Samuel Story

Samuel Story (2 October 1752 – 8 January 1811) was a vice admiral of the Batavian Republic Navy. He commanded the squadron that surrendered without a fight to the Royal Navy at the Vlieter incident in 1799. Early life Story was born in Maasbommel. He entered the navy of the Dutch Republic (Admiralty of the Maze) in 1770. On 5 July 1774 he became a lieutenant on the 20-gun Orangezaal. His first command (in 1781) was the 36-gun frigate Jason. In 1793, he was appointed captain of the 40-gun frigate Pollux at Hellevoetsluis. Revolution of 1795 In the severe winter of 1794–1795 the ships of the Dutch Navy at the roadstead of Hellevoetsluis became frozen in the ice on the Meuse river. Story's commanding officer, Rear Admiral Pieter Melvill van Carnbee, appointed him commander of the naval base and squadron. The armies of the French Republic had invaded the Netherlands in the course of the War of the First Coalition They made easy progress. Commander-in-chief of the Dutch Navy, Lieutenant Admiral Jan Hendrik van Kinsbergen ordered Story to offer no resistance. On 3 January, he released and armed 600 French prisoners of war who had been incarcerated on his base. That way he secured the base for the Batavian Republic, proclaimed shortly afterwards.