Willem van der Zaan Willem van der Zaan ( 29 June 1621 – 17 March 1669 ) was a Dutch Admiral . His name is often given in the 17th century spelling Zaen . Willem was born in Amsterdam . He joined the Dutch navy at a young age and had risen to the rank of captain by 1652 . He took part in the First Anglo - Dutch War from 1652 – 1654 , fighting in the Battle of Dungeness on the " Prinses Aemilia " , and on the " Campen " ( after the previous captain , his brother Joris van der Zaan , had been killed in the Battle of Portland ; in the same battle his other brother , Huybrecht van der Zaan , was killed also ) in the Battle of the Gabbard and the Battle of Scheveningen . In 1655 he was made a full captain . In 1656 he commands the " Zuyderhuys " , having on board his nephew , the son of Huybrecht , Cornelis van der Zaan , later a captain also . In 1657 he participated in an action in the Mediterranean under Vice - Admiral Michiel de Ruyter , during which he captured the French warship " Chasseur " , caught while illegally privateering , causing much embarrassment to the French government that had given secret orders to do so . Cardinal Mazarin summoned the Dutch ambassador to ask for excuses , who then lost his temper and left the court in a fury after telling the good cardinal , the most powerful man of France , in his face that he was no better than a common pirate . The States - General showed their opinion on this by awarding Van der Zaan a golden honorary chain . In 1658 he fought against Sweden in the Battle of the Sound , again participating in actions in the Baltic in 1659 and 1660 , as captain of the " Huys Tijdverdrijf " . In 1661 , as captain of the " Middelburg " , he is again with De Ruyter in the Mediterranean . When the Dutch fleet is challenged by the Bey of Algiers , Suleiman Basha Reis , to provide a champion for a ship duel , De Ruyter chooses Van der Zaan as such ; but the Algerian champion didn ' t show up . That year Van der Zaan received another golden chain for capturing a corsair liberating 36 Christian slaves ; in 1663 a third one having taken a privateer with 21 Christian slaves on board . He participated , as captain of " ' t Geloof " , in Vice - Admiral Michiel de Ruyter ' s punitive action against the British in West - Africa and America in 1664 and 1665 . Late 1664 he was appointed a temporary Rear - Admiral with the Admiralty of Amsterdam . On return in August 1665 he was given his fourth golden chain , a record . The Second Anglo - Dutch War had then already begun and Van der Zaan was made captain of the new " Gouda " later in 1665 , but he had to give up command for several months because of a depression or " melancholy " as it was then called . In 1666 he recovered and was made captain of the " Beschermer " . In the Four Days Battle fighting under Cornelis Tromp he captured the " Seven Oaks " on the second day but returned with his prize against general orders , for which he was fined 3000 guilder s . He fought in the St James ' s Day Battle with Engel de Ruyter , the son of Michiel de Ruyter , as officer on his ship . In 1667 he participated in the Raid on the Medway , but as part of the covering fleet . On 1 July 1667 he was made a permanent Rear - Admiral . He died during an action against the corsairs of Algiers on 17 March 1669 off Cape Tres Forcas , hit in the chest by a one - pound cannonball when boarding the flagship of the Algerian admiral . His death was blamed on insufficient assistance by his subcommanders . He was buried in the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam , where a grave memorial in the form of an epitaph was erected , a work by Rombout Verhulst . Willem married Agatha van der Eyck ( 1633 – 1703 ) in 1654 ; they had a son , Willem van der Zaan the Younger , who would be a Dutch navy captain . The Rear - Admiral ' s great - granddaughter , his last surviving descendant the widow Cornelia Agatha van Dam - Gerlings , would in 1798 donate some family heirlooms to the Amsterdam naval training school , among them three of the golden honorary chains , the bullet that killed the admiral , a drawing of the Battle of the Gabbard by Willem van de Velde the Elder and a painting of him and his wife by Abraham van den Tempel . Later she would bestow a legacy of 10 , 000 guilders onto the school with the stipulation that each year the directors would gather with the students below the picture to tell them of Van der Zaan ' s heroic feats , all present enjoying a glass of wine . This tradition was discontinued when in the 20th century the school ' s art collection was relocated to the Amsterdam naval museum , the Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum .