The 'Eendracht' or 'Eendragt' ("Concord" - often less precisely translated as "Unity") was the usual
flagship of the confederate navy of the
United Provinces (a precursor state of
The Netherlands) between
1655 and
1665. ''Eendragt'' was the more common spelling in the 17th century; ''Eendracht'' is the modern
Dutch standard spelling.
Lieutenant-Admiral
Maarten Tromp had for many years insisted on the construction of a new flagship to replace the ''
Brederode'', which was too lightly armed with only 56 guns. For reasons of cost and impracticality (Dutch home waters being very shallow) this was refused until the events of the
First Anglo-Dutch War made it painfully clear that much heavier ships were needed. The
admiralty of the
Maas based in
Rotterdam (one of the five autonomous Dutch admiralties) therefore in
1652 laid the keel of a larger ship. In February
1653 it was decided that the cost was to be shared confederately by the seven provinces of the Netherlands. The project was on instigation of
Cornelis de Witt moved to the wharf of Goossen Schacks van der Arent in
Dordrecht under the supervision of shipwright
Jan Salomonszoon van den Tempel who also had designed ''Brederode'' and the earlier flagship ''
Aemilia''.
Due to conflicts about cost, size and materials, ''Eendracht'' was only finished in January
1655 when the
First Anglo-Dutch War had already ended and Tromp was dead. At first it was intended to name the then-58-gun ship ''Prins Willem'' after the infant son of the late
stadtholder William II of Orange, but
Johan de Witt,
Grand Pensionary with the
States of Holland, decided to rename the project after the main ideal of his domestic policy: the concord between all provinces and citizens, also expressed in the official
motto of the Republic: ''Concordia res parvae crescunt'', "Small things grow through concord". When he happened to be absent for a month the orangist faction changed the name back, but the States hurriedly reverted this when De Witt after his return merely expressed his amazement. ''Eendracht'' became the flagship of Tromp's successor Lieutenant-Admiral
Jacob van Wassenaer Obdam. She fought successfully in the
Northern Wars, defeating the
Swedish fleet in the
Battle of the Sound on
8 November 1658.
In the
Battle of Lowestoft on
13 June 1665, the first battle of the
Second Anglo-Dutch War, ''Eendracht'', then armed with 73 guns, duelled the much heavier 80-gun English flagship ''
Royal Charles''. The Dutch
chain shot killed a number of courtiers standing next to
Lord High Admiral James Stuart on the English ship, but in the early afternoon ''Eendracht'' was hit in the
powder room and exploded, killing Van Obdam. There were only five survivors out of the crew of 409.