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On the night of 23 January, 1795, a French Revolutionary Hussar regiment captured a Dutch fleet frozen at anchor between the 3 kilometres stretch of sea that separates the mainland port of Den Helder and the island of Texel to the north. The waterways that might normally hold up an invader were frozen solid, even the sea around the coast had frozen. The French general Jean-Charles Pichegru was the leader of the French army that seized the opportunity to attack the Dutch Republic. The Dutch fleet was commanded by captain Hermanus Reintjes but the actual capture was accomplished by Louis Joseph Lahure. This all actions happened during the War of the First Coalition, which was part of the French Revolutionary Wars.
Den Helder is located at the tip of the North Holland peninsula, south of the island of Texel, by an inlet to what was then the shallow Zuiderzee bay, the Southern Sea. The Zuiderzee has been closed off and partly drained in the 20th century forming freshwater Ijsselmeer.
In the fall of 1794, during the War of the First Coalition of the French Revolutionary Wars, general Jean-Charles Pichegru who commanded the French forces during the conquest of the Dutch Republic seized the opportunity to attack. The French entered Amsterdam on the 18 January, 1795 to stay there over winter. Well informed about the Dutch fleet anchored at the Den Helder port,approximately eighty kilometers north from Amsterdam. General Jean-Charles Pichegru ordered General of Brigade Jan Willem de Winter to lead a squadron of the 8th Hussar. Jan Willem de Winter had been serving with the French since 1787, and would later command the Dutch fleet in the disastrous Battle of Camperdown.
General Jan Willem de Winter arrived at Den Helder port with his troops during the night of 23 January, 1795. The Dutch fleet was there as expected and were trapped by ice. Normally such a fleet would have been proof against a French land force, but the navy had been somewhat taken aback by the extreme weather that had left them frozen in. Not expecting to see action until the sea ice melted, it was not on its guard and not expecting what happened next. Each hussar carried an infantryman of the 15th Line Infantry Regiment on his horse. After a careful strategy to avoid awakening the Dutch sailors, Lieutenant Colonel Louis Joseph Lahure launched the assault. The ice did not break, and the hussars and infantrymen were able to make a dash across the frozen waters of the Zuiderzee to the Dutch ships. The thick was the ice advantage for them to ride right up to the ships and surround them. The French captured the Dutch admiral and captains of the fleet, neither side suffered any casualties. With the capture of 14 warships and several merchant ships, the French conquest of the Netherlands was brought to an end.
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