François van Aerssen
François van Aerssen
Captain of Amsterdam
In office
1696–1709
Schout-bij-nacht of Amsterdam
In office
1709–1713
Vice Admiral of Amsterdam
In office
1713–1740
Personal details
Born14 June 1669
Died19 July 1740
Military service
Allegiance Dutch Republic
RankAdmiral
Battles/wars

François van Aerssen, lord of Chatillon and Bernìeres, Sommelsdijk, Ooltgensplaat and Den Bommel, vrijheer of Spijk (1669 – 1740) was a Dutch naval officer during the 17th and 18th centuries. He took part in the Nine Years' War, the War of the Spanish Succession and Dutch-Algerian War and ended his military career at the rank of Vice Admiral.[1]

Biography

Nine Years' War

During the Nine Years' War Aerssen went to Surinam in 1690 and participated actively in the defence of that colony against the French fleet under Admiral Jean-Baptiste du Casse. When issuing signal flares - he wanted to handle the artillery himself in order to let his troops rest. Not taking the necessary precautions, the gun went off prematurely while loading it, while van Aerssen still had the primer in his hand, as a result of which he was wounded in the face and lost several fingers on both hands. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1690 and to extraordinary captain-ter-sea in 1692. In these capacities, he participated in the naval Battles of Barfleur and La Hougue. Lieutenant-Admiral Gerard Callenburgh regarded him very highly for his merits as a naval officer.[1]

War of the Spanish Succession

After being promoted to ordinary naval captain in 1696, he took part in the campaigns to Cádiz and Vigo in the War of the Spanish Succession in 1702. In 1705 he took part in the capture of Barcelona. The following year, at the head of 700 marines; he contributed to the relief of that city, which was besieged by the French. That same year he was also among the conquerors of Cartagena and the stormers of Alicante. In 1708 he took part in the capture of Minorca.[2] In 1709 he was promoted to Schout-bij-nacht, passing Philip Schrijver and Cornelis Beeckman, both highly meritorious officers, which must be attributed to his family connections. This particular promotion set a lot of bad blood, no matter how much people recognised his merits.[1] The Lieutenant Admiral Cornelis Schrijver, Philip's son, wrote in 1766, that because of this, his father "fell to his grave in a deadly chagrin".[2] In 1710 he joined forces with the British Vice-Admiral John Norris in the Mediterranean Sea against the French, on which occasion he refused to help when the English wanted to violate Genoa's neutrality by seizing eight French merchant ships at the Ajaccio dock. Later, he landed with the English near Sète on the French coast, and attributes the failure of that landing to the cowardice of the British.[1] the English had left their post at the approach of the Duke de Noailles with 4,000 men. Aerssen vehemently complained about this flight, attributing all the misfortune to the incompetence and cowardice of the British troops, while adding, in his letter to the Clerk of the States-General, that if the General de Seyssans had only had two Dutch regiments under him, three provinces of France could easily have been conquered. He urged a new venture, while offering to serve as a volunteer himself. In 1713, Aerssen was promoted to Vice-Admiral.[2]

Dutch-Algerian War

After the War of the Spanish Succession the Dutch Republic became involved in a war against the Regency of Algiers. During his ventures against these Barbary pirates, he experienced the disadvantages of the poor sailing qualities of the Dutch ships very strongly, and then worked hard to improve the Dutch shipbuilding, which whad fallen behind the French and English. Nevertheless, he was very successful several times against pirates and in 1726 he succeeded in making peace with Algiers on reasonable terms. In 1729, commanding a squadron of 12 ships, he joined forces with an English squadron under Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Wager at Spithead to act against Spain, with which England was in dispute. However, this tour came to nothing. After that, he did not perform any significant service.[1]

References

Sources

  • Van der Aa, Abraham Jacob (1852). "François van Aerssen". Biographisch woordenboek der Nederlanden. Deel 1. Eerste en tweede stuk.
  • Blok, P.J.; Molhuysen, P.C. (1914). "Aerssen, François van (2)". Nieuw Nederlandsch biografisch woordenboek. Deel 3.
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