Wolfgang William Romer Wolfgang William Romer ( 23 April 1640 – 15 March 1713 ) was a Dutch military engineer , born at The Hague . Early life . He was the third son , in a family of six sons and five daughters , of Mathias Romer of Düsseldorf and Anna Duppengiezeer . Mathias was ambassador to Holland from the Elector Palatine , who stood godfather to Wolfgang at his baptism on 17 May 1640 . Military career . Romer entered the service of William of Orange as a military engineer . In 1688 , Romer was a colonel in the army of Prince William which landed in England in 1688 , during the " Glorious Revolution " . By the end of the year , King James II had fled , and William of Orange was proclaimed King of England in February 1689 . By a royal warrant of 13 May 1690 , Romer was appointed engineer in Ireland at 20 shillings a day , to commence from 1 March 1689 . He took part in the campaigns of 1690 and 1691 , and was employed on the fortifications of Cork , Longford , and Thurles . He remained in Ireland until 1692 , when he was appointed by royal warrant of 7 July , chief engineer of the artillery train fitted out at St . Helen ' s for the expedition against the coast of France . On 26 July he embarked with fourteen thousand troops in transports , and joined the fleet at Portland , when the expedition was abandoned . In 1693 , he was chief engineer of the ordnance train of the expedition to the Mediterranean ; he served under Richard Coote , 1st Earl of Bellomont , and embarked in the fleet under Delaval , Killigrew , and Rooke , to convoy the so - called Smyrna fleet . On 8 May 1694 , he was directed by royal warrant to report on the defences of Guernsey , and to lay out any additional works which were urgent . A plan of Castle Cornet , drawn by Romer when on this duty , is in the British Museum . Career in the Americas . At the beginning of 1697 , Romer was ordered to New York , but objected to go on the proposed salary of 20 shillings a day . The Board of Ordnance recommended that his warrant should be cancelled , and that he should be discharged from the King ' s service . The King was , however , well acquainted with his value , and although the board had suspended him in February , in August the suspension was removed , and Romer accompanied Lord Bellomont , the newly appointed governor , to New York as chief engineer and with pay of 30 shillings a day . Bellamont had so high an opinion of Romer that he was specially allowed to retain his services beyond the term arranged . Romer made a plan of the Hudson River , New York , and the adjoining country . In 1700 , he explored the territories of the Iroquois Confederacy , who were allied with the British , and made a map of his journey among them . From 1701 to 1703 , he was engaged in fortifying Boston Harbour . He built Castle William , mounting one hundred guns , on Castle Island . It was destroyed on 17 March l776 , when the British evacuated Boston . Many years afterwards , a slate slab with a Latin inscription was found among the ruins , giving the dates when the work was commenced and finished , and stating that it was constructed by Romer , " a military architect of the first rank . " Romer constructed defensive posts and forts in the Iroquois territories , and many of them were executed at his own expense , for which he was never reimbursed . He was a member of the Council of New York Province , and his knowledge of the colony , and especially of the Iroquois , was valuable to Lord Bellomont and to his successor Lord Cornbury , who succeeded to the governorship in 1702 . In 1703 , Romer , who was suffering from " a distemper not curable in those parts for want of experienced surgeons " , applied to return to England . The Board of Ordnance instead ordered him to go to Barbados , and it was only on the intervention of the Council of Trade , who represented his services , that on 14 August 1704 he was ordered home as soon as he should be relieved . He remained in America until 1706 . He completed the plans of Castle Island , Boston Bay , which are now in the British Museum . Return Home and Later Life . On his homeward voyage he was captured by the French and carried to St . Malo , where he was liberated on parole . The usual offer of twenty seamen in exchange for a colonel was refused by the French , and Romer returned to England to negotiate for an exchange . The Board of Ordnance suggested that the French might accept the Marquis de Levy , taken in the HMS " Salisbury " , or Chevalier Nangis . In September 1707 Romer visited Düsseldorf , carrying a letter of recommendation from Queen Anne to the Elector Palatine . In 1708 , his exchange having been effected , he was employed in designing defences for Portsmouth , which were submitted to the Board of Ordnance in the following year , and in the construction of Blockhouse Fort at the entrance of Portsmouth Harbour . He continued in charge of the Portsmouth defences , occasionally visiting other fortified towns , such as Harwich , which he reported on in 1710 , and places in Flanders , until his death in 1713 . He was buried at Düsseldorf , where he had some property . His son John Lambertus Romer ( 1680 – 1754 ) followed him into a career as a military engineer , and served in Scotland .