Maarten Tromp

Youth

Three years later they sailed together on a trading vessel having for destination Africa when the English pirate Peter Easton attacked them and the father of Maarten was killed in the confrontation. According to the legend, young the 12 year old boy rejoined the crew of the boat while shouting: " Will thus not avenge not death for my father? ". But the pirates captured it and at the market with the slaves Salé sold it. Two years later however Easton, having pity of the young boy, his repurchase ordered.

Released, he worked in a shipyard of Rotterdam in order to nourish his mother and his three sisters. At 19 years it embarked again, and three years later it is captured this time by the corsairs of Cruelty. It was retained as a slave until the 24 years age. Its aptitudes in navigation and artillery impressed the Bey de Tunis and were worth its release to him.

Military career

It joined the marine Dutchwoman in 1621 as a lieutenant. Its first feat of arms took place under the command of Piet Hein, whereas it was useful as captain on Vliegende Groene Draeck, during the battle which opposed the navy Dutchwoman to the corsairs of Ostend in 1629 during which Hein was killed. Tromp then marked a pause of a few years to the service of the navy, but was promoted with the rank of lieutenant admiral of the fleets of Holland and Western Frise in 1637 after the lieutenant admiral Philips Van Dorp and other officers were dismissed for incompetence. Although officially under the orders of the general admiral Frederic-Henri of Orange-Nassau, it exerted actually the functions of supreme commander of the fleet Dutchwoman, the Stathouder combatant never at sea.

In 1639, within the framework of the War Eighty Year old, Tromp demolishes an important Spanish fleet at the time of the Bataille of the Dunes, thus marking the end of the Spanish maritime power. The September 18th, in a confrontation preceding the battle, Tromp used for the first time the tactics of the Ligne of battle. Its flagship during this period was the Aemilia .

During the First Anglo-Dutch War, Tromp ordered the fleet in the battles of Dungeness, Portland, Gabbard, Scheveningen. During the latter it was killed by a marksman since gréement of William PEN. For not demoralized the remainder of the fleet, its second in command, Egbert Bartholomeusz Kortenaer, did not make lower the standard of Tromp finally to hide its death.

Descent

His/her son, Cornelis Tromp (1629 - 1691), was also admiral of the fleets of the United Provinces and the Denmark

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