88 Michiel de Ruyter in Iligh

Michiel de Ruyter has written in his diaries about his visits to Iligh and his meetings with the ‘Sant’. But until now there are no documents found written by people in Iligh about his visits. Of course Iligh was destroyed a few decennia later. The strange thing is that there isn’t a memory either among the family Aboudmiaa of a Dutch trader selling them modern weaponry. Maybe the sounds of the name were just too foreign: El Soussie who wrote about Iligh in the nineteen fifties did mention him and gave him an unrecognizably scrambled name. Bert Hogervorst hasn’t figured out yet how he came by his information: from the biography of De Ruyter or by documents he got from the Aboudmiaa family and reportedly never gave back? Thinking about De Ruyter in Iligh I can see that the set up might be different from what he was used too, but I’m sure De Ruyter also saw similarities between Iligh and the Dutch Republic. Iligh was small but was making a name for itself in international trade in particular across the Sahara. It had mighty enemies that were eager to destroy it. It was wealthy and it had a liberal attitude towards others. Jews in particular had found refuge there. Not Jews from the Iberian Peninsula as in the Republic but Jews from nearby Ifrane. And as in the Low Countries the Jews had brought prosperity because of their connections. It was ‘The Golden Age’ in the Republic but the same can be said about Morocco. In the seventeenth century there wasn’t such a big difference between the standard of living and the level of development in Europe and the Islamic world. That only came to be in the nineteenth century with the industrial revolution in Europe.

85 Wives’ tale

In the 17th century the life of sailors wasn’t easy. They were a long time away from home if they came home at all. Michiel de Ruyter had a relatively charmed career. He was wounded only twice and survived. The first time when he was just a lad he was wounded and taken prisoner by the Spanish. He escaped and walked home from La Coruna. The second time was when still in his early twenties he got an axe in the back of his head fighting the feared pirates of Dunkirk. The third time he didn’t survive. Sailors tended to marry girls from home, because they knew how life was, coping without men. A life at home with a husband at sea wasn’t easy especially when the money ran out and children had to be fed. However it had also its compensations. The women of the Dutch islands were independent of character, knew how to be thrifty and were money wise. They often bought her husband’s ship’s supplies and knew how to get a good deal. If they survived long enough to develop those talents. The main trouble that faced women in the 17th century wasn’t life without men, but having children. Childbirth itself and complications after childbirth were the major causes of death. De Ruyter had three wives. The first one died in childbirth and her child soon after. About 5 years later he married again. 13 years and 4 children later she kicked the bucket too. Only 2 of the four kids survived. During those years De Ruyter traded with the ‘Sant’. By then h had a nice bit of money to his name and got the honour of having citizenship of the city of Vlissingen. De Ruyter was looking for certain qualities in his next wife and that wasn't youth and beauty. He wanted someone he could grow old and wealthy with; somebody with a sense for business and in robust health.

81 Lampsins of Vlissingen

After the Church of Saint Jacob where Michiel de Ruyter was baptized and married the next logical step was to the Lampsins House. Lampsins was is an important ship-owner. Originally from Oostende Jan Lampsins settled in Vlissingen and made his fortune there. He was also the first employer of Michiel de Ruyter. As a young child after flunking school Michiel took up a job working on the ropewalk one of the businesses of Jan Lampsins. Later a children’s song was written that starts with this period of his life when ‘turning the big wheel, all day, while his boyish heart longed for a life of adventure on sea’. Or something like that. In 1618 as a 11 year old he went to sea. In 1631 after a very adventurous life on shore and at sea he was hired again by Lampsins. This time it was Cornelis Lampsins the son of Jan. Michiel was send to head the company’s office in Dublin where he learned to speak fluent Irish. The story goes that on a trip back to Vlissingen his ship was attacked by pirates. He saved his ship by smearing Irish butter on the hull of the ship. In 1638 De Ruyter was made captain of one of the Lampsins’ ships. By 1644 he had his own ship the Salamander. In 1652 he bought a house right behind the Lampsins House. The Lampsins house is now a museum. The balcony on the roof is said to function as a kind of crows’ nest. It was used to watch the ships depart and come in. The old tidal dock is now a marina. Hence the high walls. When sketching the sun was out, but a freezing cold wind from the north was blowing around my ears. High time to go inside in the MuZeeum (MuSeaum).