4. A yacht called the Greyhound, of sixty tons, captain Solomon Willelmson, carrying four brass cannons and twenty men.
The admiralty of Zealand fitted out only one ship for this expedition.
5. The Orange of 700 tons, captain Laurence John Quirynen, and carrying likewise the rear-admiral, John William Verschoor. Her complement of men was 216.[133]
[Footnote 133: Her number of guns is not mentioned, but she could hardly have less than thirty-six from her size—E.]
The admiralty of the Maes furnished the following ships:
6. The Holland of 600 tons and 152 men, carrying ten pieces of brass and twenty of iron ordnance. In this ship was Cornelius Jacobson, who was counsellor to admiral Le Hermite, but the ship was immediately commanded by captain Adrian Troll.
7. The Maurice of 360 tons and 169 men, having twelve brass and twenty iron cannon, commanded by captain James Adrianson.
8. The Hope of 260 tons and eighty men, with fourteen iron cannon, captain Peter Hermanson Slobbe.
The admiralty of North Holland also provided the following ships:
9. The Concord of 600 tons and 170 men, with eighteen brass and fourteen iron cannon, captain John Ysbrandtz.
10. The King David of 360 tons and seventy-nine men, with sixteen pieces of brass cannon, captain John Thomason.
11. The Griffin of 320 tons, and seventy-eight men, with fourteen iron cannon, captain Peter Cornelison Hurdloop.
The whole of this fleet of eleven sail, carrying 294 pieces of cannon, had 1637 men, of whom 600 were regular soldiers, divided into five companies of 120 men in each. The East India Company contributed largely to the expence, but does not appear to have equipped any ships on this occasion.
SECTION I.
Incidents of the Voyage from Holland to the South Sea.
This armament, usually called the Nassau fleet, was by far the most considerable that had hitherto been sent against the Spaniards in the new world, and none so powerful has since navigated along the western coast of America in an hostile manner. It sailed on the 29th April, 1622, from Goeree roads, all but the Orange, which joined next day.
On the 7th June, while chasing a Barbary corsair, a Christian slave, who happened to be at the helm, ran the corsair on board the Dutch vice-admiral, and immediately he and other slaves took the opportunity of leaping on board to escape from slavery. The captain of the corsair, who happened to be a Dutch renegado, followed them, and demanded restitution of his slaves; but the vice-admiral expostulated so strongly with him on the folly and infamy of deserting his country and religion, that he sent for every thing belonging to him out of the corsair, and agreed to go along with the fleet, to the regret of the Turks, who thus lost their captain and seventeen good men.