Abel Janszoon Tasman was a Dutch seafarer and explorer best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644, in the service of the VOC (Dutch East India Company). His was the first European expedition to reach the islands of Van Diemen's Land (now T...

Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter is the most famous and one of the most skilled admirals in Dutch history. De Ruyter is most famous for his role in the Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 17th century. He fought the English and French in these wars and s...

Jacob, Banner Lord of Wassenaer, Lord Obdam, Hensbroek, Spanbroek, Opmeer, Zuidwijk and Kernhem, was a Dutch Lieutenant-Admiral, and supreme commander of the confederate Dutch navy. The name Obdam was then also spelled as Opdam. British con...

Jan van Riebeeck was a Dutch navigator and colonial administrator who arrived in Cape Town in the Dutch Cape Colony at the behest of the Dutch East India Company. He also spent some time in Malaysia as part of his profession and served a...

Prince Rupert of the Rhine was a noted soldier, admiral, scientist, sportsman, colonial governor and amateur artist during the 17th century. Rupert was a younger son of Frederick V, Elector Palatine, and Elizabeth Stuart, the older brother...

Francesco Morosini was the Doge of Venice from 1688 to 1694, at the height of the Great Turkish War. He was a member of famous noble Venetian family (the Morosini family) which produced several Doges and generals. Morosini first rose to pro...

Sir Robert Holmes was an English Admiral of the Restoration Navy. He took part in the second and third Anglo-Dutch wars, both of which he is, by some, credited with having started. He was made governor of the Isle of Wight, where he is buri...

Cornelis Tromp was a Commander in chief of the Dutch navy. Tromp was born in Rotterdam, the son of Admiral Maarten Tromp and Dignom Cornelis de Haes. He served in the First Anglo-Dutch War, being promoted to Admiral after the death of Johan...

Willem Hesselsz de Vlamingh was a Dutch sea-captain who explored the central west coast of Australia (then "New Holland") in the late 17th century. Vlamingh joined the VOC (Dutch East India Company) in 1688 and made his first voyage to Bata...

William Kidd, also known as Captain William Kidd or simply Captain Kidd, was a Scottish sailor who was tried and executed for piracy after returning from a voyage to the Indian Ocean. Some modern historians, for example Sir Cornelius Neale...

Jacob Roggeveen was a Dutch explorer who was sent to find Terra Australis, but he instead came across Easter Island. On 1 August 1721 he left on his expedition, in the service of the Dutch West India Company, to seek Terra Australis. It con...

Captain Thomas Coram was a philanthropist who created the London Foundling Hospital to look after unwanted children in Lamb's Conduit Fields, Bloomsbury. It is said to be the world's first incorporated charity. The Foundling Hospital cha...

Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, was an English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of Britain's North American colonies. Little is known about his early life, but he may have been a sailor on privateer...

Vitus Bering was a Danish explorer. Explored the Siberian Far East and Alaska and claimed it for Russia. The value of Bering's work was not fully recognized for many years, but Captain Cook was able to prove Bering's accuracy as an observer...

Edward Vernon ("Old Grog") was an English naval officer. His enduring claim to fame was his 1740 order that his sailors' rum should be diluted with water. In 1740, citrus juice (usually lemon or lime juice) was added to the recipe of the tr...