Michiel de Ruyter

Michiel de Ruyter is still undoubtedly the most famous Vlissinger of all time. He was born in 1607 and soon began to feel the seafaring blood stir within him. The story goes that he climbed the Sint Jacobstoren on the outside to prove his courage. He began his career as a rope maker's boy with the Vlissingse shipowner Cornelis Lampsins, where he, according to a well-known folk saying, had to turn a large wheel in a blue checkered smock.

Vice Admiral
De Ruyter later became captain of one of Lampsins' ships, among others as a privateer. He earned a modest fortune, wanted to stop working in 1652, and then bought a house at Nieuwstraat 13, behind the Bellamypark. However, the First Anglo-Dutch War began in the same year, and Michiel was approached by the Zeeland admiralties. Michiel left for Amsterdam in 1653 and rose to the rank of vice-admiral of Holland and Amsterdam. He ultimately fell in battle against the French at Syracuse on April 29, 1676. He was buried in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam.

At the Keizersbolwerk, there is a statue that was unveiled in 1841 and originally had a spot at De Ruyterplein, near the current (named after him) marina. Almost 50 years later, in 1894, the statue was moved to a prominent location at the beginning of the boulevard. The cannons, placed on either side of the statue in 1905, were salvaged from the Strait of Messina and donated by the Italian government.

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