Texel - History

History

In the early Middle Ages and before, Texel and Wieringen may have been much bigger and met each other as opposite banks of the Marsdiep, which was then a river with banks of permanent land: see here.

Notable battles involving Texel:

• 1653 Battle of Scheveningen - During the First Anglo-Dutch War.
• 1673 Battle of Texel - During the Third Anglo-Dutch War.
• 1797 Battle of Camperdown - During the Napoleonic wars.
• 1914 Battle off Texel - During the First World War
• 1945 Georgian Uprising of Texel - During the Second World War

Texel is also famous in military history as the only place where a navy was defeated on horseback. Occupying Holland in January 1795, the French continental army learned that the mighty Dutch navy had been frozen into the ice around Texel Island, so Commandant Louis Joseph Lahure and 128 men simply rode up to it and demanded surrender. No shots were fired.

During the American Revolution, Texel was used as a haven port for the USS Bonhomme Richard before it sank off the coast of Flamborough Head in Britain in September 1779. In that final action, John Paul Jones defeated and captured the British ship HMS Serapis, which he sailed to Texel for desperately needed repairs. This event further complicated Anglo-Dutch relations.

On the night of 31 August 1940, the sea to the northwest of Texel was the scene of the sinking of two British destroyers and the severe damage of a third by German mines in what became known as the Texel Disaster.