DERRICK  , a sort of

crane (q.v.); the name is derived from that of a famous early 17th-century Tyburn hangman, and was originally applied as a synonym . DERRING-DO, valour, chivalrous conduct, or " desperate courage," as it is defined by Sir Walter Scott . The word in its present accepted substantival form is a misconstruction of the verbal substantive dorryng or durring, daring, and do or don, the present infinitive of " do," the phrase dorryng do thus meaning " daring to do." It is used by Chaucer in Troylus, and by Lydgate in the Chronicles of Troy . Spenser in the Shepherd's Calendar first adapted derring-do as a substantive meaning " manhood and chevalrie," and this use was revived by Scott, through whom it came into vogue with writers of romance . DE RUYTER, MICHAEL ADRIANZOON (1607-1676), Dutch naval officer, was born at Flushing on the 24th of March 1607 . He began his seafaring life at the age of eleven as a cabin boy, and in 1636 was entrusted by the merchants of Flushing with the command of a cruiser against the French pirates . • In 164o he entered the service of the States, and, being appointed rear-admiral of a fleet fitted out to assist Portugal against Spain, specially distinguished himself at Cape St Vincent, on the 3rd of November 1641 . In the following year he left the service of the States, and, until the outbreak of war with England in 1652, held command of a merchant vessel . In 1653 a squadron of seventy vessels was despatched against the English, under the command of Admiral Tromp . Ruyter, who accompanied the admiral in this expedition, seconded him with great skill and bravery in the three battles which were fought with the English . He was after-wards stationed in the Mediterranean, where he captured several Turkish vessels . In 1659 he received a commission to join the king of Denmark in his war with the Swedes .

As a

reward of his services, the king of Denmark ennobled him and gave him a pension . In 1661 he grounded a vessel belonging to Tunis, released forty Christian slaves, made a treaty with the Tunisians, and reduced the Algerine corsairs to submission . From his achievements on the west coast of Africa he was recalled in 1665-DERVISH 75 to take command of a large fleet which had been organized against England, and in May of the following year, after a long contest off the North Foreland, he compelled the English to take refuge in the Thames . On the 7th of June 1672 he fought a drawn battle with the combined fleets of England and France, in Southwold or Sole Bay, and after the fight he convoyed safely home a fleet of merchantmen . His valour was displayed to equal advantage in several engagements with the French and English in the following year . In 1676 he was despatched to the assistance of Spain against France in the Mediterranean, and, receiving a mortal wound in the battle on the 21st of April off Messina, died on the 29th at Syracuse . A patent by the king of Spain, investing him with the dignity of duke, did not reach the fleet till after his death . His body was carried to Amsterdam, where a magnificent monument to his memory was erected by command of the states-general . See Life of De Ruyter by Brandt (Amsterdam, 1687), and by Klopp (2nd ed., Hanover, 1858) .