83 About Pilots, Pirates and ‘Lorrendaaiers’

In the old days pilots were fishermen who for a bit of cash helped skippers through the treacherous waters of the estuaries that made up the Low Countries. Even now with satellite navigation, radar and depth sounding there is not a ship that passes Vlissingen without a pilot. The pilot’s boats are high-powered affairs that flit in and out of the pilot harbour like hornets out of their nests. The sketch shows a pilot leaving port. To the left on the fort the statue of De Ruyter. It is funny to see the small boats speeding angrily up towards one of the huge freighters, swerve around, latch-on and board. When the job is done they race back full throttle. The whole procedure reminds me irresistibly of pirates. The Dutch Republic owed in its first 25 years a lot to pirates and privateering. In the beginning the Republic didn’t have a fleet and on land it could do little against mighty Spain. But on the waters between the many islands and beyond on sea belligerently fearless and reckless skippers and their crews did Spain but also England a lot of harm. Writing out letters of consent to privateers (Kaperbrieven) kept the Republic in money. The biggest triumph was when the pirate Piet Hein captured the Silver Fleet that sailed from the Americas back to Spain. It provided the State’s coffers with money for almost a year. De Ruyter did the ‘kaap’ (privateering) once: in 1637 commissioned by Lampsins. Pirates were considered respectable until the Dutch got a proper fleet. On the other hand ‘Lorrendraaiers’ were bad asses! There is a painting of two ‘Lorrendraaier’ ships before Vlissingen in full sail and proudly flying the Republic’s colours in a devil may care attitude. ‘Lorrendraaiers’ were ships that carried no letters of consent and didn’t belong to any organisation. Instead they pirated on the regular merchant navy. In particular they did a bit of illegal slave trade. Before becoming an admiral De Ruyter worked all kinds seafaring jobs but never did he stoop so low.

77 Introduction to Vlissingen

Nowadays Vlissingen can be reached easily by train. But till the sixties of the last century Vlissingen was on an island: Walcheren. After the devastating effects of the Flood Disaster of 1953 the islands that made up the Province of Zeeland were connected to each other and the mainland by dykes, bridges and flood defences. Walcheren is no longer an island and if you didn’t know you would never notice it had been. The train ride took just over three hours. Because of recent rescheduling it took half an hour longer than during the time I visited the town for work. I had always enjoyed visiting the province. Work for the National Bureau of Water Management had taken me many times to Zeeland. In 2001 while recovering from cancer treatment I had been kindly taken in by a couple living on Walcheren. In the nineties my aunt Taat had taken Bert and me for a Whitsun holiday to Vlissingen. We had stayed in the Grand Hotel Brittannia or ‘De Brit’. All rooms in the hotel had balconies looking out over the Roadstead of Vlissingen. That view I wanted to have this time too. But ‘De Brit’ had been demolished. Fortunately there are more hotels on the ‘Boulevard’. I chose the Hotel Truida and was given a room with the desired view. Better still: when I sat on the loo I could draw this sketch. Martina, a Dutch friend from Achill Island has a ‘pied d’à terre’ in Vlissingen. She welcomed me and gave me a thorough introduction to the town. She took me and her dog for a circular tour around the old city. Starting on Wall Street she took me to the Saint Jacob’s or Great Church and on to the yacht harbour and the Lampsins House, past the Pilot’s port and Bellamypark or the old dock harbour to the statue of Michiel de Ruyter and to the harbour inlet and on to the Prisoners’ Tower and the boulevards. Turned out her home was just behind the hotel in the 19th century part of the town. In the evening we watched the movie ‘Admiral’ on Netflix. I couldn’t have gotten a better introduction to Vlissinge the town of Michiel de Ruyter.