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The following series was translated from the original Dutch by Willem Rabbelier and Cor Snabel of the Netherlands. It is published with their permission on The Olive Tree Genealogy pages.

Introduction

PRIVATEERING UNDER WIC (WEST INDIES COMPANY) COMMAND

Every ship sailing from Brazil, the Caribbee or any other Spanish/Portuguese colony was attacked, conquered and the cargo was shipped to Amsterdam or Middelburg. The silver and gold shipments from Peru and Bolivia, which were taken by the Dutch, did significant harm to the Spanish economy and the Spaniards needed that silver to finance their war against the Netherlands. That's why the Dutch government supported the WIC in this. In 1640, privateering under command of the WIC was stopped: the costs became too high, the losses too frequent, the profits too low. But, the damage inflicted on the Spanish economy was enormous: it exceeded 110.000.0000 guilders! Privateering didn¹t stop however: on the contrary, private captains and ship-owners, especially in Zeeland (the towns of Vlissingen and Middelburg) Rotterdam and Dordrecht continued privateering.

To illustrate the profits from the kaapvaart enterprises, here are some figures:

In the period 1623-1637 the Dutch conquered 609 enemy ships, worth 81 million guilders including cargo . After deduction of all costs, equipment of the ships, payments of the sailors etc., an amount of 36 million guilders remained. Most of these profits ended up in the pockets of the shareholders and not in the WIC fund.

A good example is the conquered silverfleet by Piet Heyn in 1628. The booty was worth 11,5 million guilders, minus costs of 7 million, quite a considerable amount of money. But according to the regulation the crew was entitled to 10% and 17 month extra payment and 10% for the Stadtholder as Admiral-General. The bewindhebbers had a poor 1%, but the shareholders received 50% dividend pay. After this generous hand-out only 1.5 million remained for the Company fund. It has to be said that privateering captains and shipowners had a high status in the Republic; after their carreer was over, many of them became merchants or high authorities.

It was not unusual now and then that ships fled during a (privateering) sea-battle. Dutch captains who were found guilty of this kind of treason were often stongly punished. When the WIC ships the Maeght van Enkhuizen and the Matanca secretly sailed away during the Four-Days-Battle in January 1640, the Captains were killed by a sword which was broken before their eyes! The captain of the Graef Ernest, who abandoned the fleet during a battle fought under the command of Cornelis Jol in the West Indies in 1638, was dismissed and sent to Groningen in the Republic where he was held under arrest.

The very last kaperbrief was issued by king Lodewijk Napoleon, July 14, 1810, when the Republic was under French occupation.

Willem's Note:

• PIRACY Pirates robbing any ship on own authority and for own account.
• PRIVATEERING A legitimate form of piracy, authorized by a higher authority (sovereign or a government). A privateer had to be in possession of a commission-letter handed by the sovereign or government, and was bound to very strict rules. As a rule commission-letters were only issued by the state during war-time, and, it was not allowed to conquer or plunder ships of neutral states.

  Through the ages, the line between piracy and privateering always has been very thin, and often overstepped (or sailed?) During times of war, governments of sailor nations highly profited from privateering: it inflicted severe losses to the enemy and -at the same time- made it possible for governments to save on building and maintenance costs needed for a regular navy. Buccaneers were an example of the thin line between piracy and privateering: the name refers to the group of pirates and privateers who operated in the Caribbean Waters. Privateers, but of another nature, were the Barbary privateers of the Mediterranean Sea: from the beginning of the 17th century they attacked and plundered ships of all Christian nations. The English word corsair refers to them Mind you, in the seventeenth century about 60 Dutch captains have been sailing on Barbary privateering ships, fighting, footwashing (captured Christians were thrown overboard) or enslaving their fellow-Christians!

SOURCES:

DE GESCHIEDENIS VAN DE WIC
Henk den Heijer Uitgeverij Walburg Pers Zutphen, 1993
ISBN 90 601 1912 6

KAPERS OP DE KUST NEDERLANDSE KAAPVAART EN PIRATERIJ 1500-1800
R.B.Prud¹homme van Reine
Uitgeverij ADZ, Vlissingen, 1991
ISBN 90-72838-05-X