134
IN THEE STAITS SERVIS
Plate 4. The Gouden Leeuw. Detail from a painting by Willem van de Velde the elder, 1684,
private collection.
Despite the high degree of de facto religious tolerance in the Dutch Republic, the
commissioning of any Catholic naval officer must have been very unusual, but
particularly one who achieved such high status and close connections with the very
top of the Dutch naval elite. This must surely have implications for the history of
religious toleration in the Republic. According to James, Duke of York,
