Floating bomb

The Fortuin was a small vessel that was used as a floating bomb to blow up the ship bridge made by the Spaniards in the River Scheldt near Antwerp. To do so, the ship was fitted with a brick container filled with over 1500 pounds of gunpowder. It was a common practice in the past to use simple or older ships in this way.

The Siege of Antwerp(1584-1585)

The Siege of Antwerp started on July 3rd, 1584 and lasted for fourteen months. The conquest of Antwerp on August 17th, 1785, put an end to the golden age of this city. Many from the Southern Netherlands fled to the North. In this way, Amsterdam took over from Antwerp as the main trading city of the Netherlands, heralding the so-called Golden Age of the Republic.

The Spanish commander in chief Parma enclosed Antwerp to force it to surrender. On the side of the land, fortresses were constructed. He closed off the Scheldt with a 700 meter long ship bridge (a kind of chain of ships closing of the fairway). This completed the enclosure in February 1585.

Wikimedia Commons

The ship bridge of Parma.

Attack on the ship bridge

The Scheldt was the lifeline of Antwerp. Many attempts were undertaken to destroy the ship bridge, but they were all in vain. On April 4th two ships - the Hoop and the Fortuin - were fitted out as floating mines and sent towards the bridge under the command of Jacob jacobsz. They hit the dike near Kallo, causing them to explode with much violence much too early. 1300 people (both Dutch and Spanish) died in the enormous explosion.

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

The explosion near the ship bridge of Parma.

An eye witness account relates: 'The Scheldt wondrously opened up and at first seemed to uncover the depths of her bottom, and then rushed over the dikes; the movement of the jumping earth stretched out over 9000 paces.'

Large stones moved by the explosion were found at a distance of ten kilometers, deeply embedded in the ground. Yet the bridge remained unscathed and the siege continued.

• Wikiwand.
  Beleg van Antwerpen (1584-1585).