Willem Huyssen van Kattendijke

Who was Willem Huyssen van Kattendijke?

Willem Johan Cornelis, Knight Huijssen van Kattendijke was Dutch admiral and politician.

He was the son of Jan Willem Huyssen van Kattendijke, foreign minister of the Netherlands from 1841 to 1843. From 1839 to 1861 Willem was an officer of the Dutch Navy.

On September 21, 1857, he delivered to Nagasaki a steam warship ordered by the Bakufu, the Japan, later named Kanrin Maru. He became the second Principal of the Nagasaki Naval Training Center, after Pels Rijcken, where he became very active in teaching principles of a modern Navy to Bakufu officials such as Katsu Kaishu. Two years later, in 1859, he left Japan as the Nagasaki Naval Training Center was closed and transferred to Tsukiji.

From 1861 to 1866 he was Navy Minister for the Netherlands, first in the cabinet of Jacob van Zuylen van Nijevelt and then in the second cabinet of Johan Rudolph Thorbecke. In the latter he also served as Foreign Minister in 1864. He died as Navy Minister at the age of 50.

The Nagasaki Naval Training Center, in Nagasaki, near Dejima.

The Kanrin Maru.