Lodewijk van Heiden

Lodewijk Sigismund Vincent Gustaaf Reichsgraf van Heiden (, , transliterated Russian name: Loggin Petrovich Geyden; 6 September 1773 – 17 October 1850) was a Dutch naval officer and Orangist who went into exile from the Batavian Republic and served in the Russian Navy. He ultimately became a Russian admiral and commanded a squadron of the Imperial Russian Navy in the Battle of Navarino (1827). Personal life Born in Zuidlaren, in the north east of the Netherlands, Van Heiden was the second son of Sigismund Pieter Alexander Reichsgraf van Heiden, Lord of Reinestein and Laarwoud, Drost of Drenthe, and Marie Frederique Freiin van Reede. He is the only Dutch naval hero to have come from the landlocked province of Drenthe. Van Heiden married Anne-Marie Akeleye, daughter of Captain Johannes Akeleye, a Danish-born sea officer in Russian service. They had four children, including their sons Friedrich Moritz and Ludwig Heinrich Sigismund van Heiden, the future Governor-General of the Grand Duchy of Finland. Early naval career Lodewijk van Heiden joined the Dutch Navy at the age of nine, and was promoted to Lieutenant-at-sea at sixteen. He made several journeys to the Dutch overseas territories during his six years in active duty. He remained a faithful Orangeist and accompanied Stadtholder William V on his flight from Scheveningen to England. Upon his return to the Netherlands he was captured and locked up in the ill-reputed Gevangenpoort prison in The Hague. Despite being questioned harshly several times he always refused to give any details on William's passage. He was set free after two months on the initiative of the French general Pichegru. He then resigned his commission and returned to Zuidlaren.