Vlie

The Vlie or Vliestroom (West Frisian: Fly) is the seaway between the Dutch islands of Vlieland, to its southwest, and Terschelling, to its northeast.

In 1666 the English Admiral Robert Holmes burnt a Dutch merchant fleet of 130 ships (Holmes's Bonfire), that had taken refuge in the Vlie, mistakenly supposing the English could never find their way through the treacherous shoals along its coastline.

In the 13th century large floods widened the estuary and destroyed much of the peat land behind, creating a continuous area of sand and mudflats connecting the sea to the enlarged inland lake and obscuring the flow of the river.

The construction of the Afsluitdijk caused a 19% increase of current velocity in Vliestroom.

[2] In the Lex Frisonum the Vlie (Fli, or Flehi) is accepted as the boundary between the territory of the East and West Frisians.