Dutch naval officer: Gillis Thijssen Campen

Gillis Thijssen Campen served the Admiralty of Amsterdam. He was born about 1620 and died on 13 June 1665. He was killed in the Battle of Lowestoft. He was appointed captain in 1652. In 1664, he was promoted to Schout-bij-Nacht. In 1665, he served as a temporary Vice-Admiral. That is my translation of the abbreviated entry in Luc Eekhout's Het Admiralenboek. I can supplement that entry with more information. At the start of the First Anglo-Dutch War, Gillis Thijssen Campen was assigned to Witte de With's squadron. His was one of 16 Amsterdam ships with Tromp's fleet on the voyage to the Shetlands in July and August 1652. He fought in the Battle of the Kentish Knock. His ship was still the small Gouden Leeuw (24 guns and a crew of 80 men). His ship was paid off shortly after the Kentish Knock. By the summer of 1653, he commanded the Groningen (42 guns). He was a temporary Schout-bij-Nacht at the Battle of Scheveningen. He was still captain of the Groningen into 1654. By 1656, he commanded the new Dom van Utrecht. At the Battle of Lowestoft, where he died, he flew his flag on the Koevorden (56 guns). He died when the ship was burnt by an English fireship. Sources:

1. James C. Bender, unpublished manuscript "Dutch Ships 1620-1700", 2004.

2. Luc Eekhout, Het Admiralenboek, 1992.

3. Dr. S.R. Gardiner, Ed., The First Dutch War, Vol.I, 1898.

4. Michael Robinson, R.E.J. Weber, The Willem Van De Velde Drawings in the Boymans-Van Beuningen Museum, 1979.