, Willem
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Vrucht, Willem; ter Vrugt, Willem
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch sea commander and harbor master of Cape Town
DATE OF BIRTH December 8, 1715
PLACE OF BIRTH Diepenheim
DATE OF DEATH March 4, 1766
Place of death Cape Town