- Egbert Bartholomeusz Kortenaer
Egbert Bartholomeuszoon Kortenaer or Egbert Meussen Cortenaer (
1604 -13 June 1665 ) was anadmiral of the United Provinces of the Netherlands. His second name is also given as "Bartolomeuszoon" or "Meeuwiszoon". All of these are variations on thepatronym "Son of Bartholomew".Kortenaer was born in 1604 in Groningen of humble origins. In 1626 he was made
boatswain , in 1636 second mate. In theFirst Anglo-Dutch War he served as first mate in 1652 on the Dutch flagship, "Brederode". In theBattle of Dungeness he lost his right hand and eye. On10 April 1653 he was madecommandeur to replaceflag captain Abel Roelants when Lieutenant-AdmiralMaarten Tromp used "Brederode" as his flagship. In theBattle of Scheveningen Tromp was killed. Kortenaer kept Tromp's standard raised to keep up morale (this was habitual for the Dutch on such occasions) and took command of his squadron. On21 October 1653 Kortenaer was promoted to captain. In the years after the war he often commanded squadrons as commodore when flag officers were absent.In the
Battle of the Sound (8 November 1658 ), serving as flag captain on "Eendragt", he beat off every Swedish attack while his commanding officer Lieutenant-AdmiralJacob van Wassenaer Obdam was debilitated bygout . After this heroic conduct against the Swedish, Kortenaer was promoted to Vice-Admiral on8 May 1659 and knighted byFrederick III of Denmark in theOrder of the Elephant . On29 January 1665 , shortly before theSecond Anglo-Dutch War , he was made Lieutenant-Admiral of the Admiralty of the Maas. He wasn't given command of the confederate Dutch fleet because he was a supporter of the House of Orange. A British intelligence report stated: "He is the best man they have".During the
Battle of Lowestoft on13 June 1665 Kortenaer commanded the van and was second in overall command behind Van Wassenaer. He was fatally wounded early in the battle on "Groot Hollandia" by acannonball hitting his hip and buried inRotterdam in a marble grave memorial engraved by a poem of Gerard Brandt::"The Hero of the Maas, bereft of eye"::"and his right hand":"Yet of the Wheel the Eye, Fist of"::"the Fatherland":"KORTENAER the Great, the terror"::"of foe's fleets":"the forcer of the Sound by this grave"::"his country greets"
HNLMS Kortenaer
Several ships of the Dutch navy have been named "Kortenaer" after the admiral,
* A late-19th Century
Coastal defence ship
* TheWorld War II destroyer HNLMS "Kortenaer".
* An ex-British S Class destroyer formerly HMS Scorpion transferred in 1945
* The lead ship of theKortenaer class frigate s
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