Admiral Topics

[Fish]

Now we have a General Topic, why not a Admiral topic.
I start with Michiel Adrianson de Ruyter:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michiel_de_Ruyter

De Ruyter was born in 1607 in Flushing (Vlissingen) as son of a beer porter. Little is known about De Ruyter's early life, but he probably became a sailor at the age of 11. In 1622 he fought as a musketeer in in the Dutch army under Maurice of Nassau against the Spaniards during the relief of Bergen-op-Zoom. That same year he rejoined the Dutch merchant fleet and steadily worked his way up. According to English sources he was active in Dublin between 1623 and 1631 as an agent for the Vlissingen-based merchant house of the Lampsins brothers. Although Dutch sources have no data about his whereabouts in those years, it is known that De Ruyter spoke Irish fluently. He would occasionally travel as supercargo to the Mediterranean or the Barbary Coast. In those years he referred to himself as "Machgyel Adriensoon", his name in the Zealandic dialect he spoke, not having yet adopted the name "De Ruyter".