DUTCH ODDITIES 55

The ocean, too, could tell tales of Dutch sea-fights and
Dutch ships bound on great enterprises; though it has
a funny story of the brave admiral Van Tromp, which
you may already have heard. He was born a little Dutch-
man, two hundred and ninety-seven years ago,—just two
summers before the first tulip bowed upon Dutch soil.
His father, who was an admiral, in due time took his lit-
tle boy to sea. One day in a naval fight with the British,
the father was killed, and little Marten Harpertzoon Van
Tromp was taken prisoner. He was made to work as
cabin-boy for many a weary month, but he did not des-
par. He was a Dutch boy.

In two years he was free again. Soon better fortunes
came to him. In early manhood he entered the Dutch
navy, and finally became Admiral of Holland, sometimes
fighting against the Spaniards, sometimes beaten on the
high seas, but oftener victorious. In fact, in the course of
his career, he was winner of more than thirty battles.
He had many a fierce sea-fight with Admiral Blake of
England, and, though conquered by this enemy at last,
he had the satisfaction of one victory over Blake so bril-
lant and thorough that he celebrated the event by sail-
ing the British Channel with a broom fastened to his
masthead. This was his way of proclaiming that he had
swept his enemy from the seas.