NICCLAESZ, JAN [SSNE 7897]
Text source
John Nicholson, 30 years old, was one of at least four Scottish sailors on the Orangieboom, a Dutch fire-ship commanded by Dirck Jansz Stroo, which participated in the First Anglo-Dutch War (1652-1654).
Between 12-13 June 1653, the Orangieboom was sailing in Admiral Maarten Tromp's squadron somewhere near Dunkirk when it was attacked and sunk in a fight with some English ships. In the engagement, Tromp's ship was hit and had to pull away, and while most of the ships in Tromp's squadron followed him, two ships, the Orangieboom and the Sutpheen of Amsterdam, fell behind. The Orangieboom, evidently badly damaged, had taken on a substantial amount of water, rendering it useless in its capacity as a fire-ship. As the ship sank, Nicholson and the other Scots (Robert Callwine [SSNE 7894], Jacob Houter [SSNE 7896] and John Hendrickson [SSNE 7898]) managed to quickly escape the ship before being picked up by the Sutpheen.
Sources: Rotterdam Notarial Archive
http://www.stadsarchief.rotterdam.nl/archieven?mivast=184&mizig=365&miadt=184&milang=en&miview=ldt
GRONA, (Jacob Duyfhuysen jr), 213/221/415-417. Statement, 20 June 1653.
This entry created by Mr Jack Abernethy.
Service record
- THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, DIRCK JANSZ STROO
- Arrived 1653-06-12
- Departed 1653-06-13
- Capacity SAILOR, purpose NAVAL
- THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, ROTTERDAM
- Arrived 1653-06-20
- Capacity SAILOR, purpose NAVAL