frequent fame in later years. In May 1641 he defeated an 80-man, 12 gun ship from Dunkirk, and in 1642 defeated a 140-man, 20 gun frigate with a ship of only 67 men and 10 guns. Move The Frisian Admiralty at first only built the harbour facilities in Dokkum it thought necessary to equip about nine ketches that were to control the Wadden Sea, not considering it necessary to build facilities that could handle greater numbers of ships. When an actual need for large warships arose later on — normally two larger ships were operational — they simply used the ports of other provinces. For instance, from 1620 until 1636 the admiralty's large warships were equipped at Amsterdam. In 1636, these ships were even briefly stationed in Rotterdam, far away from Friesland. Already in 1631 a vote in the Frisian college had come up to move the Frisian Admiralty to the port of Harlingen, the main reasons being: The convenient location of the city of Harlingen and other commodities serving the equipment for sea and the defence against sudden enemy attacks. Harlingen was Friesland's only major sea port and offered obvious benefits as a naval port, if only to secure Friesland's main trade route. Dokkum, in contrast, was land-locked and could be reached only by light ships. Still it took ten years for a commission to investigate the possibilities for a move; it presented its report in 1642. An objection against a move had always been that the connection between the port of Harlingen and the North Sea, the Vlie estuary, lay in the area under control of the Admiralty of Amsterdam. The waters to be patrolled by the Frisian Admiralty were just these between the islands of Ameland and Schiermonnikoog and the coast, and the Eems estuary east of Groningen. Dokkum was ideally situated to serve as a base for light ships for this purpose, the river Dokkumer Ee giving direct access to this area. However, during the 17th century the Dokkumer Ee began to silt up very seriously; the commission feared that in future the river bed could only be kept deep enough at prohibitive costs, concluding that a relocation was inevitable. A year later, on 18 August 1643, regulations were drafted to organize the move. On 1 March 1644, the definitive decision to move was taken, and over the course of 1645 the relocation took place. The