| Wolter Jan Gerrit Bentinck | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 30 July 1745 Huis Schoonheten, Dutch Republic |
| Died | 24 August 1781 Fiscal attorney of the Admiralty of Amsterdam, Amsterdam |
| Allegiance |  Dutch Republic |
| Service |  Dutch States Navy |
| Rank | Schout-bij-nacht |
| Commands | Batavier |
| Battles / wars | Dutch Moroccan War Fourth Anglo-Dutch War |
Wolter Jan Gerrit Bentinck, or simply Jan Bentinck, was a naval officer for the Dutch Republic during the 18th century.
Biography
Jan was born on the 30th of July in the place called Huis Schoonheten as the eighth child and fifth son of Berend Hendrik Bentinck, Lord of Schoonheten and Diepenheim and Bonne Elisabeth Juriana du Tertre.
In 1776, he took command of the ship Venus, a warship which had 24 guns. With the ship he intercepted 2 Moroccan ships and one Xebec as they were attempting to escort captured Dutch merchant vessels to Larache. He and Salomon Dedel destroyed both Moroccan ships.
In 1781 he fought in Dogger Bank against the British under the command of Johan Zoutman, he accompanied a convoy of 71 merchant ships as captain of the Batavier in order to protect those ships from English attacks. His ship boarded a crew of 300 men and 54 pieces of artillery. On the 5th of August they had encountered an English convoy, which fired at their ship afterwards. An hour after, Jan laid on the deck, being hit by a cannonball on his left shoulder. Because of his injury he had to give up command of his ship, three hours afterwards the Batavier had 18 dead and 49 injured crewmen on board. And after a fire broke out, the ship had to be towed back to Den Helder. Jan was taken to Amsterdam to the fiscal attorney of its respective admiralty, where he died on the 24th of August, 1781.
Bentinck received a state funeral and mausoleum in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam, at his country's expense.
References
- Jan's Genealogy
- de Jonge. Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Zeewezen. pp. 373–374.
- Veenendaal. Matthijs Sloot : een zeeman uit de achttiende eeuw, 1719-1779. p. 44.
Sources
- Veenendaal, A.J (1975). Matthijs Sloot : een zeeman uit de achttiende eeuw, 1719–1779 (in Dutch). Nijhoff. ISBN 9024717981.
- Jonge, Johannes Cornelis; Jakob Jonge, Jan Karel (1861). Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche zeewezen Dl. 4 (in Dutch). KB, Nationale Bibliotheek van Nederland: Kruseman.