Shortly after embarking on a journey towards the Dutch East Indies with trade goods and a company of soldiers, extreme weather conditions caused Wapen van Rotterdam to lose its masts and rudder and it was forced to take shelter in Ronas Voe for a number of months. A whistleblower in Shetland informed the English authorities of the ship's presence, and in response three Royal Navy men-of-war and a dogger were dispatched to capture the ship. After a short battle, the ship was captured and taken back to England as a prize of war.
An unknown number of up to 300 of the ship's crew were killed in the battle and were buried nearby in Heylor. A modern memorial to the Dutch crew is erected where they are believed to be buried, bearing the inscription "The Hollanders' Graves".
Background
An English language letter dated 24 November 1673, taken from aboard Wapen van Rotterdam, the first part of which explains the situation of the war which the ship may have been unfamiliar with upon their return from Batavia. It gives permission to the ship's crew to "use all hoſtilitie and dammage to French and Engliſh."
To avoid conflict with the English (with whom, due to the Third Anglo-Dutch War, the Dutch were at war), rather than passing through the English Channel, the ship was directed northwards where the plan would be to sail around the north of the British Isles (known as "going north about", which was commonly practised by Dutch East India ships at that time),[5] before heading southwards again.[6] Due to the extreme weather conditions in its journey northwards, the ship lost its masts and rudder,[7][8] and southerly winds prevented the ship from being able to pass through either the Pentland Firth or the Fair Isle Channel, so the ship was (probably with considerable difficulty)[6] taken into Ronas Voe in the north-west of Northmavine, Mainland, Shetland to shelter until the weather improved,[2] and to allow the ship to be repaired.[6] The voe (Shetland dialect for an inlet, firth or fjord)[9] forms a crescent shape around Ronas Hill, which would have allowed the ship to lie sheltered regardless of the direction of the wind.[10] A combination of prevailing southerly winds,[6] and, presumably, a scarcity of suitable wood available in Shetland at that time to replace its masts[11][12][ii] prevented the ship from continuing its journey, and as such it remained in Ronas Voe until March 1674.[14]
During their stay, the crew of the ship would have most likely traded Dutch goods such as Hollands gin and tobacco (and perhaps also goods on the ship originally destined for the Dutch East Indies) with the Shetlanders, in exchange for local foodstuffs available at that time, such as kale,[15]meal and mutton – either fresh or reestit.[6] The Shetlanders probably would have had quite a lot in common with the Dutch.[16] The native language of the local Shetlanders at that time would have been Norn, though English would have been understood and used fluently by most.[17] Many Shetlanders (of both the affluent and Commoners) were also fluent in Dutch, despite never having never left Shetland, due to the amount of trade done by Dutch ships in Shetland's ports.[18]
From 1603, the Kingdoms of England, Ireland and Scotland had all shared the same monarch with the Union of the Crowns, who by 1674 was Charles II. As such, Scotland was actively involved in the Third Anglo-Dutch War, despite not being included in the conflict's name.[19] Shetland, being a part of the Kingdom of Scotland, was therefore at war with the Dutch, however the local Shetland residents of Heylor and adjacent areas in direct contact with the Dutch may not have been aware of the conflict, and would not have considered the visitors as "enemies".[6] A letter must have been sent by someone with an understanding of the political situation (most likely a laird, minister, merchant, or some other member of the gentry in Shetland) to inform the authorities of the Dutch ship's presence,[6] and that it could not proceed due to it losing its masts and rudder.[8] As a result, a total of four Royal Navy ships – HMS Cambridge,[20] captained by Arthur Herbert (later the Earl of Torrington);[21]HMS Newcastle,[22] captained by John Wetwang (later Sir John Wetwang);[23]HMS Crown,[24] captained by Richard Carter;[25] and a dogger (the Dove,[26] captained by Abraham Hyatt[27]) – were ordered to set sail for Shetland and to capture the ship.
Captain Herbert (Cambridge) was the first to receive his orders in a letter sent 21 February[O.S. 11 February]1674 by the Royal Navy's Chief Secretary to the Admiralty Samuel Pepys.[28] He stated the orders were "at the desire of the Royal Highness", and stressed that the orders were to be carried out swiftly, as the Treaty of Westminster concluding the war was expected to be published within eight days, and any subsequent hostilities were to last no longer than twelve days.[28] The Treaty of Westminster had in fact been signed two days prior to this letter being sent, and was ratified in England the day before the letter was sent.[29]
The following day letters were sent to both Captains Wetwang (Newcastle) and Carter (Crown) enclosing the same orders.[30] Pepys also wrote again to Captain Herbert (Cambridge) to convey he had arranged for a pilot knowledgeable of Shetland's coast to be sent to him, as well as to inform him that Crown and Dove would accompany his ship.[31]
On 25 February [O.S. 15 February] Captain Herbert (Cambridge) wrote to Pepys to inform him that neither the pilot nor Dove had yet arrived. Pepys replied on 28 February [O.S. 18 February] to say he had sent instruction to hasten the pilot, and had enquired into Dove's delay.[32]
On 3 March [O.S. 21 February] Captain Taylor stationed at Harwich wrote to Pepys to inform him that Cambridge and Crown had passed by on their way to Shetland.[33] The same day, Pepys replied to a letter from Carter (Crown) to inform him that his five weeks' supply of victuals were enough to support his crew until their return from Shetland.[34]
On 6 March [O.S. 24 February], Dove was wrecked on the coast of Northumberland on the journey northwards, leaving the three remaining ships to continue towards Shetland.[26]
Battle
Bar shot fired during the Battle of Ronas Voe, discovered by Jack Edwardson in Heylor. Held by Shetland Museum & Archives.
The battle is commonly reported to have occurred in February 1674,[1][2][3][6] however the only known extant contemporary report of the battle indicates that it occurred on 14 March[O.S. 4 March]1674.[14] This was one day after Pepys' original twenty day deadline for the completion of his orders sent to Captain Herbert,[28] and 23 days after the signing of the Treaty of Westminster.[29]
Upon their arrival, Cambridge, Newcastle and Crown entered Ronas Voe, where a short, one-sided battle ensued.[6] While a single East Indiaman might have stood a chance, however small, against three much more manoeuvrable men-of-war on open seas, in the confined space of Ronas Voe and most likely still without replacement masts (evidenced by the fact the ship had not left Ronas Voe), Wapen van Rotterdam was completely outmatched.[6]
It is recorded that Newcastle captured Wapen van Rotterdam, and it was taken back to England as a prize of war.[10][4] A contemporary Dutch newspaper reported that while 400 crew were originally on board Wapen van Rotterdam, later only 100 prisoners were being transported by Crown,[14] suggesting up to 300 crew may have been killed, although additional prisoners might have been transported on the other English ships. Those killed in the battle were buried nearby in Heylor.[16] Both Cloet and the army captain survived the battle and were taken back to England with the rest of the surviving crew.[4]
Aftermath
Crown took aboard one hundred Dutch prisoners. When the ship returned to England, it experienced extremely bad weather (in which it was reported that 10 valuable ships between Great Yarmouth and Winterton-on-Sea had to be stranded, some of which were destroyed) and was unable to land before it reached Dover on 29 March[O.S. 19 March]1674.[14] Samuel Pepys wrote to Captain Carter (Crown) on 31 March [O.S. 21 March], telling him "His Majesty and his Royal Highness are well pleased with his account of the good success of the Cambridge and Newcastle."[36] The ships returned to the Downs by 3 April [O.S. 24 March].[10] Pepys wrote to Captain Herbert (Cambridge) on 4 April [O.S. 25 March] and passed on that the Lords had commented, "Long may the civility which you mention of the Dutch to his Majesty's ships continue."[37]
Captain Wetwang directed the Dutch ship to Harwich on 7 April [O.S. 28 March] en route to the River Thames.[4] The remaining Dutch crew were put ashore in Harwich, after which Cloet and the army captain set sail back to the Dutch Republic in a packet boat.[4] Before departing, the Dutch captains valued Wapen van Rotterdam (and presumably also the trade goods on board) at approximately £50,000[4] – equivalent to £9,100,000in 2023. In June the same year, the Lord Privy SealArthur Annesley asked the Principal Commissioners of Prizes and the Lord High Treasurer to award Captain Wetwang £500 – equivalent to £91,000in 2023 – for his capture of the ship and its safe return to the Thames. This prize was to be funded from the sale of the goods aboard the ship, or if the value raised was insufficient to fund this prize, the Privy Seal instructed the Lord High Treasurer "to find out some other proper way for payment thereof, as a free gift."[38]
Letters carried by Wapen van Rotterdam were captured, and still survive in the English admiralty archives. They were partly published in 2014.[39]
Goods put up for sale
On 24 May[O.S. 14 May]1674, many of the goods aboard the ship were put up for sale at the East India House, City of London:
Those goods still remaining on the ship following the sale, along with the sails and cables not offered for sale were catalogued and stored at his Majesties stores in Woolwich Dockyard by 2 July[O.S. 22 June]1674:
Wapen van Rotterdam was renamed HMS Arms of Rotterdam and was refitted as an unarmed hulk. In 1703 Arms of Rotterdam was broken down in Chatham.[45]
The Hollanders' Graves
The Hollanders' Graves
The site where the bodies of those killed in the battle were buried is known as the Hollanders' Knowe, and the site is marked by a small granitecairn with a plaque that reads "The Hollanders' Graves". These are likely to be the first War graves recorded in Shetland.[16]
↑ Shetland supports only a small number of trees as of June2014[update], although since the 1950s the number of trees has gradually increased[13]
↑ The value of the goods listed is the item's maximum sale value, not including advances that were offered to those buying all the goods in a single lot.
1674 (MDCLXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar, the 1674th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 674th year of the 2nd millennium, the 74th year of the 17th century, and the 5th year of the 1670s decade. As of the start of 1674, the Gregorian calendar was 10 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.
The naval Battle of Texel or Battle of Kijkduin took place off the western coast of the island of Texel on 21 August 1673 between the Dutch and the combined English and French fleets. It was the last major battle of the Third Anglo-Dutch War, which was itself part of the Franco-Dutch War (1672–1678), during which Louis XIV of France invaded the Republic and sought to establish control over the Spanish Netherlands. English involvement came about because of the Treaty of Dover, secretly concluded by Charles II of England, and which was highly unpopular with the English Parliament.
The Treaty of Westminster of 1674 was the peace treaty that ended the Third Anglo-Dutch War. Signed by the Dutch Republic and the Kingdom of England, the treaty provided for the return of the colony of New Netherland to England and renewed the Treaty of Breda of 1667. The treaty also provided for a mixed commission for the regulation of commerce, particularly in the East Indies.
The Raid on the Medway, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War in June 1667, was a successful attack conducted by the Dutch navy on English warships laid up in the fleet anchorages off Chatham Dockyard and Gillingham in the county of Kent. At the time, the fortress of Upnor Castle and a barrier chain called the "Gillingham Line" were supposed to protect the English ships.
Royal Charles was an 80-gun first-rate three-decker ship of the line of the English Navy. She was built by Peter Pett and launched at Woolwich Dockyard in 1655, for the navy of the Commonwealth of England. She was originally called Naseby, named in honour of Sir Thomas Fairfax's decisive 1645 victory over the Royalist forces during the English Civil Wars. She was ordered in 1654 as one of a programme of four second rates, intended to carry 60 guns each. However, she was altered during construction to mount a complete battery of guns along the upper deck, and so was reclassed as a first rate.
Events from the year 1674 in England.
HMS Cambridge was a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched in 1666 at Deptford Dockyard.
Newcastle was a 44-gun fourth-rate frigate of the English Royal Navy, originally built for the Commonwealth of England by Phineas Pett the Younger at Ratcliffe, and launched in May 1653. By 1677 her armament had been increased to 54 guns.
The Taunton was a 40-gun fourth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, originally built for the Royal Navy by William Castle at Rotherhithe, and launched in 1654.
Meermin was an 18th-century Dutch cargo ship of the hoeker type, one of many built and owned by the Dutch East India Company. She was laid down in 1759 and fitted out as a slave ship before her maiden voyage in 1761, and her career was cut short by a mutiny of her cargo of Malagasy people. They had been sold to Dutch East India Company officials on Madagascar, to be used as company slaves in its Cape Colony in southern Africa. Half her crew and almost 30 Malagasy lost their lives in the mutiny; the mutineers deliberately allowed the ship to drift aground off Struisbaai, now in South Africa, in March 1766, and she broke up in situ. As of 2013, archaeologists are searching for the Meermin's remains.
Voe is a settlement on the Northmavine peninsula of Mainland, Shetland, Scotland. It is at the head of Ronas Voe and just off the A970 road.
The Commander-in-Chief, North Sea, was senior appointment and an operational command of the British Royal Navy originally based at Great Yarmouth from 1745 to 1802 then at Ramsgate from 1803 until 1815.
Wapen van Rotterdam was a Dutch East India Company East Indiaman that was built in 1666 for the Rotterdam Chamber of the VOC, and was operated from 1667, twice travelling to the Indies, until its capture by the English Royal Navy's frigate HMS Newcastle on 14 March 1674 in the Battle of Ronas Voe.
Ronas Voe is a voe in Northmavine, Shetland. It divides the land between Ronas Hill, Shetland's tallest mountain, and the Tingon peninsula. It is the second largest voe in Shetland, the largest being Sullom Voe. The townships of Heylor, Voe and Swinister are located on its shores, and the township of Assater is under a kilometre away.
Wapen van Holland was a 17th-century merchant ship of the Dutch East India Company.
Brand, John (1809) [1701]. Pinkerton, John (ed.). A brief description of Orkney, Zetland, Pightland Firth, and Caithness, etc (In Pinkerton, John, Ed. A general collection of the best and most interesting voyages and travels). London. pp.767. OCLC1041608289. OL13997155M. Engliſh is the common language among them, yet many of the people ſpeak Norſe, or corrupt Daniſh, eſpecially ſuch as live in the more northern iſles; yea, ſo ordinary is it in ſome places, that it is the firſt language their children ſpeak. Several here alſo ſpeak good Dutch, even ſervants, though they have never been out of the country, becauſe of the many Dutch ſhips which do frequent their ports. And there are ſome who have ſomething of all theſe languages, Engliſh, Dutch and Norſe.
Bruce, R. Stuart (1914). Johnston, Alfred W.; Johnston, Amy (eds.). "Part III – Replies – Naval Engagement, Rønis Vo, Shetland"(PDF). Old-Lore Miscellany of Orkney Shetland Caithness and Sutherland. VII (Old-Lore Series Vol. VIII). London: Viking Society for Northern Research: 101–103 – via Viking Society Web Publications.
Daniell, Francis Henry Blackburne, ed. (1904) [1674]. Charles II: June 1674. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office. pp.291–292. Retrieved 6 April 2019– via British History Online. Privy Seal to the Principal Commissioners of Prizes and the Lord High Treasurer for payment of 500l. to Capt. John Wetwang, commander of the Newcastle, out of the proceeds of sale of the goods out of the Arms of Amsterdam, bound for the East Indies and seized by him near the Shetland Isles and brought safe to the Thames, and, if the said goods do not produce the said sum, the Lord High Treasurer is to find out some other proper way for payment thereof, as a free gift. [S.P. Dom., Car. II. 359, p. 30.]{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
Jack, William (1999) [1794]. Sinclair, Sir John (ed.). "Northmaven". The Statistical Account of Scotland Drawn up from the Communications of the Ministers of the Different Parishes. 12 (27). University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow: Edinburgh: William Creech: 359. OCLC1045293275. Retrieved 4 April 2019– via The Statistical Accounts of Scotland online service.
Pepys, Samuel (1904) [1674]. Tanner, J. R. (ed.). "Admiralty Letters". Publications of the Navy Records Society. A Descriptive Catalogue of The Naval Manuscripts in the Pepysian Library at Magdalene College, Cambridge. 27 (2). The Navy Record Society: 247–285. OCLC848547357. OL24226048M. Retrieved 26 March 2019– via archive.org.
Pepys, Samuel (1923) [1674]. Tanner, J. R. (ed.). "Admiralty Journal". Publications of the Navy Records Society. A Descriptive Catalogue of The Naval Manuscripts in the Pepysian Library at Magdalene College, Cambridge. 57 (4). The Navy Record Society: 30. OCLC827219323. OL14003544M. Retrieved 26 March 2019– via archive.org.
Barshot from the battle between V.O.C. Het Wapen van Rotterdam and the British squadron of HMS Newcastle, Crown, Buck, Cambridge. In Ronas Voe, Dec. 1674. ca. 1673. [Cast iron]. At: Shetland Museum and Archives. SEA 7691.
"Sunderland, Febr. 22"(PDF). The London Gazette. No.864. The Savoy: The Newcomb (published 2 March 1674). 22 February 1674. p.2. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
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