Giles Milton
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
And of course, what do the Dutch do?
He's a sitting duck.
They gun him down.
And he was last seen falling into the water.
Nathaniel Courtauld is never seen again.
His corpse is never found.
And we, well, he died clearly, but we don't know what happened to his body.
Well, you know, every siege survives or fails on the leadership of the person in charge.
And Nathaniel was a brilliant leader of men.
He kept his men going for, you know, as you say, 1,500 and whatever it was days on the island.
Yes, exactly.
And once he was no longer there...
all resistance collapsed.
The men just decide to throw in the towel.
They can't face holding on any longer.
Their aracs run out.
There's no food.
They realise that, you know, they've got no alternative but to throw in the towel.
And that's what they do.
It's a desperately tragic situation.