Early life
Born in Brielle, Tromp was the oldest son of Harpert Maertensz, a naval officer and captain of the frigate ''Olifantstromp ("Elephant Trunk")''. The surname ''Tromp'' probably derives from the name of the ship; it first appeared in documents in 1607. His mother supplemented the family's income as a washerwoman. At the age of nine, Tromp went to sea with his father, and he was present in a squadron covering the Dutch main fleet fighting the Battle of Gibraltar (1607), Battle of Gibraltar in 1607. In 1610, after his father's discharge because of a navy reorganization, the Tromps were on their way to Guinea on their merchantman when they were attacked by a squadron of seven ships under command of the English pirate Peter Easton. During the fight, Tromp's father was slain by a cannonball. According to legend, the 12-year-old boy rallied the crew of the ship with the cry "Won't you avenge my father's death?" The pirates seized him and sold him on the slave market of Salé. Two years later, Easton was moved by pity and ordered his redemption. Set free, he supported his mother and three sisters by working in a Rotterdam shipyard. Tromp went to sea again at 19, briefly working for the navy, but he was captured again in 1621 after having rejoined the merchant fleet, this time by Barbary corsairs off Tunis. He was kept as a slave until the age of 24 and by then had so impressed the Murad I Bey, Bey of Tunis and the corsair Jack Ward, John Ward with his skills in gunnery and navigation that the latter offered him a position in his fleet. When Tromp refused, the Bey was even more impressed by this show of character and allowed him to leave as a free man. He joined the Dutch navy as a lieutenant in July 1622, entering service with the Admiralty of the Maze based in Rotterdam. On 7 May 1624, he married Dignom Cornelisdochter de Haes, the daughter of a merchant; in the same year he became captain of the ''St. Antonius'', an advice yacht (fast-sailing messenger ship). His first distinction was as Lieutenant-Admiral Piet Hein (Netherlands), Piet Hein's flag captain on the ''Vliegende Groene Draeck'' during the fight with Ostend privateers in 1629 in which Hein was killed. In 1629 and 1630, the year that he was appointed full captain on initiative of stadtholder Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, Frederick Henry himself, Tromp was very successful in fighting the Dunkirkers as a squadron commander, functioning as a commandeur on the ''Vliegende Groene Draeck''. Despite receiving four honorary golden chains, he was not promoted further. The ''Vliegende Groene Draeck'' foundered and new heavy vessels were reserved for the flag officers while Tromp was relegated to the old ''Prins Hendrik''. In 1634, Tromp's first wife died, and he left the naval service in 1634 in disappointment. He became a deacon and married Alijth Jacobsdochter Arckenboudt, the daughter of Brill's wealthy schepen and tax collector, on 12 September 1634.Supreme commander of the confederate fleet
In 1637, Tromp was promoted from captain to Lieutenant-Admiral of Holland and West Frisia in 1637, following the dismissal of Lieutenant-Admiral Philips van Dorp, Vice-Admiral Jasper Liefhebber, and other flag officers due to incompetence. Although formally ranking under the Admiral-General Frederick Henry of Orange, he was the ''de facto'' supreme commander of the Dutch fleet, as the stadtholders never fought at sea. Tromp was mostly occupied with blockading the privateer port of Dunkirk. Both Tromp and Witte de With, who was named as Vice-Admiral, had been born in Den Briel and served as flag captains of Piet Hein. In 1639, during the Eighty Years' War, Dutch struggle for independence from Spain, Tromp defeated a large Spain, Spanish fleet bound for Flanders at the Battle of the Downs, marking the end of Spanish naval power. In a preliminary battle, the action of 18 September 1639, Tromp was the first fleet commander known for the deliberate use of line of battle tactics. His flagship in this period was the ''Aemilia (1632), Aemilia''. In 1643 the subject was the center of a parliamentary investigation of naval intrigue with the Henrietta Maria of France, Queen of England and the Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, Prince of Orange who had allegedly instructed the Vice-Admiral to allow passage of two frigates purchased by English royalists in Dunkirk."Venice: May 1643." ''Calendar of State Papers Relating To English Affairs in the Archives of Venice'', Volume 26, 1642–1643. Ed. Allen B Hinds. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1925. 267–278References
*Roger Hainsworth and Christine Churches, ''The Anglo Dutch Naval Wars 1652-1674'', Sutton Pub Ltd, 1998 *Oliver Warner, ''Great Sea Battles'', Spring Books London, 1973 *R. Prud’homme van Reine, ''Schittering en Schandaal. Dubbelbiografie van Maerten en Cornelis Tromp'', Arbeiderspers, 2001 * JCM Warnsinck, Warnsinck, JCM, ''Twaalf doorluchtige zeehelden'', PN van Kampen & Zoon NV, 1941 * JCM Warnsinck, Warnsinck, JCM, ''Van Vlootvoogden en Zeeslagen'', PN van Kampen & Zoon, 1940External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tromp, Maarten 17th-century Dutch military personnel 1598 births 1653 deaths Admirals of the navy of the Dutch Republic Burials at the Oude Kerk, Delft Dutch military personnel killed in action Dutch naval personnel of the Anglo-Dutch Wars Dutch people of the Eighty Years' War (United Provinces) Naval commanders of the Eighty Years' War People from Brielle