Piet Pieterszoon Hein
Piet Pieterszoon Heyn ( Hein ) ( born November 25, 1577 Delfs Haven (now part of Rotterdam), † June 17 (or June 18 ) 1629) was one of the most outstanding Dutch privateers. He distinguished himself at the end of the twelve- year contract ( 1621) with the Habsburgs, especially in the fight against privateers from that operated by the Flemish Dunkirk.
A direct descendant of Piet Heyn was the Danish scientist, mathematician, inventor and writer Piet Hein.
Life
Heyn was born in Delfshaven the son of a captain. In his youth he worked as a miller 's assistant in Heidmühle in today Wilhelmshaven in the district of Friesland. Early on, he went to sea. 1598, he was captured by the Spaniards and spent about four years as a galley slave, to 1602 he was released again as part of a prisoner exchange. 1603 but was again captured on Cuba and only returned in 1607 to the Netherlands.
1607 hired by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and went on a five -year journey to Asia, from which he returned as captain of Hollandia. He remained until 1612 in the service of the VOC. He then commanded the Sphaera Mundi. In 1618 he was captain of the Neptunus forced Venice to fight against Naples. In 1621 he again traveled overland back to his homeland.
In 1623 he became vice - admiral of the Dutch West India Company, where he was particularly active in the Caribbean in the West Indies.
With a fleet consisting of 26 ships Heyn captured the city of Salvador in Bahia ( northeastern Brazil ) and made it rich booty. An attack on the West African city of Luanda in Angola in 1624 failed. When he returned to Bahia, the city had fallen short time previously on April 30, 1625 again in Portuguese hands.
After this rather unsuccessful companies succeeded Piet Heyn to hijack on September 17, 1628 Spanish treasure fleet without a fight in the ten miles east of Havana bay offers from Matanzas. His prey was estimated at twelve million guilders, which corresponds to a value of around one billion euros today. The Capture of the silver fleet enabled the Dutch government financially in a position to go in their ongoing war against Spain with a larger army in the offensive and 's Hertogenbosch to conquer in the next year, the strategically important city. According to Christoph Driessen marks the conquest of the silver fleet " the turning point in the second half of the war against Spain ." There were disputes with the West India Company in the division of the spoils, Heyn quit the service. Heyn said to have received only a sum of about 7,000 guilders, which corresponded to a thousandth of the net profit.
In 1629 he was again active as a Lieutenant Admiral - so actually as supreme commander of the Dutch fleet - in the service of Admiral General Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange and Count of Nassau. His new task was the blockade of Dunkirk, as from there operated many Spanish privateer.
Piet Heyn died the same year in a naval battle at Oostende in the Scheldt Canal. He is buried at Delft in the Oude Kerk ( Old Church ).
Piet Heyn as a folk hero
The popular too lifetimes Heyn was after his death a folk hero, mainly because of his successful raid on the Spanish treasure fleet.
In the following years countless poems and songs were written in honor of Piet Heyns. One from the pen of Jan Pieter Heye from 1844 is still a well-known Dutch folk song. As a " song over Piet Heyn " ( "Lift each wel gehoord van de Vloot zilv'ren, De zilv'ren Vloot uit Spanje, The hadden de Spaanse matt aan boord, En appeltjes van Oranje " Have you heard of the silver Flott / the Silver fleet of Spain? / the Spanish had a lot of mats on board / And still many oranges ) belongs today to the popular crowd chants in football stadiums in the country.
Also, streets and places in the Netherlands named after Heyn. In each case, a still image can be seen in Delfshaven and on the Bay of Matanzas. His birthplace in Delfshaven still stands and bears an inscription plaque in his memory.