Catalog Reference

A.J.N., XXIII, 6
V.L. Sup. 559

Engraved in high style by Johann Georg Holtzhey, the finest Dutch engraver of the era, this medal marks the victory of the Dutch vessels Den Briel and Castor over the English ships Flora and Crescent on May 30, 1781. The battle took place near the Gulf of Cadiz, off the southern tip of Portugal, after the Dutch vessels passed the British fortress at Gibraltar on their way from the Mediterranean into the Atlantic. As one of the few Dutch victories of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, the battle became big news in the Netherlands and the victorious captains became heroes. Just four months after the demoralizing British capture of Saint Eustatius, the primary hub used by the Dutch to sell war materiel to the Americans, such a victory was desperately needed.