Willem Krul, was a vice-admiral in the Dutch Navy in the latter 18th century, and then commander of the Dutch ship of the line Mars, during the American Revolutionary War. He was also known as Adrianus Hendrik Willem Krul. After serving in various assignments about the European Atlantic coast Krul served in his final naval assignment at Saint Eustatius, a Dutch possession in the West Indies, during which time he lost his life while engaged in a naval battle with the British, making him a national hero in the Netherlands.
Portrait by Johann Ernst Heinsius
Mars is captured by the British naval ships Monarch, Sybil, and Panther near Saint Eustatius Island, 1781
Naval battle of Captain Krul against three English ships Engraving by Carl Frederik Bendorp, 1781
Willem Krul by Cornelius van Rodenburgh, 1808
The Fourth Anglo-Dutch War was a conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Dutch Republic. The war, contemporary with the War of American Independence (1775–1783), broke out over British and Dutch disagreements on the legality and conduct of Dutch trade with Britain's enemies in that war.
The Battle of Dogger Bank, Thomas Luny
The capture of St Eustatius by the British fleet in February 1781. The island is sacked by the British.
The same year, the island is issued by a French landing troops.
Glorious action of the French Admiral Suffren against the British Admiral Hughes in the seas of Ceylon. The intervention of the French navy attempted to rescue the Dutch colonies in Asia.
