The Battle of Camperdown was a major naval action fought on 11 October 1797, between the British North Sea Fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan and a Batavian Navy (Dutch) fleet under Vice-Admiral Jan de Winter. The battle was the most significant action between British and Dutch forces during the French Revolutionary Wars and resulted in a complete victory for the British, who captured eleven Dutch ships without losing any of their own. In 1795, the Dutch Republic had been overrun by the army of the French Republic and had been reorganised into the Batavian Republic, a French client state. In early 1797, after the French Atlantic Fleet had suffered heavy losses in a disastrous winter campaign, the Dutch fleet was ordered to reinforce the French at Brest. The rendezvous never occurred; the continental allies failed to capitalise on the Spithead and Nore mutinies that paralysed the British Channel forces and North Sea fleets during the spring of 1797.
The States of Holland and West Frisia were the representation of the two Estates (standen)to the court of the Count of Holland. After the United Provinces were formed — and there no longer was a count, but only his "lieutenant" — they continued to function as the government of the County of Holland.
Vice-admiral Jonkheer Theodorus Frederik van Capellen, GCMWO, KCB was a Dutch naval officer. He was married to Petronella de Lange (1779–1835). Alexine Tinne, female explorer and pioneering photographer, was his granddaughter.
Johan Arnold Bloys van Treslong was a Dutch naval officer and Patriot. He started his naval career in 1772, serving as a midshipman with the Admiralty of the Maze. He served under the Dutch Republic on the North Sea, in the West Indies and in battle with Barbary pirates in the Mediterranean.
Jacobus Ruurd "Jaap" Bruijn, was one of the best known and respected Dutch maritime historians. He was professor of maritime history at the University of Leiden from 1979 until his retirement in 2003. During his 41-year teaching career as The Netherlands' only university professor of maritime history, he guided the doctoral theses of no fewer than 49 graduate students.
Delft was a Dutch 56-gun fourth-rate ship of the line of the navy of the Dutch Republic and the Batavian Republic.
The Batavian navy was the navy of the Batavian Republic. A continuation of the Staatse vloot of the Dutch Republic, though thoroughly reorganized after the Batavian Revolution of 1795, the navy embarked on several naval construction programs which, at least on paper, made her a serious rival of the Royal Navy during the War of the Second Coalition. However, the Capitulation of Saldanha Bay, the Battle of Camperdown and the Vlieter incident showed that she did not measure up to that expectation. Nevertheless, the organizational reorganizations proved durable, when the Batavian Republic was succeeded by the Kingdom of Holland, and later, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, so that the present-day Royal Netherlands Navy should trace its ancestry through her.
The action of 22 August 1795 was a minor naval engagement during the French Revolutionary Wars between a squadron of four British Royal Navy frigates and two frigates and a cutter from the Batavian Navy. The engagement was fought off the Norwegian coastal island of Eigerøya, then in Danish Norway, the opposing forces engaged in protecting their respective countries' trade routes to the Baltic Sea. War between Britain and the Batavian Republic began, undeclared, in the spring of 1795 after the Admiralty ordered British warships to intercept Batavian shipping following the conquest of the Dutch Republic by the French Republic in January 1795.
Dooitze Eelkes Hinxt was a Dutch navy officer. He was the son of Eelke Tabes Hinxt, a merchant captain from the city of Dokkum. Hinxt died on the ship of war Beschermer, due to the wounds he received during the battle of Camperdown.
The Prins Frederik Willem was a Dutch 68-gun third rate ship of the line of the navy of the Dutch Republic, the Batavian Navy, and the Royal Navy. The order to construct the ship was given by the Admiralty of the Meuse.
The Admiraal Tjerk Hiddes de Vries was a Dutch 68-gun third rate ship of the line of the navy of the Admiralty of Friesland, one of five provincial naval forces of the United Republic of the Netherlands' In 1795, following the French occupation of the Netherlands, this ship was taken over by the Batavian Republic, and in 1797 was captured by the Royal Navy. The order to construct the ship was given by the Admiralty of Friesland. In 1783 the Admiraal Tjerk Hiddes de Vries sailed to the Mediterranean Sea under Captain Van der Beets. When she returned in the Dutch Republic she was laid up in ordinary until 1795.
Vrijheid was a Dutch 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the navy of the Dutch Republic, the Batavian Republic, and the Royal Navy. The order to construct the ship was given by the Admiralty of Amsterdam. The ship was commissioned in 1782.
The Staaten Generaal was a Dutch 74-gun third rate ship of the line which served in the navy of the Dutch Republic and the Batavian Republic. The order to construct the ship was given by the Admiralty of the Meuse. The ship was commissioned in 1786.
The Wassenaar was a Dutch 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the navy of the Dutch Republic and the Batavian Republic, and the Royal Navy. The order to construct the ship was given by the Admiralty of the Meuse. The ship was commissioned in 1781. In 1783/1784, the Wassenaar sailed to Batavia under Captain Gerardus Oorthuis.
The Willem de Eerste was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the navy of the Dutch Republic, the Batavian Republic, and the Royal Netherlands Navy. The order to construct the ship was given by the Admiralty of the Meuse.
Fedde Schurer was a Dutch schoolteacher, journalist, language activist and politician, and one of the most influential poets in the West Frisian language of the 20th century.
Eelco Alta was a Frisian clergyman, theologian, and veterinarian.
Robert Winthrop was a scion of the New England Winthrop family of high colonial civil servants, and a Vice-Admiral of the Blue in the Royal Navy. Among his many feats of arms was taking possession of admiral Samuel Story's squadron of the Batavian Navy after its surrender in the Vlieter Incident.
Beschermer (Protector) was a Dutch 56-gun fourth-rate ship of the line of the Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier. The order to construct the ship was given by the Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier.
Dutch Republic 
Batavian Republic 
Great Britain 
