Willem Joseph van Ghent (16 May 1626-7 June 1672) was an admiral of the United Provinces during the Anglo-Dutch Wars. He was killed at the Battle of Solebay in 1672 after fighting in the previous Northern War and Second Anglo-Dutch War.
Biography[]
Willem Joseph van Ghent was born on 16 May 1626 in Slot Gendt, Betuwe, Gelderland, Netherlands. In 1648, he was promoted to captain in the Dutch Army, and his first military service came in 1659 during the Northern War with Sweden. Van Ghent served under Michiel de Ruyter in that war, and he distinguished himself during the Second Anglo-Dutch War, surviving many near-death scenarios while commanding his ship Gelderland against England. Having advised the De Witt Brothers to create a marine force for the United Provinces, he was able to take part in the 1667 Raid on the Medway in England, burning down the three heaviest Royal Navy ships of the line and capturing the ship Royal Charles. Van Ghent's last campaign would be the Third Anglo-Dutch War of 1671-72, which he inadvertently caused; King Charles II of England used Van Ghent's refusal to salute an English yacht (due to it not being a military vessel) as a pretext for war. In the first major sea fight of the war, the Battle of Solebay, canister shot tore off his left leg below the knee and penetrated his torso in five places, and he was "utterly dead" as one sailor described it.