Theodorus Frederik van Capellen Vice - admiral Jonkheer Theodorus Frederik van Capellen , GCMWO , KCB ( Nijmegen , 6 September 1762 - Brussels , 15 April 1824 ) was a Dutch naval officer . He was married to Petronella de Lange ( 1779 – 1835 ) . Alexandrine Tinné , female explorer and pioneering photographer , was his granddaughter . Career . Van Capellen entered service in 1781 in the navy of the Dutch Republic . In the Fourth Anglo - Dutch War he distinguished himself in an engagement in 1781 between his ship " Den Briel " and " HMS Crescent " , in such a way that he earned early promotion to captain in 1783 . In 1792 and 1793 he commanded a flotilla of gun boats in the defense of the Hollands Diep . On May 31 , 1793 he received command of the ship of the line " Delft " ( a 56 - gun fourth rate ) . As such he freed 75 Dutch slaves in Algiers during the expedition of rear - admiral Pieter Melvill van Carnbee . After the proclamation of the Batavian Republic in 1795 Van Capellen as an adherent of Stadtholder William V , Prince of Orange resigned his commission . However , after the stadtholder had given permission to former naval officers of the navy of the old Republic to enlist in the navy of the new Republic , he obtained a commission in the Batavian navy . In 1798 he received the command of the new first - rate " Washington " ( 74 ) . As such , he and colleague , Aegidius Van Braam , captain of " Leyden " , were approached by an Orangist agent in the run - up to the Anglo - Russian Expedition to North Holland of 1799 with a request to bring about the defection of the Batavian squadron at the Texel under rear - admiral Samuel Story , whose flag captain Van Capellen then was . Though it is not known with certainty whether Van Braam and Van Capellen really made preparations to foment a mutiny , they did play a leading role in what has become known as the Vlieter Incident . In any case , Van Capellen was sent to British vice - admiral Mitchell as a parlimentaire on the fateful 30 August 1799 , by admiral Story to request a temporary cease - fire . He also played a leading role in the subsequent council of war aboard the Dutch flagship , during which admiral Story was persuaded to surrender his squadron without a fight to the British . Afterward , Van Capellen became a prisoner of war with the other officers and crews of the Batavian squadron until the Peace of Amiens of 1802 . Meanwhile , the government of the Batavian Republic had convened a court - martial to try the officers deemed responsible for the Vlieter debacle . Van Capellen was tried " in absentia " and convicted on January 16 , 1804 ( together with admiral Story and two other officers ) of dereliction of duty , cowardice , and disloyalty ( though not of treason ) . He was cashiered from the navy and sentenced to banishment for life , on pain of death by firing squad . He therefore spent the years 1799 till the re - emergence of the Dutch state , after its annexation to the French Empire in 1813 , in exile in England . In 1814 he was appointed a vice - admiral in the new Royal Netherlands Navy by the " Sovereign Prince " of the United Netherlands , William I of the Netherlands ( who also had played a leading role in the Vlieter Incident in 1799 ) , and on August 21 , 1815 was created a Jonkheer by the then new King of the Netherlands . The new navy sent a squadron to the Barbary Coast in 1816 to suppress the activities of the Barbary pirates . This squadron by itself was not powerful enough to make an impression on the Dey of Algiers . However , when a squadron of the Royal Navy under admiral Edward Pellew , 1st Viscount Exmouth arrived with the same mission , the two squadrons joined forces in the Bombardment of Algiers of August 27 , 1816 . Van Capellen received the Knight Grand Cross of the Military Order of William on September 20 , 1816 . He was made an honorary knight - commander of the Order of the Bath by the British government . Van Capellen retired from the navy in 1818 . He then became the Lord Chamberlain of William II of the Netherlands , who then still was the Crown Prince .