Tromp

Tromp, the name of two great Dutch admirals, (1) MARTIN (1597-1653) gained his first successes against the Spaniards in the Thirty Years' War. In the first Dutch war with England he was the great antagonist of Blake, over whom, on November 30, 1652, he won a great battle in the Straits of Dover, after which he is said to have sailed the Channel with a broom at his masthead. In the following February he lost a three days' fight off Portland, and was killed in a battle with Monk on July, 31 off the coast of Holland. (2) CORNELIUS, his second son (1629-91), served under Ruyter in the second war with England. He was a partisan of William of Orange, who on Ruyter's death made him head of the Dutch fleet. He gained distinction in the war against France and in the Danish war against Sweden. He was ennobled by Charles II. on his visit to England in 1675.