Thomas Tobias (Tobiaszoon) (born 1630s? - d. 1681) in Ireland, was an Irish Roman Catholic sea captain of the mid-17th century who served as an officer in both the English Navy and Dutch Confederate Navy before and during the Second and Third Anglo-Dutch Wars. Tobias is first mentioned as being an officer under Admiral

Edward Spragge Sir Edward Spragge (name also written as Spragg or Sprague) (circa 1620 – 21 August 1673) was an Irish-born English admiral of the Royal Navy. He was a fiery, brilliantly accomplished seaman who fought in many great actions after the restoration ...

in the West Indies. Tobias is later mentioned prominently during the

Four Days' Battle The Four Days' Battle, also known as the Four Days' Fight in some English sources and as Vierdaagse Zeeslag in Dutch, was a naval battle of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Fought from 1 June to 4 June 1666 in the Julian or Old Style calendar that ...

of 1666 as leading the action against the 60-gun English "greatship" ''

HMS Swiftsure (1621) HMS ''Swiftsure'' was a 42-gun great ship of the English Royal Navy, built by Andrew Burrell at Deptford and launched in 1621. She was rebuilt in 1654 at Woolwich by Christopher Pett as a 60-gun third rate ship of the line. She was the fl ...

'', taking her as a prize and given subsequent command of her and the prize crew responsible for repairing her and conveying her back to Amsterdam where she was upgraded to 70 guns and renamed the ''Oudshoorn''. Tobias was the "flag captain" of the 80-gun Dutch flagship ''Hollandia'' under

Willem Joseph van Ghent Willem Joseph baron van Ghent tot Drakenburgh (14 May 1626 – 7 June 1672) was a 17th-century Dutch admiral. His surname is also sometimes rendered Gendt or Gent. Early career Van Ghent was baptised on 14 May 1626, in the church of Win ...

from 1666-1667. Tobias is noted for his valour during the Dutch Attack up the Thames River estuary

Raid on the Medway The Raid on the Medway, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War in June 1667, was a successful attack conducted by the Dutch navy on English warships laid up in the fleet anchorages off Chatham Dockyard and Gillingham in the county of Kent. At the ...

in June 1667. During the battle he was aboard Lieutenant-Admiral Baron

's frigate ''Agatha'' and charged with the reduction of the intentionally sunken English warships as an obstacle preventing the Dutch from continuing upriver. Subsequently, he was ordered to lead the attack on the 80-gun English flagship

Royal Charles ''Royal Charles'' was an 80-gun first-rate three-decker ship of the line of the English Navy. She was built by Peter Pett and launched at Woolwich Dockyard in 1655, for the navy of the Commonwealth of England. She was originally called ''Nas ...

. After the ship was taken as a prize, Tobias was charged to take command of the ship and prize crew in order to prepare it for the sea passage to the Netherlands. Tobias was required to further reduce the obstacles of sunken ships to allow the deep draft English capital ship to proceed out of the estuary. He then sailed the ship to Amsterdam where it became a great spectacle. During the Third Anglo-Dutch War, Tobias was captain of the 50-gun Dutch man-o-war ''Beschermer'' (launched 1665). He also served as Admiral Cornelis Tromp's "flag captain" in several actions. His son Jan Thomas Tobiaszoon was also registered as an able seaman aboard Tromp's flagship. (3) Tobias is last mentioned in 1673/4 as the captain of the 58-gun Dutch frigate ''Geloof'' during Admiral DeRuyter's second punitive expedition to the Caribbean and his attack on French Martinique.(2) The ''Geloof'' was noted to have taken several prizes during the expedition. The Dutch historian Dr. Japp R. Bruijn also mentions that Thomas Tobias and Michel DeRuyter were close neighbors and friends. Early in DeRuyter's career he had been a merchant captain often trading in Ireland and was noted to be fluent in Irish. Bruijn estimates that eight percent of seamen serving in the Dutch Navy during the 17th century Anglo-Dutch wars were from the British Isles with a majority of those from Ireland.

References

3. ''The Dutch Navy of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries'' by Jaap R. Bruijn

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tobias, Thomas Sea captains Dutch naval personnel of the Anglo-Dutch Wars 1630s births Year of death unknown