Catalog Reference

Fonrobert-5700
V.L. Sup. 556

This memorial medal, honoring the Dutchman who commanded the naval forces opposing the British attempts to take St. Eustatius in February 1781. Admiral Willem Crul was killed in the battle; the reverse of this medal states that he was "inferior in strength but not in valor." The die work by Holtzhey is among the best of his Betts-listed medals, with an expressive portrait of Crul, along with an evocative image of Mercury mourning while leaning against an altar that incorporates a scene of the battle. Crul became a martyr to the Dutch and the American cause after his death on February 4, 1781, in the aftermath of the British attack on St. Eustatia. The Dutch island was the principal West Indies entrepot for goods smuggled from the Netherlands for the American war effort.