1599

Witte Corneliszoon de With is born on March 29th in Hoogendijk near Den Briel, South-Holland.

1616 – 1619

At the age of 16, De With moved to Rotterdam and joined the VOC, enlisting as a cabin boy. His ship ‘De Gouden Leeuw’ was part of the invasion of Jacatra (now Jakarta). De With fought on the front line and reported: ‘Having helped take the city of Jacarta by force, which was no more than 50 meters from fort Jacarta, and dismantled everything.’ 1Walter Breeman van der Hagen: Het leven en de daden van Witte Cornelisz. de With, 2008, re-translation by Anne Doedens, p. 40 Jacatra, which lay in ruins, was renamed fort Batavia and became the capital of the VOC in Asia. 2http://www.maritiemprogramma.nl/magazine/print/MP_eng_01_print_version_witte.pdf De With, who held the position of Corporal of the siege of Jakarta, remained active in the region where the VOC defended its commercial monopoly in spice trade until 1620.

1620 – 1621

During his years in East India, De With moved upwards in the hierarchy of the VOC. In August 1620, he became the highest vice-officer on board the Gelderland warship, moving from working in trading to the military. In this capacity, he defended Dutch merchants in the Mediterranean and the Strait of Gibraltar against “Turkish” or “barbarian” pirates. 3J.C.M. Warnsinck, Drie 17e eeuwse admiraals. Piet Heyn – Witte de With – Jan Evertsen, 1977, p. 51; Anne Doedens, Witte de With 1599-1658. Wereldwijde strijd op zee in de Gouden Eeuw, 2008, p. 15 Off the coast of Portugal, in 1621, De With participated in the looting of Portuguese and French ships: 470 crates of sugar. De With received a portion of the substantial amount of plundered gold. For two years, De With was also involved in several operations ‘protecting’ the Dutch fishing fleet in the Baltic Sea. 4Anne Doedens, Witte de With 1599-1658. Wereldwijde strijd op zee in de Gouden Eeuw, 2008, p. 15-17

1622

De With becomes captain of the ship De Delft 5A replica of which is currently docked in Delfshaven, Rotterdam, part of the Nassau fleet aimed at breaking Spanish dominance in South America. This would deprive the Spaniards of their colonial income that funded the wars they fought in the Christian world.

1623

The Nassau fleet of 11 ships, travels to Lima, Peru. The route ran along the African west coast, across the Atlantic Ocean, along Cape Horn and again northwards along the west coast of South America. On the way, off the Portuguese coast, De With captured three Portuguese sugar boats coming from Brazil. The officers of the Nassau fleet, to keep mutiny and desertion ‘at bay’, deployed bodily punishments and executions. ‘Keelhauling’ 6Keelhauling is a form of punishment. The sailor was tied to a line that is looped beneath the vessel, thrown over- board on one side of the ship, and dragged under the ship’s keel, either from one side of the ship to the other, or the length of the ship. and other torturous punishments were common, to such a degree that part of De With’s crew preferred to be deserted on a desert island rather than remaining on board his ship. 7J.C.M. Warnsinck, Drie 17e eeuwse admiraals. Piet Heyn – Witte de With – Jan Evertsen, 1977, p. 52

1624

The Nassau fleet reached Lima on May 9th, but was disappointed to hear that the Spanish silver ships had left a few days earlier. The fleet could not moor due to turbulent sea, but that did not prevent De With and the other admirals from attacking any Spanish ship approaching the harbor. The fleet went on to Mexico in August, but due to the absence of profitable collisions with the Spaniards, it was then decided to sail westward towards the Moluccas, an archipelago within Indonesia vital to the VOC for cloves and nutmeg – then commodities worth more than gold. 8Walter Breeman van der Hagen, Het Leven En De Daden Van Witte Cornelisz. De With, re-translated by Anne Doedens, 2008, p. 59-75

1625

After the long crossing of the Southern Pacific, De With arrived on Ternate in the Moluccas on March 5th. He would ‘ravage the region’ on behalf of the VOC. In the words of De With, in his diary:”[then] I helped to defend one of our forts, located close to the enemy fortress Gamu Lamo […]. I helped out there during various attacks on the enemy. At Ambon, I served as captain of two companies ground forces in addition to 3000 other men. I have been on a campaign for 8 to 9 weeks and helped destroy 80,000 to 90,000 clove trees.” 9Walter Breeman van der Hagen, Het Leven En De Daden Van Witte Cornelisz. De With, re-translation by Anne Doedens, 2008, p. 75

1626

De With returned to the Netherlands as vice admiral on September 22nd. De With’s missions in South America and Indonesia accomplished their ‘goal’, namely the weakening of Spanish’s trading position. Financially, however, the expedition brought little resources like Spanish silver back to the Republic. For De With personally, this mission meant that he, for the first time, as a member of the war council, participated in the leadership of a world-wide maritime operation. 10Anne Doedens, Witte de With 1599-1658. Wereldwijde strijd op zee in de Gouden Eeuw, 2008, p. 31-32

1628

In service of the WIC, and headed by General Piet Hein, De With leaves in May to West India with a fleet of 21 ships. They reach the Mexican coast in July the same year, and start their hunt for the Spanish silver fleet. Although his superiors were considering aborting the mission after a long period of waiting around for ‘any action’, De With went on fighting enemy ships. This act of disobedience was rewarded with enormous bounty, thus stimulating the continuation of Piet Hein’s navy’s mission, and resulting in the destruction of a significant number of Spanish ships. In January 1629, the fleet returned victoriously to the Netherlands with treasure amounting to 11.5 million guilders, roughly 120 million euros. 11Anne Doedens, Witte de With 1599-1658. Wereldwijde strijd op zee in de Gouden Eeuw, 2008, p. 37

1629

De With is appointed as head of the fleet that protects the Dutch fishing fleet. This appointment was perceived by De With as offensive in light of the successful expedition in West India, for which fellow commander Piet Hein received all credit and praise. Hein died in June during a battle with pirates, causing De With to lose his main protector. This led him to decide, therefore, to end his maritime career. 12J.C.M. Warnsinck, Drie 17e eeuwse admiraals. Piet Heyn – Witte de With – Jan Evertsen, 1977, p. 53

1630 - 1633

The mayors of Delft, Schiedam, Rotterdam, Den Briel and Enkhuizen - together the College of Great Fisheries - request De With to be commander of the convoy fleet for fishing vessels. De With does not have any financial concerns: he owns an orchard in Brielle, and housing lots and pastures in Nieuwenhoorn and Nieuw-Helvoet.

1635 – 1637

De With is an alderman in Brielle and takes up the position of deacon there in 1637, the same year in which the States-General appointed him as Vice Admiral of Holland. 13Anne Doedens, Witte de With 1599-1658. Wereldwijde strijd op zee in de Gouden Eeuw, 2008, p. 41

1638 - 1647

De With is involved in military operations against the Dunkerque privateers raiding the coast of Flanders and the convoy of commercial ships through the Sont in the Baltic Sea.

1647

In the years following the resignation of Johan Maurits of Nassau from Brazil in 1943, the Portuguese became increasingly dominant in the region, threatening WIC trade. The Dutch were defeated in various battles, and requested reinforcement. In August 1647, De With was officially appointed as commander of a fleet of 12 ships. This 466-cannon fleet sailed to Brazil in December, accompanied by 7 ships of the WIC, and about 30 transport vessels. On board were a total of 1,200 sailors and 6,000 soldiers. De With was subject to orders from the Dutch-Brazil (WIC) government. 14Anne Doedens, Witte de With 1599-1658. Wereldwijde strijd op zee in de Gouden Eeuw, 2008, p. 72

1648

Arriving in Recife on March 18th, the local government refused payment of the soldiers and forbade De With to spoil Portuguese sugar ships. De With sent his men to land for a battle with the Portuguese in the Guararapes Mountains. Although the Dutch troops were numerically stronger, they lost and were further weakened by desertion. De With’s fleet conquered several enemy ships off the Brazilian coast but he was frequently called back to support military missions on the mainland.

1649

Following a second defeat in the Guararapes Mountains, De With realized that the mission was a failure. Without permission from the Council, he leaves for the Netherlands. 15Walter Breeman van der Hagen, Het Leven En De Daden Van Witte Cornelisz. De With, re-translated by Anne Doedens, 2008, p. 175

1650 - 1651

In April, De With arrives back in the Republic. He is briefly imprisoned for his fleets’ ‘desertion’. The claim was that De With “had to be punished with the sword until death followed” and that his goods had to be forfeited. At the beginning of 1951 De With was sentenced for negligence and had to pay the costs for the lawsuit. This slight punishment for the unauthorized departure from Dutch-Brazil probably has to do with the lack of clarity about whether De With was authorized to place the importance of its fleet above the Council’s orders. This sentence almost fully rehabilitated De With. After a short period of rest, he took up his work again as a convoy of merchant ships in the North Sea. 16Anne Doedens, Witte de With 1599-1658. Wereldwijde strijd op zee in de Gouden Eeuw, 2008, p.85- 88

1652 - 1654

De With participates with varying degrees of success in almost every battle that is fought during the First Anglo-Dutch War. After the death of Lieutenant Admiral Tromp, De With is not appointed as his successor due to his ‘difficult character’ and ‘tumultuous career’.

1655 - 1658

De With leads numerous military missions as replacement commander in the North Sea and during the Nordic Wars in the Baltic Sea.

1658

On November 8th, a naval battle takes place in the Sont between the Swedish war fleet and the Dutch warship ‘De Brederode’ under the command of De With. During entering a Swedish ship, De With is hit by a bullet in the left femur. A second bullet hits him in the back. The Swedes overmine his ship and bring De With to them on board where he died. The battle was eventually won by the Dutch. The Swedish King Charles X Gustav had De With’s body embalmed and respectfully displayed in the council house of Helsingor. De With is finally buried in the Sint-Laurenskerk in Rotterdam on October 7th, 1659. 17J.C.M. Warnsinck, Drie 17e eeuwse admiraals. Piet Heyn – Witte de With – Jan Evertsen, 1977, p. 92-93