Johan van Galen

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Johan van Galen (1604 – 23 March 1653) was a Commodore in the navy of the United Provinces of the Netherlands. He was born in Essen. He fought in the Eighty Years' War against Spain, becoming a captain in 1630 and a regular captain in 1635. In 1645 he fought under Witte de With against Denmark and in the First Anglo-Dutch War against the Commonwealth of England. Retired in 1650, when war broke out Van Galen by was on 13 July 1652 asked by the States-General to assume command over a Dutch fleet in the Mediterrenean. He departed on 3 august, reaching Livorno on 1 september. He was mortally wounded during the Battle of Leghorn, where his fleet destroyed part of the English Mediterranean Fleet. A cannon ball smashed his right lower leg; it was amputated below deck and Van Galen afterwards continued to direct the battle. He died from wound fever ten days later in Livorno. Cornelis Tromp was then a young captain under his command. Van Galen was given a state burial in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam and a marble grave memorial was erected in 1656 on which this poem is inscribed:

In this honourable grave, brave Van Galen is lain

Who first so many prizes won from the King of Spain

Then with a Lion's Heart, near to the Toscan beach

The British ships there chased, captured or burnt them each.

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