A GREAT DUTCH ADMIRAL

Evening Star, Issue 19273, 11 June 1926, Page 8

A GREAT DUTCH ADMIRAL

Two hundred and fifty years ago on April 29 last there died at Syracuse, after a fierce battle off Agosta, a Dutch admiral. His name was Michiel Adriaousz de Ruyter, and till this very day every man, woman, and child of the Netherlands knows the romantic story of his life. Ho was born from humble parents at Flushing, on the shore of the North Sea. They still show you there a steep church spire, the “ Jacobstoren,” which the boy Michiel climbed to the top, out of sheer dare-devilry. Ho was then an apprentice in a rope walk, where day after day he turned the great wheel you can still admire in the Middleburg Museum. But all through his youth his real longing was for the open seas; and on the ocean he went at Fast. He became one of the trustworthiest captains of the Dutch mercantile marine, and retired from this task at a fairly early age. But there was no rest for him in the life of a homobound citizen. Ho was invited to accept the post of ViceAdmiral of the Dutch fleet, and he did not hesitate. He led the battles against Spain and ■ against Algerian _ pirates, and he was one of the admirals who fought against England in 1666, and again in 1667. In this latter year he sailed for the British coast with the intention of attacking and destroying all English mercantile vessels that had sought protection on the River Thames. This plan failed, but part of De Ruyten’s. fleet sailed up the Medway, attacked and won Fort Sheerness, broke the chains that had meant to hold the enemy back, and destroyed a great many English ships. This caused very nearly a panic in London (you can read or it in ‘ Pepys’), which was still very much under the impression of the Great Fire, by which it had been overtaken only some months before. The result was a quicker peace than had been hoped for. , • De Ruyter lies, buried in the Nieuwe Kerk of Amsterdam, the church where Queen Wilhelmina was crowned ruler of the Netherlands. Over the entrance to his tomb these words _ are hewn: “ In taminatis fulget honoribus 11 (“ In untarnished honor doth he shine”). He was a man of very simple, honest character, who valued his work ,as a servant of the States-General_ above all. In 1907, 300 years after his birth, a set of special De Ruyter stamps was issued, and a new sign of distinction; the “ Do Ruyter medaille,” was inaugurated.—' Observer- 1