Willem van der Zaan (29 June 1621 – 17 March 1669) was a Dutch

Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

. His name is often given in the 17th century spelling Zaen.

Biography

Willem was born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. He joined the Dutch navy at a young age and had risen to the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

by 1652.''Admirals of the World''
/ref> He took part in the

First Anglo-Dutch War The First Anglo-Dutch War, or simply the First Dutch War, ( nl, Eerste Engelse (zee-)oorlog, "First English (Sea) War"; 1652–1654) was a conflict fought entirely at sea between the navies of the Commonwealth of England and the Dutch Republic, ...

from 1652–1654, fighting in the

Battle of Dungeness The naval Battle of Dungeness took place on 30 November 1652 (10 December in the Gregorian calendar) during the First Anglo-Dutch War near the cape of Dungeness in Kent. Background In September 1652 the government of the Commonwealth of En ...

on the ''Prinses Aemilia'', and on the ''Campen'' (after the previous captain, his brother Joris van der Zaan, had been killed in the

Battle of Portland The naval Battle of Portland, or Three Days' Battle took place during 18–20 February 1653 (28 February – 2 March 1653 (Gregorian calendar)), during the First Anglo-Dutch War, when the fleet of the Commonwealth of England under General at ...

; in the same battle his other brother, Huybrecht van der Zaan, was killed also) in the

Battle of the Gabbard The naval Battle of the Gabbard, also known as the Battle of Gabbard Bank, the Battle of the North Foreland or the Second Battle of Nieuwpoort took place on 2–3 June 1653 (12–13 June 1653 Gregorian calendar). during the First Anglo-Dutch War ...

and the

Battle of Scheveningen The Battle of Scheveningen (also known as the Battle of Ter Heijde) was the final naval battle of the First Anglo-Dutch War. It took place on 31 July 1653 (10 August on the Gregorian calendar), between the fleets of the Commonwealth of England ...

. In 1655 he was made a full captain. In 1656 he commands the ''Zuyderhuys'', having on board his nephew, the son of Huybrecht, Cornelis van der Zaan, later a captain also. In 1657 he participated in an action in the Mediterranean under Vice-Admiral

Michiel de Ruyter Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter (; 24 March 1607 – 29 April 1676) was a Dutch admiral. Widely celebrated and regarded as one of the most skilled admirals in history, De Ruyter is arguably most famous for his achievements with the Dutch N ...

, during which he captured the French warship ''Chasseur'', caught while illegally privateering, causing much embarrassment to the French government that had given secret orders to do so.

Cardinal Mazarin Cardinal Jules Mazarin (, also , , ; 14 July 1602 – 9 March 1661), born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino () or Mazarini, was an Italian cardinal, diplomat and politician who served as the chief minister to the Kings of France Louis XIII and Louis X ...

summoned the Dutch ambassador to ask for excuses, who then lost his temper and left the court in a fury after telling the cardinal, the most powerful man of France, in his face that he was no better than a common pirate. The States-General showed their opinion on this by awarding Van der Zaan a golden honorary chain. In 1658 he fought against Sweden in the

Battle of the Sound The Battle of the Sound was a naval engagement which took place on 8 November 1658 (29 October O.S.) during the Second Northern War, near the Sound or Øresund, just north of the Danish capital, Copenhagen. Sweden had invaded Denmark and an army ...

, again participating in actions in the Baltic in 1659 and 1660, as captain of the ''Huys Tijdverdrijf''. In 1661, as captain of the ''Middelburg'', he is again with De Ruyter in the Mediterranean. When the Dutch fleet is challenged by the Bey of Algiers, Suleiman Basha Reis, to provide a champion for a ship duel, De Ruyter chooses Van der Zaan as such; but the Algerian champion didn't show up. That year Van der Zaan received another golden chain for capturing a corsair liberating 36 Christian slaves; in 1663 a third one having taken a privateer with 21 Christian slaves on board. He participated, as captain of t Geloof'', in Vice-Admiral

's punitive action against the British in West-Africa and America in 1664 and 1665. Late 1664 he was appointed a temporary

Rear-Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarded ...

with the Admiralty of Amsterdam. On return in August 1665 he was given his fourth golden chain, a record. The

Second Anglo-Dutch War The Second Anglo-Dutch War or the Second Dutch War (4 March 1665 – 31 July 1667; nl, Tweede Engelse Oorlog "Second English War") was a conflict between Kingdom of England, England and the Dutch Republic partly for control over the seas a ...

had then already begun and Van der Zaan was made captain of the new ''Gouda'' later in 1665, but he had to give up command for several months because of a depression or "melancholy" as it was then called. In 1666 he recovered and was made captain of the ''Beschermer''. In 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 ...

fighting under

Cornelis Tromp Cornelis Maartenszoon Tromp, ''Count of Sølvesborg'' (3 September 1629 – 29 May 1691) was a Dutch naval officer who served as lieutenant-admiral general in the Dutch Navy, and briefly as a general admiral in the Royal Danish Navy. Tromp ...

he captured the ''Seven Oaks'' on the second day but returned with his prize against general orders, for which he was fined 3000

guilder Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch and German ''gulden'', originally shortened from Middle High German ''guldin pfenninc'' "gold penny". This was the term that became current in the southern and western parts of the Holy Roman Empir ...

s. He fought in the

St James's Day Battle St James' Day Battle (also known as St James' Day Fight, the Battle of the North Foreland and the Battle of Orfordness) took place on 25 July 1666 — St James' day in the Julian calendar then in use in England (4 August 1666 in the Gregoria ...

with

Engel de Ruyter Engel Michielszoon de Ruyter (2 May 1649 – 27 February 1683) was a Dutch vice-admiral. Biography

De Ruyter was born in Vlissingen, the son of lieutenant admiral Michiel de Ruyter and his second wife Cornelia Engels. He began his naval servi ...

, the son of Michiel de Ruyter, as officer on his ship. In 1667 he participated in the

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 ...

, but as part of the covering fleet. On 1 July 1667 he was made a permanent Rear-Admiral. He died during an action against the corsairs of

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 ...

on 17 March 1669 off

Cape Tres Forcas Cape Three Forks, Cape des Trois Fourches, or Cape Tres Forcas is a headland on the Mediterranean coast of northeastern Morocco. Geography The cape is a large mountainous promontory of North Africa into the Mediterranean Sea. For centuries, this ...

, hit in the chest by a one-pound cannonball when boarding the flagship of the Algerian admiral. His death was blamed on insufficient assistance by his subcommanders. He was buried in the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam, where a grave memorial in the form of an

epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

was erected, a work by

Rombout Verhulst Rombout Verhulst (15 January 1624 – buried 27 November 1698) was a Flemish sculptor and draughtsman who spent most of his career in the Dutch Republic. An independent assistant of the Flemish sculptor Artus Quellinus the Elder in the sculpt ...

. Willem married Agatha van der Eyck (1633–1703) in 1654; they had a son, Willem van der Zaan the Younger, who would be a Dutch navy captain. The Rear-Admiral's great-granddaughter, his last surviving descendant the widow Cornelia Agatha van Dam-Gerlings, would in 1798 donate some family heirlooms to the Amsterdam naval training school, among them three of the golden honorary chains, the bullet that killed the admiral, a drawing of the Battle of the Gabbard by

Willem van de Velde the Elder Willem van de Velde the Elder (1610/11 – 13 December 1693) was a Dutch Golden Age seascape painter, who produced many precise drawings of ships and ink paintings of fleets, but later learned to use oil paints like his son. Biography W ...

and a painting of him and his wife by

Abraham van den Tempel Abraham van den Tempel (c.1622 – 8 October 1672) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. Biography He probably learned painting from his father, also a painter, but who died when he was still quite young, in 1636. That is the same year that he mo ...

. Later she would bestow a legacy of 10,000 guilders onto the school with the stipulation that each year the directors would gather with the students below the picture to tell them of Van der Zaan's heroic feats, all present enjoying a glass of wine. This tradition was discontinued when in the 20th century the school's art collection was relocated to the Amsterdam naval museum, the

Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum The National Maritime Museum ( nl, Het Scheepvaartmuseum, ) is a maritime museum in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The museum had 419,060 visitors in 2012. It ranked as 11th most visited museum in the Netherlands in 2013. The museum had 300,00 ...

Naming honors

HNLMS Willem van der Zaan (ML-2) HNLMS ''Willem van der Zaan'' (ML-2/N82/F824/A880) was a minelayer of the Royal Netherlands Navy that was commissioned only days before the start of World War II in September 1939. She served in England, in the Netherlands East Indies, and as a c ...

, a

Royal Netherlands Navy The Royal Netherlands Navy ( nl, Koninklijke Marine, links=no) is the naval force of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. During the 17th century, the navy of the Dutch Republic (1581–1795) was one of the most powerful naval forces in the world an ...

minelayer A minelayer is any warship, submarine or military aircraft deploying explosive mines. Since World War I the term "minelayer" refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines. "Mine planting" was the term for installing controll ...

* HNLMS Willem van der Zaan (F829), a

Karel Doorman-class frigate The ''Karel Doorman''-class frigates are a series of eight multi-purpose vessels built for the Royal Netherlands Navy. Its namesake is Karel Doorman, a Dutch naval officer whose ship was struck by a Japanese torpedo in the battle of the Java Se ...

References

External links

Willem van der Zaan on the Royal Navy Website
(in Dutch) {{DEFAULTSORT:Zaan, Willem van der 1621 births 1669 deaths 17th-century Dutch military personnel Admirals of the navy of the Dutch Republic Burials at the Oude Kerk, Amsterdam Dutch military personnel killed in action Dutch naval personnel of the Anglo-Dutch Wars Dutch people of the Eighty Years' War (United Provinces) Military personnel from Amsterdam