In the 1970s, my father (Dick Paul van Wijk) told me that his father ((Paul) Dirk  Cornelis van Wijk) used to say that we descended from lieutenant J.C.J. van Speijk.  In the Belgian separation war (1830-1831), this Dutch national hero blew up the ship  he commanded, killing both friend and foe. When his ship had stranded before Antwerp,  he lighted the powder barrel with his cigar and thus kept clear from the Belgians.  His famous last words were: "Dan liever de lucht in!" ("I'll rather go up in the  air!"). 
My granddad not only used to tell this story, but he stressed it in other ways as  well; for example, during one of his travels in the Dutch Indies, he sent my father a  magazine with a Van Speijk-I?ll-rather-go-up-in-the-air special. My father used to  think it a good story, without attaching great belief to it; nevertheless, he  supposed there should be an element of truth in it, given the serious way my  grandfather viewed the story.

This story has induced me to take up genealogy. Apart from making many nice  discoveries, which you can find out when hopping through this website, I did  encounter the name Van Speijk. Yet it is still unsure what this naval hero has  bequeathed our family. See the attachment at the birth of Jan Carel Josephus van de Most van  Spijk, 16-4-1831. As far as is known, J.C.J. Van Speijk did not have  descendants ? which perhaps is not saying much for a seaman.

Tip:
Search at pre-Surnames like van, de or van der, instead of the Surname.