Robert Holmes Setting the Dutch Fleet on Fire at Terschelling, Willem van de Velde (I), 1666

Robert Holmes Setting the Dutch Fleet on Fire at Terschelling, Willem van de Velde (I), 1666

pen, h 447mm × w 760mm More details

During the Second Anglo-Dutch War, the English Rear Admiral Robert Holmes raided the Vlie estuary in August 1666, setting fire to a large Dutch merchant fleet of 150 ships moored between the islands of Vlieland and Terschelling. As part of the same attack – which came to be known as Holmes’ Bonfire – he sacked and burnt down the village of West-Terschelling, killing mostly women and children.