Admiralty of Friesland

The Admiralty of Friesland or Frisian Admiralty (Dutch - Admiraliteit van Friesland or Friese Admiraliteit; West Frisian - Fryske Admiraliteit) was one of the five admiralties of the Dutch Republic. Set up on 6 March 1596, it was dissolved in 1795 during the reforms by the Batavian Republic.

Few sources on the Frisian Admiralty survived. The entire archive on the Admiralty was destroyed in the large fire of 12 and 13 February 1771 in Harlingen, and many maps and documents relating to the history of Friesland were also lost. What little archive material remained was held in the Department of Navy at The Hague, until that too was destroyed by fire on 8 January 1844. Little is known on the great men of the Admiralty, due to a lack of surviving archival material. One example of such loss is described by historian Beucker Andreae, who studied the life of Admiral Auke Stellingwerf. About his search on the latter's baptismal records in what might have been the man's birthplace, Workum, he wrote:

A box had been kept, however, by the church guardians, holding old books and manuscripts, among which, according to an elderly inhabitant of the town, the baptismal records should have been present. But that box had some years ago been given to the deacons for safe-keeping, and there — since there was no lock on the lid — the female supervisor of the old people's home had cut up the books she discovered in the box for domestic use, as sewing patterns! And so it came about that, although the box is still there, the papers can no longer be found in them.

The Dutch Revolt (1568–1648) brought about the need for an improved organisation for the protection of trade, i.e., the sea routes of the new Dutch Republic. Difficulties quickly arose between the different provinces with different views on the design of such organisation. Originally there were three different Admiralties: that of Zealand, that of the Southern Quarter of the province of Holland, and that of the Northern Quarter of Holland, with Friesland to be controlled by the latter. In 1587, the Northern Quarter Admiralty established its headquarters at Amsterdam. Quickly a dispute arose between Friesland and this Amsterdam Admiralty over earnings from convoys, over import and export rights, over the financial administration, and because Amsterdam was simply too far away. Consequently, on 6 March 1596, the States of Friesland decided on the "Foundation of a Chamber or Council of Admiralty for this Territory." On 5 May 1597, Hoitze Aisma, Feijcke Tetmans, Sicke van Dijckstra, and Frans Jansz were entrusted with creating the Frisian Admiralty board.

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