''Delft'' was a Dutch 56-gun

fourth-rate In 1603 all English warships with a compliment of fewer than 160 men were known as 'small ships'. In 1625/26 to establish pay rates for officers a six tier naval ship rating system was introduced.Winfield 2009 These small ships were divided i ...

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...

of the navy of the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...

and the

Batavian Republic The Batavian Republic ( nl, Bataafse Republiek; french: République Batave) was the successor state to the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on 19 January 1795 and ended on 5 June 1806, with the accession of Louis Bona ...

. The order to construct the ship was given on 27 May 1782 by the Admiralty of the Meuse. ''Delft'' was commissioned on 16 May 1783 by the United Netherlands Navy. On 24 December 1787 ''Delft'' set sail on a mission against the

Barbary pirates The Barbary pirates, or Barbary corsairs or Ottoman corsairs, were Muslim pirates and privateers who operated from North Africa, based primarily in the ports of Salé, Rabat, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli, Libya, Tripoli. This area was known i ...

and protected Dutch traders in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

. For the ship's second mission starting 31 May 1793

Theodorus Frederik van Capellen Vice-admiral Jonkheer Theodorus Frederik van Capellen, GCMWO, KCB (Nijmegen, 6 September 1762 – Brussels, 15 April 1824) was a Dutch naval officer. He was married to Petronella de Lange (1779–1835).Frederiks Alexine Tinne, female explor ...

became the new commanding officer. During this mission he freed 75 Dutch

slaves Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

from

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

. In 1795 the French conquered the Dutch Republic and the new Batavian Republic was founded. The French initially disarmed ''Delft'' because they feared that Orangist rebels would use her, but later the Dutch reactivated her to participate in the war with Britain.

Gerrit Verdooren van Asperen Gerrit Verdooren van Asperen (9 February 1757 – 30 October 1824) was a Dutch naval officer. He became a vice admiral. He was born in Bergen op Zoom on 9 February 1757. Verdooren van Asperen joined the Batavian Navy in 1795, and was the comm ...

became her captain. On 11 October 1797 ''Delft'' took part in the

Battle of Camperdown The Battle of Camperdown (known in Dutch as the ''Zeeslag bij Kamperduin'') was a major naval action fought on 11 October 1797, between the British North Sea Fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan and a Batavian Navy (Dutch) fleet under Vice-Admiral ...

. After heavy fighting she struck to the British; she sank off

Scheveningen Scheveningen is one of the eight districts of The Hague, Netherlands, as well as a subdistrict (''wijk'') of that city. Scheveningen is a modern seaside resort with a long, sandy beach, an esplanade, a pier, and a lighthouse. The beach is po ...

four days later while being towed to Britain. During the battle the British captured the Dutch under Captain G.J. van Rijsoort. They renamed her HMS ''Delft'', in honour of the brave resistance ''Delft'' had made in the battle.J.F. Fischer Fzn. ''De Delft: De dagjournalen met de complete en authentieke geschiedenis van 's Lands schip van oorlog Delft en de waarheid over de zeeslag bij Camperduin'' (Franeker: Van Wijnen, 1997), 394. Since 2001 till 2018 work had been under way in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

to build a

replica A 1:1 replica is an exact copy of an object, made out of the same raw materials, whether a molecule, a work of art, or a commercial product. The term is also used for copies that closely resemble the original, without claiming to be identical. Al ...

of ''Delft'' at Historical Shipyard 'de Delft' ( nl, Historische Scheepswerf 'de Delft') in

Delfshaven Delfshaven is a borough of Rotterdam, Netherlands, on the right bank of river Nieuwe Maas. It was a separate municipality until 1886. The town of Delfshaven grew around the port of the city of Delft. Delft itself was not located on a major river ...

, near to the place where the original ship was built.

Citations

External links

Ships of the line of the Dutch Republic Ships of the line of the Batavian Republic Ships built in the Netherlands 1783 ships Maritime incidents in 1797 Shipwrecks in the North Sea Replica ships {{Netherlands-hist-stub