30 Facts About Maarten Tromp

Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp or Maarten van Tromp was an army general and admiral in the Dutch navy during much of the Eighty Years' War and throughout the First Anglo-Dutch War.

Son of a ship's captain, Tromp spent much of his childhood at sea, during which time he was captured by pirates and enslaved by Barbary corsairs.

Maarten Tromp was killed in battle by a sharpshooter from an English ship.

The surname Maarten Tromp probably derives from the name of the ship; it first appeared in documents in 1607.

In 1606, the Maarten Tromp family moved to Rotterdam where Maarten Tromp's father was appointed by the Admiralty of Rotterdam as captain of the frigate Olifantstromp.

Maarten Tromp's mother supplemented the family's income as a washerwoman.

In 1607, at the age of nine, Maarten Tromp went to sea with his father aboard the Olifantsdorp, of the Rotterdam squadron, commanded by Commodore Mooy Lambert, as part of the Dutch fleet of Lieutenant-Admiral Jacob van Heemskerck, with the objective of blockading Dunkirk and the Spanish coast and intercepting the Spanish fleet being sent to drive the Dutch from the East Indies.

Maarten 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.

Maarten Tromp was kept as a slave until the age of 24 and by then had so impressed the Bey of Tunis and the corsair John Ward with his skills in gunnery and navigation that the latter offered him a position in his fleet.

When Maarten Tromp refused, the Bey was even more impressed by this show of character and allowed him to leave as a free man in 1622.

Maarten Tromp was supreme commander of the Dutch fleet during the later part of the Eighty Years' War and throughout the First Anglo-Dutch War.

Maarten Tromp is widely considered the best Dutch naval commander during most of this time.

The Vliegende Groene Draeck foundered and new heavy vessels were reserved for the flag officers while Maarten Tromp was relegated to the old Prins Hendrik.

In 1637 Maarten Tromp re-enlisted in the Dutch navy and was promoted from captain to Lieutenant-Admiral of Holland and West Frisia, under the Stadtholder, Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange.

Maarten Tromp accepted but under the conditions that afforded him greater authority than was allowed for the navy's previous commanders, remembering how badly the fleet had been neglected by them under van Dorp.

Maarten Tromp insisted on a greater number of ships, which were to be well outfitted with supplies, and well manned.

Maarten Tromp was mostly occupied with blockading the privateer port of Dunkirk.

Maarten Tromp out-maneuvered Oquendo's fleet which was bound for Flanders but was forced to retreat to England at the Downs, behind the sandbanks of the Kentish coast, where they remained trapped, while a prolonged debate preceding the Wars of the Three Kingdoms continued in London.

Maarten Tromp was already familiar with the channel from his cruising during 1637 and 1638, and sailed to Calais Roads, blocking the southwestern entrance of Dunkirk, where he resupplied his fleet from Calais with the support of Cardinal Richelieu.

In 1643 the deputy of parliament in Holland made a loud protest in the General Assembly against the Prince of Orange for his orders to Maarten Tromp to allow two of the frigates bought by English royalists in Dunkirk, for his use and command.

When Maarten Tromp failed to lower his flag in salute, Blake, aboard his flagship the James, believing Maarten Tromp had just received orders from a dispatch ketch to commence battle, fired two warning shots, without ball.

The Battle of Dover was begun when Maarten Tromp refused to strike his flag and instead hoisted a red battle flag in defiance, which prompted Blake to fire a third gun, hitting Maarten Tromp's ship and wounding some crew members.

Shortly after the battle a board of commissioners, which included Cromwell, after questioning witnesses, had concluded that Maarten Tromp had deliberately provoked hostilities.

Subsequently, Maarten Tromp decided to return to the Netherland coast, which was a decision that was not at all well received by the Dutch government, resulting in his removal from command, with Admiral de Ruyter taking his place.

Maarten Tromp subsequently hoisted the red battle-flag and advanced on Blake's new flagship, the Triumph.

Maarten Tromp's fleet was organized mostly for melee fighting and were largely crewed with soldiers for that purpose, while the English employed the use of superior firepower.

Maarten Tromp's acting flag captain, Egbert Bartholomeusz Kortenaer, on the Brederode kept up fleet morale by not lowering Tromp's standard, pretending Tromp was still alive.

The loss of Maarten Tromp was a severe blow to the Dutch navy.

Maarten Tromp was held in high esteem in the Dutch navy and with the general public.

Maarten Tromp's death was a severe blow to the Dutch navy but to the Orangists, who sought the defeat of the Commonwealth of England and the restoration of the Stuart monarchy.