Johan van Galen

In 1645, as a Rear-Admiral, Van Galen was part of Vice-Admiral Witte de With's convoy breaking the blockade of The Sound by Denmark.

Both men were very hot-tempered and proud; emotions ran so high that, at one point, in anger, Van Galen lowered his command flag and trampled it with his feet.

After the Republic had made peace with Spain in 1648, Van Galen was sent out three times, with Spanish assistance, to fight the corsairs of the Barbary Coast.

A cannonball smashed his right lower leg; it was amputated below-deck and afterwards, Van Galen continued to direct the battle.

Van Galen was given a state burial in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam and in 1656, a marble grave memorial was erected on which this poem is inscribed: Hier leit in 't Graf van Eer den dapperen Van Galen, Die eerst ging buit op buit Kastiliën afhalen, En, met een Leeuwenhert, nabij 't Toskaensche strant, De Britten heeft verjaegt, verovert en verbrandt.