Abstract
Unlike other seventeenth-century naval figures, the name Jacob Benckes is not readily recognizable to an English-language audience. The English Wikipedia page, for example, is a mere 139 words. Yet Benckes (sometimes spelled as Binckes) is a fascinating figure and Jan de Vries has done an admirable job to bring this figure from the shadows. A merchant captain since age 18, Benckes entered the service of the admiralty of Amsterdam in 1664 on the eve of the Second Anglo-Dutch naval war. Benckes would serve in this conflict, as well as in the war that followed. He was present at such battles as the Dutch raid on the Medway and the Battle of Solebay. But most famously, he commanded a squadron of Amsterdam ships that, together with a squadron outfitted by the Admiralty of Zeeland, recaptured New York in 1673. After a brief interlude in Danish waters, Benckes was again sent West, this time to capture Cayenne and Tobago from the French. Tobago would be his grave: he died during the second French attempt to take the fort he had built on Rockely Bay on December 12, 1677. Recent archaeological work at Tobago by a team from Texas A&M University has tentatively identified the wreck of one of Benckes’s ships, the Huis the Cruyningen.
A work on this fascinating figure was long overdue and Jan de Vries has done a good job in bringing him to light. The book contains many interesting insights and descriptions. The role of naval captains in the local economies of Dutch towns is one such point. Benckes, though in the service of the Amsterdam Admiralty, was resident and member of the city council of the Frisian town of Staveren. This was also where he would recruit his crews and since Dutch naval captains were responsible for victualling their own vessels, this is where he procured his supplies. The economic impact on a relatively small town like Staveren was considerable. Bakers, especially, would profit from the vastly increased demand of supplies like ship’s biscuit. Another example is the analysis of the recapture of New York in 1673. De Vries makes a credible case that this was not the mere coincidence that is has been made out to be. He argues that Benckes, rather than Evertsen, was the true leader of this expedition. The recapture of New York and the expedition to Tobago should be of great interest for scholars working on ‘the Dutch Atlantic’, since in both cases a novel administrative solution for Atlantic colonies was attempted: the Admiralty of Amsterdam became responsible for these colonies. Though this falls slightly out of the purvey of this book, it is a point that deserves further research.
The book has some downsides as well. The varied career of Benckes makes for a story that ranges far and wide, from the political struggles in mid-century Friesland, to intrigues in New York before and during the reconquest of 1673. The attention to the Frisian background and family relations of Benckes, though of interest in itself, will be somewhat difficult to follow for many readers due to the great number of individuals who populate the narrative, all with somewhat similar names. In truth, the book could be easily form the basis for a number of smaller, more focused studies on Frisian ship-owning families from villages such as Koudum or Molkwerum, or the Atlantic expeditions from the 1670s. Depending on the particular interest of the reader, one might find oneself choosing to focus on some parts, rather than reading the book from cover to cover. Jan de Vries is no professional historian. An inhabitant of Koudum, he was inspired by a local street-name to find out more about the figure of Benckes. This sometimes shows in phrases or expressions that a professional historian would perhaps not use, the frequent use of quotations in the text without explaining who is quoted is one example, but on the whole the author acquits himself well of his task. The archival research that went into this book is particularly impressive: 17 archives in six countries. For those who work with Dutch archival collections, the combination of work in local, provincial and national archives is inspiring. One would wish for footnotes instead of endnotes, but since this is a book intended for a broader audience, this is an understandable choice.