Cornelis Evertsen the Elder Cornelis Evertsen the Elder ( 4 August 1610 – 11 June 1666 ) was a Dutch admiral . Cornelis Evertsen the Elder was the son of Johan Evertsen and Maayken Jans ; grandson of Evert Heindricxsen , a " Watergeus " , both commanders of men - of - war of the navy of Zealand . When his father was killed in battle in 1617 , the Admiralty of Zealand appointed all five of his sons as Lieutenant , including Cornelis ( or " Kees " ) and his oldest brother Johan , despite their young age . This exceptional favour was granted in recognition of the great merits of the father and of course prevented his family from becoming destitute . In 1626 Cornelis is first mentioned as actually serving on sea , during a privateering raid . On 25 August 1636 he was appointed captain . In the Battle of the Downs in 1639 he captured a galleon . During the First Anglo - Dutch War Cornelis functioned as a Vice - Commodore in the Zealandic navy ; he was appointed on a confederate level to the equivalent rank of temporary Rear - Admiral on 1 May 1652 . In the Battle of Scheveningen his ship sank and he , wounded , was prisoner of the English for three months . On 14 March 1654 he was appointed Rear - Admiral . During the Northern Wars he was in 1659 subcommander of the fleet of Michiel de Ruyter and liberated Nyborg from the Swedish . In 1661 he was third in command of the Dutch Mediterranean fleet under De Ruyter , executing punitive actions against the corsairs of Algiers . He and De Ruyter were close personal friends . When the Second Anglo - Dutch War threatened , he was made Vice - Admiral of Zealand , while his brother Johan Evertsen was promoted to the first Lieutenant - Admiral that province ever had . Cornelis Evertsen took part in the Battle of Lowestoft ( 13 June 1665 ) ; his elder brother was after the fight much criticised for his behaviour and had to resign as commander , though keeping his rank . Cornelis was now promoted to Lieutenant - Admiral also , so that for a time the Dutch navy had seven officers of this rank . When the next major naval battle was fought with England in June 1666 , the Four Days Battle , Cornelis the Elder was killed on the first day on the " Walcheren " , cut in two by the parting shot of the escaping " Henry " . His brother Johan Evertsen decided first to stay ashore , but when Cornelis was killed , he joined as yet the fleet and took command of the vanguard of De Ruyter . He was killed on the first day of the St . James ' s Day Battle , in August 1666 . Both brothers were , after much conflict between the Admiralty and the family over the costs , in 1681 buried in the Abbey of Middelburg , where their shared grave memorial is still to be seen . Cornelis Evertsen the Elder got blessed with fourteen children from his first marriage in 1640 with Johanna van Gorcum , five of which died as infants . Two of them would become flag officers as well : his second child , named after him , Lieutenant - Admiral Cornelis Evertsen the Youngest ( 1642 – 1706 ) and the tenth son Lieutenant - Admiral Geleyn Evertsen ( 1655 – 1711 ) . Both would be supreme commanders of the confederate Dutch fleet . All three men shared the same cantankerous character . After the death of his first wife in 1657 Cornelis remarried in 1659 ; from this marriage another two children were born . On his death he left a heritage worth 45 , 000 guilder s .