Personal life He was the son of Pieter Buyskes, mayor of Enkhuizen, and Arnoldina Adriana Jordens. He was on 9 February 1794 in Enkhuizen married to Eva Clasina van Romond. They had a son, Pieter.
Career He became on 15 October 1783 a midshipman, 17 January 1788 lieutenant, left February 1789 to the
Dutch East Indies, where he did
hydrographic work, and became a first lieutenant in 1792. In that position he was ordered to block the approaches to the
Texel to the
Royal Navy at the occasion of the
Vlieter incident, but failed to do so due to adverse weather. On 27 February 1801 promoted to captain, he departed 3 January 1802 to the East Indies, commanding the frigate
Eendracht, where the British handed control over the
Maluku Islands to him after the
Peace of Amiens on 30 September. , 1804 Returned to the Netherlands in 1804, he was appointed adjutant general on the
Vlissingen flotilla. As such he took part in the
Battle of Blanc-Nez and Gris-Nez on 17 July 1805 to the satisfaction of admiral
Carel Hendrik Ver Huell, who praised his conduct. On 4 January 1806 appointed adjutant general of
Grand Pensionary Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck, and 16 February 1807 promoted to rear-admiral, and appointed aide de camp of King
Louis. On 17 May 1807 Buyskes was appointed Lieutenant-Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, and was at the same time appointed commander of the Dutch naval squadron in the East Indies, under the newly appointed Governor-General
Herman Willem Daendels. Both left the Netherlands under assumed names on different neutral ships within a week of each other. But Daendels made the voyage much faster. Daendels arrived in
Batavia on April 10, 1808, after having made the journey by way of New York, and relieved Governor-General
Albertus Henricus Wiese. Buyskes on the other hand took almost three months longer. He was appointed by Daendels as vice-president of the
Council of the Dutch East Indies, and charged with command of the troops belonging to the military district of Batavia. In January 1811 he arrived in Paris where he learned of the French annexation of Holland and also that he had been created baron of the kingdom of Holland by King Louis, with an endowment, which appointment and endowment, however, were not carried out because of the annexation to France. After a leave to recover his health, Buyskes left in September, 1813 to Paris to take command of a division of the fleet lying at
Toulon, but as his wound was not quite healed, remained in Paris until 12 April 1814, when he returned to the Netherlands. In July, 1817, an insurrection, led by
Pattimura, broke out on the island of
Saparua in the Moluccas. Buyskes was tasked by his fellow-commissioner Van der Capellen, acting as Governor-General, to restore order in the area. He mounted the expedition with the ships of the line
Zr. Ms. Prins Frederik,
Zr. Ms. Admiraal Evertsen, and
Zr. Ms. Nassau with a detachment of soldiers from the
Indies Brigade on board. They first visited the
Sultan of Ternate, a Dutch vassal, who supplied about 1500 auxiliary troops, together with the
Sultan of Tidore, another vassal. With
Ambon Island as base of operations he mounted landings on
Haruku Island and Saparua, after first having cleared the north coast of Ambon from insurgents. The fights were often brutal. On Haruku, in the village of Pelauw, a unit under the command of major Meijer committed an atrocity by the summary execution or 23 captured notables. Buyskes later took responsibility for this act, by stating in his report on the expedition that he himself had ordered the execution. The campaign ended with several other executions of sometimes doubtful legality (although Pattimura himself was tried and convicted for the murders of the Resident of Saparua and his family, and hanged on 16 December 1817). Buyskes received the Knight-Commander of the
Military Order of William for his leadership of the campaign. When at the end of 1818 the mission of the Commissioners-General had been successfully completed, Buyskes returned to the Netherlands together with Elout on board the
Admiraal Evertsen, but was shipwrecked off the island of
Diego Garcia; the crew were rescued by the American brig
Pickering, who transported them to
Mauritius, where they were able to board the British merchant ship
Cadmus for the voyage home. After his return he served on various committees and in various positions. In July 1827 he was promoted to vice admiral. He was Knight in the
Order of the Dutch Lion; He was also a member of the Utrecht provincial Society of Arts and Sciences. Buyskes died on 23 January 1838 at his estate
Valkenbosch near Loosduinen. ==Notes==