Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp (23 April 1598 – 31 July 1653), also known as 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.
Born in Brielle, the son of a ship's captain, Tromp spent much of his childhood at sea, during which time he was twice captured by pirates and sold into slavery. After regaining his freedom, he joined the Dutch navy and served with distinction, rising to the rank of lieutenant admiral in 1637 during the Eighty Years' War. Subsequently at the behest of Stadtholder Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange he accepted the command of the Dutch navy, which had fallen into a deplorable state due to incompetence and neglect. In 1639, through the deliberate use of line of battle tactics, he won a decisive victory over Antonio de Oquendo's Spanish fleet at the Battle of the Downs. The defeat all but marked the end of Spain's power at sea and ushered in an era of Dutch maritime supremacy.
A skirmish between Tromp and English Admiral Robert Blake at Dover in 1652 led to the outbreak of the First Anglo-Dutch War. Temporary control of the English Channel following the Dutch victory at Dungeness was soon lost when Tromp suffered a significant defeat at the Gabbard in the face of superior English firepower. During the final battle of the war at Scheveningen in July 1653, Tromp was fatally wounded by an English sharpshooter. His death, a major blow to both the Dutch navy and the Orangist faction, solidified his public status as a naval hero. He was accorded a state funeral and interred in the Oude Kerk in Delft.
An innovative tactician and a key figure in the rise of the Dutch Republic as a major power, Tromp was widely considered the best Dutch naval commander of his time as well as a folk hero.
Early life Born in Brielle in the Netherlands, 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. He was baptized 3 May 1598 in St. Catherine's Cathedral.Wijn, 1997, p. 37 In 1606, the Tromp family moved to Rotterdam where Tromp's father was appointed by the Admiralty of Rotterdam as captain of the frigate Olifantstromp. His mother supplemented the family's income as a washerwoman. In 1607, at the age of nine, 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. On 25 April, a fierce battle ensued at the Battle of Gibraltar, resulting in a great Dutch victory.Historiek, essayEncyclopedia Britannica, essayBritish Civil Wars Project (BCW), Essay
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, where after the battle his body was thrown overboard by the boarding party. 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 where he ended up serving as a cabin boy. Two years later, Easton was moved by pity and ordered his redemption.Vere, 1955, p. 28Wijn, 1997, p. 39
Set free, Tromp supported his mother and three sisters by working in a Rotterdam shipyard. He 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 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 Tromp refused, the Bey was even more impressed by this show of character and allowed him to leave as a free man in 1622.
Naval career 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. He is widely considered the best Dutch naval commander during most of this time.Konstam, 2011, p. 30 Tromp's former superior, Admiral Piet Pieterszoon Hein, once told a friend that Tromp as a seaman and a commander possessed a sound character that distinguished him from all the captains he had ever known.Vere, 1955, p. 42 Tromp joined the Dutch navy as a lieutenant in July 1622, entering service with the Admiralty of the Maze based in Rotterdam, serving aboard the Bruynvisch. 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, a fast sailing dispatch and escort yacht. His first distinction was as Lieutenant-Admiral Hein's flag captain on the Vliegende Groene Draeck during the fight with Ostend privateers in 1629 in which Hein was killed, after which Tromp returned home with his body.Vere, 1955, p. 43
Eighty Years' War
During the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648), Tromp was appointed as full captain in 1629 at the initiative of stadtholder Frederick Henry himself, where Tromp demonstrated that he 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.Vere, 1955, p. 47 After Tromp's first wife died in 1634, with whom he had three sons left for Tromp to support, he subsequently left the naval service that year 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.
In 1637 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. This occurred following the resignation of Lieutenant-Admiral Philips van Dorp, and the dismissal of Vice-Admiral Jasper Liefhebber, and other flag officers due to incompetence, neglecting the Dutch navy which had fallen into a deplorable state, with several captains resigning their commissions and seeking service with the army.Wijn, 1997, p. 42Mets, 1902, p. 128 With the resignation of van Dorp on 27 October the States of Holland once again asked Tromp to accept the command of the Dutch navy.Hinds (ed.), 1864, v. xxiv, p. 328 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. Tromp insisted on a greater number of ships, which were to be well outfitted with supplies, and well manned. The States gave Tromp their solemn promise that they would grant all his requests. The terms of Tromp’s official appointment from the Stadtholder further strengthened his position. Witte de With, a year younger, very brave but brutal and ill-tempered, was appointed as his vice-admiral. Both were born in Den Briel and served as flag captains under Piet Hein.Journal of Maarten Tromp, C.R. Boxer 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.
With his flagship, the Aemilia, Tromp promptly re-established the neglected blockade of Dunkirk and took steps to hinder the transportation of Spanish troops to Flanders.Jones, 1966, p. 40 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. 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. Now with a reinforced fleet Tromp, in spite of the objection of Charles I, who was on good terms with the Spain,.Israel, 1995, p. 537 attacked on 21 October, during the Battle of the Downs, destroying a large proportion of Oquendo's armada.Stradling, 1979, p. 208 During the Fight in the Channel, a preliminary action to the Downs, Tromp was the first fleet commander known for the deliberate use of line of battle tactics, marking the end of Spanish naval power.Warner, 1963, pp. 38-39, 42Wijn, 1997, p. 46 For his landmark victory Tromp was rewarded by the States-General and knighted by Louis XIII of France, a close Dutch ally in the war against Spain. Shortly thereafter his second wife died. Tromp married again in 1640, to Cornelia van Berckhout.British Civil Wars Project (BCWP), Essay 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 Tromp to allow two of the frigates bought by English royalists in Dunkirk, to be released for their use and command.Hinds (ed.), 1925, v. xxvi, pp. 267-278
During his career, his main rival was Vice-Admiral Witte de With, who also served the Admiralty of Rotterdam (de Maze) from 1637. De With temporarily replaced him as supreme commander for the Battle of Kentish Knock. Tromp's crew would not permit De With, who had a reputation of severity when disciplining a crew, to raise his flag on their ship, and insisted that he use the Prins Willem as his flagship.Clowes, 1897, v. 2, p. 168 Tromp's successor was Lieutenant-Admiral Jacob van Wassenaer Obdam.Gardiner, 1897, v. 1, pp. 133-134
Tromp commanded the Dutch squadron that escorted Queen Henrietta Maria in 1643 when she returned from The Hague to King Charles I. Opposed to her returning to England the Parliamentarian squadron under William Batten threatened to attack the Queen's convoy when it landed at Bridlington but was thwarted by Tromp to withdraw.
First Anglo-Dutch War
In the First Anglo-Dutch War of 1652 to 1653, Tromp commanded the Dutch fleet in the battles of Dover, Dungeness, Portland, the Gabbard and Scheveningen.BCW, 2010, Essay
Prior to the war, Oliver Cromwell and the Rump Parliament had issued an ordinance prohibiting foreign trade and requiring all foreign fleets in the North Sea or the Channel to lower their flag in salute and as a sign of compliance. A Dutch embassy was in London trying to negotiate a lifting of the Navigation Acts, but without much success.Jones, 1966, pp. 48-49