During the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, the British and Dutch were drawn into the American War of Independence at the Battle of the Dogger Bank on Aug. 5, 1781.

A silver medal from the Dutch side of the war (and issued before that battle) was sold recently in Stack’s Bowers Galleries’ Nov. 5 to 10 auction, realizing $2,585, with a 17.5 percent buyer’s fee. 

The medal commemorates the arrival of Jacob Van der Wint and his sailboat De Roode Roos (the Red Rose) where the Dutch fishing fleet lay unaware that England had just declared war on the Netherlands. According to the auction house,” Van de Wint (also spelled Van de Windt) was something of a Dutch Paul Revere, letting the fishermen know that the British were coming and allowing them to return safely to port in January 1781.” 

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The obverse of this medal shows Wint’s cutter. The reverse reflects that Wint left the Netherlands on Dec. 29, 1780, and safely returned Jan. 11, 1781, after carrying his message. The Battle of the Dogger Bank took place in the North Sea later in 1781. 

The silver Escape of the Dutch Fishing Fleet medal is recorded as Betts 574, as cataloged by C. Wyllys Betts in American Colonial History Illustrated by Contemporary Medals. Graded “Choice About Uncirculated,” the medal has a provenance to the John W. Adams Collection.