ster (1674), whose terms permitted Tromp to patrol
the English Channel. When he sailed into the Mediter-
ranean, against orders, he was censured by the Dutch
admiralty.
In 1676, Tromp was made commander in chief
of a joint Dutch-Danish fleet when Denmark went to
war against Sweden. In this fight, he once again distin-
guished himself, winning the battle of Öland (1 June
1676), after which he was made a nobleman of Den-
mark. He also saw action at Götland and at Rügen, both
in 1676, and remained in the service until 1678.
Following the end of the war against Sweden,
Tromp, nearly 60 years old, returned to the Nether-
lands. In 1691, he was given command of the Dutch
fleet to fight the French in the War of the Grand Alli-
ance (1688–97), but before he could take command, he
was struck by illness. On 29 May 1691, he died in Am-
sterdam at the age of 61. While he was, like his father, an
important military officer whose victories outnumbered
his defeats, Cornelis Van Tromp did not oversee any
military reforms or innovations. Nevertheless, he was a
dominant naval commander of his time.
References: Tromp, Kornelis, Admiral, The Life of Corne-
lius Van Tromp, Lieutenant-Admiral of Holland and West-
friesland: Containing Many Remarkable Passages relating
to the War between En gland and Holland. As also the Sea-
Fights, and Other Memorable Actions of this Great Man,
from the Year 1650, to the Time of his Death (London,
1697); Bruce, Anthony, and William Cogar, “Tromp,
Cornelis Maartenszoon,” in An Encyclopedia of Naval His-
tory (New York: Checkmark Books, 1999), 376.
Tromp, Maarten Harpertszoon (1597–1653)
Dutch admiral
Born in Breille, South Holland, on 23 April 1598,
Maarten Tromp was the son of Harpert Maartenszoon, a
captain in the Dutch navy. When he was eight, Maarten
sailed with his father to the East Indies, where, in 1611,
the two were attacked by a British ship and Harpert
Maartenszoon was killed. Maarten was taken prisoner
and held by the British for two years, forced to serve
on their ships as a ship’s boy. He finally escaped and re-
turned to the Netherlands, where he joined the Dutch
navy in 1617, seeing his first military service against
Algerian pirates in the Mediterranean Sea. During the
fighting, he was taken captive by the pirates and held for
a year before being released. He again returned to the
Netherlands, where he rejoined the navy with the rank
of lieutenant.
In 1621, the Netherlands went to war with Spain,
and Tromp was commissioned as a captain in 1624. He
was given command of the flagship of Dutch admiral
Piet Heyn, who was killed in 1629 during a battle with
pirates. Tromp was then sent to continue Heyn’s mis-
sion: to blockade the Spanish privateer sanctuary at Du-
inkerken (modern Dunkirk, on the French coast). He
did so, and his success kept the Spanish privateers inac-
tive for five years. However, the tedious blockade duty
led him to resign his commission in 1634.
Four years later, Tromp was induced to return to
the navy, and he returned to Duinkerken to take up his
command. While there, he clashed with a Spanish fleet
commanded by Admiral Antonio Oquendo at the battle
of the Downs (15 September 1639). Historians Anthony
Bruce and William Cogar write:During a short initial artillery duel, Oquendo’s
flagship, the Santiago, was damaged and, despite
their numerical superiority the Spanish were
forced to retreat toward the English coast. They
anchored off Dover, where they were monitored
by an English squadron under the command of
Sir John Pennington who was under orders to
protect English neutrality. There they carried out
repairs and replenished their supplies. Meanwhile
Tromp, who now blockaded the enemy, delayed
a further attack until reinforcements had arrived
from Holland. Within a month his fleet had ex-
panded to 100 ships. Tromp now outnumbered
the Spanish, and, on October 21, with a favor-
able wind, he decided to attack. His fleet was di-
vided into six squadrons, one of which was used
to keep the English squadron under observation.
The Spanish fleet, still anchored in the Downs,
was taken by surprise. It had not expected the
Dutch to attack with the English in such close
proximity, and was unable to respond effectively
in time. Eleven Dutch fireships found a num-
ber of victims while others were captured or run
aground. However, 13 enemy vessels, including
the Santiago (and Oquendo himself ) managed
to escape. Over 7,000 Spaniards were killed or
wounded and nearly 2,000 captured. In con-
trast, the Dutch lost 500 men and just a single334 TROMP, MAARTEN HARPERTSZOON