The consent of the States-General and of the stadholder being obtained, some months were spent in making preparations on an adequate scale.  The fleet, which consisted of twenty-three ships of war with four yachts, armed with 500 pieces of ordnance, and carrying in addition to the crews a force of 1700 troops, sailed in two contingents, December, 1623, and January, 1624.  Jacob Willekens was the admiral-in-chief, with Piet Hein as his vice-admiral.  Colonel Jan van Dorth, lord of Horst, was to conduct the land operations and to be the governor of the town, when its conquest was achieved.  On May 9 the fleet sailed into the Bay of All Saints (Bahia de todos os Santos) and proceeded to disembark the troops on a sandy beach a little to the east of the city of San Salvador, commonly known as Bahia.  It was strongly situated on heights rising sheer from the water; and, as news of the Dutch preparations had reached Lisbon and Madrid, its fortifications had been repaired and its garrison strengthened.  In front of the lower town below the cliffs was a rocky island, and on this and on the shore were forts well provided with batteries, and under their lee were fifteen ships of war.  On May 10 Piet Hein was sent with five vessels to contain the enemy’s fleet and cover the landing of the military forces.  But Hein, far from being content with a passive role, attacked the Portuguese, burnt or captured all their ships and then, embarking his men in launches, stormed the defences of the island and spiked the guns.  Meanwhile the troops had, without opposition, occupied a Benedictine convent on the heights opposite the town.  But the daring of Piet Hein had caused a panic to seize the garrison.  Despite the efforts of the governor, Diogo de Mendoca Furdado, there was a general exodus in the night, both of the soldiery and the inhabitants.  When morning came the Dutch marched into the undefended town, the governor and his son, who had refused to desert their posts, being taken prisoners.  They, with much booty, were at once sent to Holland as a proof of the completeness of the victory.  Events, however, were to prove that it is easier for an expeditionary force to capture a town at such a distance from the home-base of supplies, than to retain it.

Governor Van Dorth had scarcely entered upon his duties when he fell into an ambush of native levies near San Salvador and was killed.  His successor, Willem Schouten, was incompetent and dissolute; and, when the fleet set sail on its homeward voyage at the end of July, the garrison soon found itself practically besieged by bodies of Portuguese troops with Indian auxiliaries, who occupied the neighbouring woods and stopped supplies.  Meanwhile the news of the capture of San Salvador reached Madrid and Lisbon; and Spaniards and Portuguese vied with one another in their eagerness to equip a great expedition to expel the invaders.  It was truly a mighty armada which set sail, under the supreme command of Don Fadrique de Toledo, from