Michiel de Ruyter

Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter (24 March 1607 - 29 April 1676) is the most famous admiral in Dutch history. De Ruyter fought the English in the first three Anglo-Dutch Wars and scored several major victories.

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De Ruyter was born in 1607 in Flushing, son of a beer porter, and became a sailor at the age of 11 in 1618. In 1622 he fought as a musketeer against the Spaniards in the Dutch army under Maurice of Nassau during the relief of Bergen-op-Zoom before once again joining the Dutch merchant fleet, steadily working his way up. In the years between 1623 an 1631, according to English sources he worked in Dublin as an agent for the Vlissingen based merchant house of the Lampsins brothers. Although no Dutch source has any data about his where-abouts in these years, it's a fact that De Ruyter spoke Irish fluently. Occasionally he would travel as supercargo to the Mediterranean or the Barbary Coast. In 1631 he married for the first time to a farmer's daughter named Maayke Velders. The marriage did not last long: late 1631 Maayke died after giving birth to a daughter who followed her mother in death shortly after. It's unknown how De Ruyter ,who during this time still simply referred to himself as 'Michael Adriaensoon' (son of Adriaen) coped with the loss; information about his life during this period is very scarce.

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Admiral: Admiral is a word from the Arabic term Amir-al-bahr (commander of the sea). Crusaders learned the term during their encounters with the Arabs, perhaps as early as the 11th century. The Sicilians and later Genoese took the first two parts of the term and used them as one word, amiral. The French and...

Michiel de Ruyter related Images and Photos (experimental)

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Fil de Joie	Raz de Sein	Vol de Nuit	Bord de Mer